Sir John Oldcastle

Any misrepresentation of an earlier Lord Cobham would certainly displease his Elizabethan counterpart – hence the theory that Shakespeare’s Sir John Oldcastle was meant to give offence. For Shakespeare’s wicked joke seems to have been to create a character unlike any martyr that ever lived, who, nevertheless, being given the name ‘Sir John Oldcastle’ and placed in Sir John’s historical situation, claims to be the genuine article, more authentic than Foxe’s martyr. As the Elizabethan Cobhams were quickly identified with Sir John Oldcastle, the story about Lord Cobham’s ill-fated wooing is close enough to Shakespeare’s comedy to deserve some attention. The son of Sir Richard Oldcastle of Herefordshire, Sir John served in the Welsh campaign with Prince Henry, and won his friendship. Whatever Shakespeare’s original purpose, his Sir John Oldcastle was later seen as a significant factor in the complicated power-struggle that finally destroyed Essex and very nearly led to the execution of Southampton.