Sir John Fastolf

Sir John Fastolf , 1378?-1459, English soldier. He won distinction for his long service in the latter part of the Hundred Years War. He was knighted some time prior to 1418 for service at Agincourt (1415) and in other engagements, acted as governor of Anjou and Maine (1423-26), and was made (1426) a Knight of the Garter. While convoying supplies in 1429, Fastolf repelled a French attack by using herring barrels as protection (see Herrings, Battle of the ). His conduct at the defeat of the English by Joan of Arc at Patay (1429), where he retreated after a panic of his men, has been variously described as common sense or cowardice. Fastolf continued, however, to exercise responsible commands until his final return to England in 1440. He amassed a considerable fortune by somewhat sharp methods, and he spent his last years on his huge Norfolk estate. A neighbor to John Paston, the principal beneficiary of his will, he features prominently in the Paston Letters .

Bibliography: See J. Gairdner, ed., The Paston Letters (1904); D. W. Duthie, The Case of Sir John Fastolf (1907).

Fastolf, Sir John (1380–1459), a successful soldier in the French wars of Henry IV and Henry V, who contributed towards the building of philosophy schools at Cambridge. He figures prominently in the Paston Letters. In Shakespeare's 1 Henry VI he is presented as a coward. The Folio text calls him ‘Falstaff’, but from Theobald onwards it has become traditional to call him ‘Fastolfe’ to distinguish him from his fictitious namesake.

Herrings, battle of the, 1429. In October 1428 the duke of Bedford invested Orléans. On 12 February 1429 Sir John Fastolf, bringing supplies of herrings and lentils to the besiegers, was attacked at Rouvray by a superior force under the comte de Clermont. The attackers were driven off with heavy loss and the supplies got through, but Orléans was relieved by Joan of Arc in April.

J. A. Cannon