Fastolf, Sir John definition of Fastolf, Sir John in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Fastolf, Sir John (făs`tŏlf), 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 Herrings, Battle of the, 1429, episode in the siege of Orléans by the English in the Hundred Years War. The French, under Jean, comte de Dunois, attacked a supply train commanded by Sir John Fastolf .
..... Click the link for more information. ). 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 Paston Letters, collection of personal and business correspondence, mostly among members of the Paston family of Norfolk, England. The letters cover the years from 1422 to 1529, together with deeds and other documents.
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Bibliography

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