A distinguished soldier of Henry V.'s reign, who with Sir John Oldcastle shares the doubtful honor of being the prototype of Shakespeare's Falstaff, but unlike the dramatist's creation was a courageous soldier, and won distinction at Agincourt and at the "Battle of the Herrings"; after engaging with less success in the struggle against Joan of Arc, he returned to England and spent his closing years in honored retirement at Norfolk, his birthplace; he figures in the "Paston Letters" (1378-1459).