Bardolph (Shakespeare character) I", the 1598 quarto, he is called "Rossill" (an archaic spelling of the name Russell) and is at one point specified as "sir Iohn Russel". This is generally taken to mean that he originally had that name in the first performances of the play, just as Falstaff too had originally been given another name: Sir John Oldcastle. Shakespeare may have changed the name when he was forced to change Oldcastle to Falstaff after complaints from the Oldcastle family. It is possible he decided to remove any suggestion that he was ridiculing the Russell family (which included William Russell, 1st Baron
John Shakespeare Stratford. By 1564, John was an alderman, a member of the Common Hall of Stratford, and it was in this year that William was born. In 1568 John was appointed High Bailiff, the present-day equivalent of mayor, elected by the common council of burgesses and aldermen, which entitled him to be referred to as Master John Shakespeare. In that capacity he presided at the sessions of the Court of Record and at council meetings. For his borough the bailiff was almoner, coroner, escheator, and clerk of the market, and served as justice of the peace issuing warrants and negotiating with