The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1597, after which controversy over the original naming of Falstaff (he was originally the historic Sir John Oldcastle, which presumably did not please Oldcastle's descendants) forced Shakespeare to rename the character. It appears that the joke in V,v,85–90 is that Oldcastle/Falstaff incriminates himself by calling out the first letter of his name, "O, O, O!," when his fingertips are singed with candles—which of course works for "Oldcastle" but not "Falstaff." There is also the "castle" reference in IV,v,6. 18 January 1602 was the date the play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company. The first quarto was
The Oxford Shakespeare of Athens" as either collaborations with or revisions by Thomas Middleton; "Pericles" as a collaboration with George Wilkins; "Henry VI Part One" as a collaboration with several unknown other dramatists; and "Henry VIII" and "The Two Noble Kinsmen" as collaborations with John Fletcher. It also broke with tradition in presenting Shakespeare's works in chronological order, rather than dividing them by genre. In 2005, a second edition of the "Complete Works" was produced. It adds a full text of "Sir Thomas More" (edited by John Jowett), which may contain passages by Shakespeare, and "Edward III" (edited by William Montgomery), another play