Legend says that Queen Elizabeth wished to see Falstaff in love, and this predominantly prose comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597-98), was the result.  It is also said that it was written in a hurry, possibly a fortnight, and was performed for a Garter celebration at Windsor in 1597.  Never a favorite with academic critics, it usually is a hit with a theatre-goers.

The play is often acted in a summer setting; but many lines ("sea-coal fire," "this raw rheumatic day") indicate that it takes place in a colder period.

This representation of life in an English provincial town refers to other, older plays; the main plot closely resembles "Il Pecorone," a 1558 Italian play by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino.  The plot and the primary subplot also draw on ancient Roman comedy and medieval farce. Though the play does contain characters both above and below the middle class, as well as culturally stereotyped foreigners, ultimately everything functions to demonstrate the assimilating power of the middle class.

The first American production was in Philadelphia, in 1770; the first New York production in 1789.