John Oldcastle In "Henry IV, Part 2" an epilogue emphasises that Falstaff is not Oldcastle: "Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already a' be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man." In 1599, another play, "Sir John Oldcastle", presented Oldcastle in a more kindly light. The record of Oldcastle's trial is printed in "Fasciculi Zizaniorum" (Rolls series) and in David Wilkins's "Concilia", iii. 351–357. The chief contemporary notices of his later career are given in "Gesta Henrici Quinti" ("Eng. Hist. Soc.") and in Walsingham's "Historia Anglicana". There have been many lives of
John Oldcastle John Oldcastle, was Herefordshire's MP during the latter part of the reign of King Richard II. Oldcastle is first mentioned in two separate documents in 1400, first as a plaintiff in a suit regarding the advowson of Almeley church, and again as serving as a knight under Lord Grey of Codnor in a military expedition to Scotland. In the next few years Oldcastle held notable positions in the Welsh campaigns of King Henry IV of England against Owain Glyndŵr, including captaincy first over Builth Castle in Brecknockshire and then over Kidwelly. Oldcastle represented Herefordshire as a "knight of the shire"