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 death of Henry IV, Oldcastle was at once accused of heresy. But his friendship with the new King Henry V prevented any decisive action until convincing evidence was found in one of Oldcastle's books, which was discovered in a shop in Paternoster Row, London. The matter was brought before the King, who desired that nothing should be done until he had tried his personal influence. Oldcastle declared his readiness to submit to the king "all his fortune in this world" but was firm in his religious beliefs. When Oldcastle fled from Windsor Castle to his own castle at Cowling, Henry