Sir John Oldcastle pentameter verse lines in both parts are irregular when using the name "Falstaff," but correct with "Oldcastle." Finally, there is the blatant disclaimer at the close of "Henry IV, Part 2" that disassociates the two figures: "for Oldcastle died [a] martyr, and this is not the man" (Epilogue, 29-32). There is even a hint that Falstaff was originally Oldcastle in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" too. When the First Folio and quarto texts of that play are compared, 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,
John Oldcastle in the parliament of 1404, later serving as a justice of the peace, and was High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1406–07. In 1408 he married Joan, the heiress of Cobham — his third marriage, and her fourth. This resulted in a significant improvement of his fortune and status, as the Cobhams were "one of the most notable families of Kent". The marriage brought Oldcastle a number of manors in Kent, Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Wiltshire, as well as Cooling Castle, and from 1409 until his accusation in 1413 he was summoned to parliament as Lord Cobham. At some point in his