Henry IV, Part 1 of Patay, and whom Shakespeare had previously represented in "Henry VI, Part 1". Fastolf had died without descendants, making him safe for a playwright's use. Shortly afterward, a team of playwrights wrote a two-part play entitled "Sir John Oldcastle", which presents a heroic dramatisation of Oldcastle's life and was published in 1600. In 1986, the Oxford Shakespeare edition of Shakespeare's works rendered the character's name as Oldcastle, rather than Falstaff, in "Henry IV, Part 1" (although not, confusingly, in "Part 2"), as a consequence of the editors' aim to present the plays as they would have appeared during their original
John Oldcastle convicted as a heretic. King Henry V was still anxious to find a way of escape for his old comrade, and granted a respite of forty days. Before that time had expired, Oldcastle escaped from the Tower by the help of one William Fisher, a parchmentmaker of Smithfield. Oldcastle now put himself at the head of a widespread Lollard conspiracy, which assumed a definite political character. The plan was to seize the King and his brothers during a Twelfth-night mumming at Eltham, and establish some sort of commonwealth. Oldcastle was to be Regent, the king, nobility and clergy placed under