John Oldcastle alive. His heretical opinions and early friendship with Henry V created a traditional scandal which long continued. In the old play "The Famous Victories of Henry V", written before 1588, Oldcastle figures as the Prince's boon companion. When Shakespeare adapted that play in "Henry IV, Part 1", Oldcastle still appeared, but when the play was printed in 1598, the name was changed to Falstaff (modelled after John Fastolf), in deference to one of Oldcastle's descendants, Lord Cobham. Though the fat knight still remains "my old lad of the Castle", the stage character has nothing to do with the Lollard leader.
Religious views of William Shakespeare Shakespeare's portrayal; the story of Oldcastle was a popular one and telling the tale from the "Papist" perspective (while acknowledging that perhaps this was a perspective with which Shakespeare already had some affinity) was an effective and familiar way to bring it to his audience. A direct explanation, however, comes from the facts of the story in the contemporary accounts of the period; Prince Henry had left his dear friend Oldcastle to his fate after he had failed to persuade the stubborn old knight to recant when he was imprisoned for lollardry. Archdeacon Richard Davies, a 17th-century Anglican cleric, wrote