Bardolph (Shakespeare character) Bardolph (Shakespeare character) Bardolph is a fictional character who appears in four plays by William Shakespeare. He is a thief who forms part of the entourage of Sir John Falstaff. His grossly inflamed nose and constantly flushed, carbuncle-covered face is a repeated subject for Falstaff's and Prince Hal's comic insults and word-play. Though his role in each play is minor, he often adds comic relief, and helps illustrate the personality change in Henry from Prince to King. In early published versions of "Henry IV, Part 1", the character is called Rossill or sir Iohn Russel. Shakespeare renamed the character to
John Oldcastle Lollard plots of 1416, and appears to have intrigued with the Scots also. In November 1417 his hiding-place was at last discovered and he was captured by Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton. Some historians believed he was captured in the upland Olchon Valley of western Herefordshire adjacent to the Black Mountains, Wales, not far from the village of Oldcastle itself in his family's old heartlands. Modern historians believe that he was hiding with some Lollard friends at a glade on Pant-mawr farm in Broniarth, in Wales called Cobham's Garden. The principal agents in the capture were four of the tenants