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Creator: Richard James
Title: (Gr. xxxv.) " THE LEGEND and defence of ye Noble Knight and Martyr Sr John Oldcastel. Sett forth by Richard James, Bachelour of Divinitie and Fellow of C[orpus] C[hristi] C[ollege] in Oxford " (ob. 1638). Consisting of a transcript of Thomas Occleve
Date: 1624-36
Repository: The British Library, London, UK
Call number and opening: Add. MS 33785, fol. 2r-v
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[fol. 2r]
The Legend and defense of the Noble Knight and Martyr Sir John Oldcastle, set forth by Richard James, Bachelor of Divinity, and Fellow of Christ Church College in Oxford.
Aristotle [Greek writing]
To my Noble friend Sir Henry Bourchier
Sir Harry Bourchier, you are descended of Noble Ancestry, and in the duty of a good man love to hear and see fair reputation preserved from slander and oblivion. Wherefore to you I dedicate this edition of Occleve, where Sir John Oldcastle appears to have been a man of valor and vertue, and only lost in his own times because he would not bow under the foul superstition of Papistry, from whence in so great light of Gospel and learning that there is not yet a more universal departure, is to me the greatest scorn of men. But of this more in another place; and in preface will you please to hear me that which follows. A young Gentle Lady of your acquaintance having read the works of Shakespeare made me this question. How Sir John Falstaffe or Fastalf, as he is written in the statute book of Magdalen College in Oxford, where every day that society were bound to make memory of his soul, could be dead in the time of Harrie the fifth, and again live in the time of Harrie the sixth, to be banished for cowardice: Whereto I made answer that it was one of those humors and mistakes for which Plato banished all poets out of his commonwealth. That Sir John Falstaff was in those times a noble valiant soldier as appears by a book in the Herald's Office dedicated unto him by a Herald, who had been with him, if I will remember, for the space of 25 years in the French wars; that he seems also to have been a man of learning, because in a library of Oxford I find a book of dedicating Churches sent from him for a present unto Bishop Wainfleet and inscribed with his own hand. That in Shakespeare's first show of Harrie the fifth [Henry IV, part 1], the person with which he undertook to play a buffoon was not Falstaff but Sir John Oldcastle, and that offence being worthily taken by Personages descended from his title (as peradventure by many others also who put to make an ignorant shift
[fol. 2r]
The Legend and defence of the Noble Knight and
Martyr Sir John Oldcastel.
sett forth
by Richard James Bachelour of Divinitie,
and Fellowe of C.C.C. in Oxford.
Aristotle
[Greek writing]
To my Noble friend Sir Henry
Bourchier
Sir Harrie Bourchier, you are descended of Noble Auncestrie,
and in the dutie of a good man love to heare &
see fair reputation preserved from slander and
obliuivion. [sic] Wherefore to you I dedicate this editi=
=on of Ocleve, where Sir John Oldcastel apeeres
to have binne a man of valour and vertue, and
only lost in his own times because he would not
bowe under the foule superstition of Papistrie, from
whence in so great light of Gospel and learning
that there is not yet a more universal departure,
is to me the greatest scorne of men. But of this more
in another place; and in preface will you please
to hear me that which followes. A young Gentle
Lady of your acquaintance having read the works
of Shakespeare made me this question. How Sir JohnOldcastle Falstaffe or Fastalf, as he is written in the
statute book of Maudlin Colledge in Oxford, where e=
verye day that society were bound to make memorie
of his soul, could be dead in the time of Harrie the
fift, and again live in the time of Harrie the sixt
to be banished for cowardize: Whereto I made an=
swear that it was one of those humours and
mistakes for which Plato banisht all poets out of
his commonwealth. That Sir Ihon Falstaffe was in those
times a noble valiant souldier as apeeres by a book
in the Heralds Office dedicated unto him by a Herald,
who had binne with him, if I will remember for the
space of 25 yeares in the French wars, that he seems
also to have binne a man of learning, because in a
Library of Oxford I find a book of dedicating Churches
sent from him for a present unto Bishop Wainflete
and inscribed with his own hand. That in Shakespeares
first shew of Harrie the fift, the person with which he
undertook to playe a buffone was not Falstaffe but Sir Ihon
Oldcastle, and that offence being worthily taken by Per=
=sonages descended from his title (as peradventure by
many others allso whoe putt to make an ignorant shifte
