The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1597, after which controversy over the original naming of Falstaff (he was originally the historic Sir John Oldcastle, which presumably did not please Oldcastle's descendants) forced Shakespeare to rename the character. 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, O, O!," when his fingertips are singed with candles—which of course works for "Oldcastle" but not "Falstaff." There is also the "castle" reference in IV,v,6. 18 January 1602 was the date the play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company. The first quarto was
John Shakespeare there is a baptismal record for a "Joan Shakespeare, daughter to John Shakespeare" dated 15 September 1558. The Shakespeares had eight children: Joan (baptised 15 September 1558, died in infancy), Margaret (bap. 2 December 1562buried 30 April 1563), William (bap. 26 April 156423 April 1616), Gilbert (bap. 13 October 1566bur. 2 February 1612), Joan (bap. 15 April 1569bur. 4 November 1646), Anne (bap. 28 September 1571bur. 4 April 1579), Richard (bap. 11 March 1574bur. 4 February 1613) and Edmund (bap. 3 May 1580bur. London, 31 December 1607). John fell on hard times in the late 1570s that would last until