In Henry IV Part 1, Shakespeare follows Holinshed in suggesting that the Mortimer who has been captured by Glendower (and is later accused but Henry of being a traitor) has a strong claim to the throne through his descent from Lionel of Antwerp. Shakespeare is renowned for changing history to suit his dramatic needs, but it seems that in this play he has made a genuine mistake. Unfortunately for him he had grossly overestimated the extent of his personal appeal and he never again reached the dizzying heights of fame that he had achieved as Falstaff. Kempe embarked on a number of attempts to elevate his notoriety вЂ“ including a bizarre publicity stunt which saw him Morris dance all the way from London to Norwich (approximately 190km).

Clearly Kempe did not agree because in 1599 he sold his share in the Lord ChamberlainвЂ™s Men and parted ways with ShakespeareвЂ™s company.Д®vidently Will Kempe enjoyed a great deal of celebrity during his time at the Globe and was confident that it was he, rather than ShakespeareвЂ™s plays, that kept the crowds returning. There is of course little hard evidence to support the theory, but there are clues in ShakespeareвЂ™s work that he had become tired with KempeвЂ™s particular slapstick and ad-lib comic style, and wanted to go in a new direction with his clowns and fools. It seems clear that ShakespeareвЂ™s relationship with Falstaff, or perhaps his relationship with Will Kempe, the actor who more than likely portrayed Falstaff, took a turn for the worse. He is barely mourned - a very short scene describing his miserable demise alone in bed crying out for ale - and is mentioned again only very fleetingly.

One can only imagine the depth of disappointment felt in the pit when by Act 2, Scene 3, after no sign of everyoneвЂ™s favourite вЂњbed-presserвЂќ, Pistol brings news that Falstaff is dead. This is perhaps one of historyвЂ™s earliest shameless attempts to use star power to spruik a sequel.Д«ut clearly, Shakespeare had other ideas. At the end of Henry IV Part 2, a dancer stands before the audience and in an epilogue promises that in the next part of the story вЂњour humble author willД¬ontinue the story, with Sir John in itвЂќ (Act 5, Scene 5). Itseems that at least some of The Lord ChamberlainвЂ™s Men were keen to see Falstaff return to the stagein Henry V.

No doubt this also ensured bumper crowds for his third appearance when Henry IV Part 2 debuted later that same year. So popular in fact was the character of Falstaff that Shakespeare wrote him a вЂspin-offвЂ™! The charismatic вЂњhill of fleshвЂќ (Act 2, Scene 3) was such a hit that Shakespeare paused writing the second part of Henry IV in order to quickly write The Merry Wives of Windsor, it appears, to enable FalstaffвЂ™s hasty return to the stage and cash in on his popularity. Falstaff is still one of ShakespeareвЂ™s most enduring characters, one of his most brilliant inventions, and no doubt a crowd favourite among Elizabethan audiences.

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