| Date | Event | | 1/11/1297 | Thomas of Lancaster, later lord of Pontefract, first saw service on the Flanders campaign of 1297-8 and it was on this expedition that he was knighted at Ghent on All Saints Day 1297. As far as we know, this was the only occasion during his public life when he went overseas. Unlike his father, Thomas held few lands abroad, nor did he serve in France as a diplomat or soldier as his father, Edmund, had done. In contrast, he served in Scotland over a long period: he was at Falkirk in 1298; at Caerlaverock in 1300; at Perth with the Prince in the winter of 1303-4; and with him again in the campaign of 1306-7. |
| 1/11/1298 | In November 1298, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was rewarded by Edward I for his efforts in the Scottish campaign with the title and lands of James, Steward of Scotland, including the baronry of Renfrew. |
| 4/11/1250 | On 4th November 1250, Edmund de Lacy, later lord of Pontefract, was awarded a grant for a weekly market to move from Thursday to Sunday in his Bradford manor and two days later was pardoned for misdemeanours committed in the royal forest. |
| 5/11/1237 | In early November 1237, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, along with Simon de Montfort, on the authorisation of Henry III, acted as bodyguards to the papal legate, Otto of Tonengo, whilst he presided over the synod at St Paul’s, which adopted reforms in line with the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. Dissatisfied clerics were wary of their wealth being threatened. |
| 9/11/1215 | On 9th November 1215, William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, was Joint Envoy to the Barons and citizens of London concerning King John’s difficulties over Magna Carta. |
| 10/11/1277 | On 10th November 1277, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, escorted the defeated Welsh 'rebel' leader, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, to Rhuddlan in order to submit to Edward I. |
| 11/11/1294 | On 11th November 1294, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, as part of the renewed Welsh campaign of Edward I, was attacked by his own Welsh tenants and compelled to retreat when he tried to relieve Denbigh Castle (which he had been awarded in 1282). The following year, five Welsh hostages were conveyed through de Lacy's territories to Pontefract Castle. |
| 12/11/1287 | On 12th November 1287, Abbot Hugh of Kirkstall Abbey described in a letter to his convent the tiring journey he had made to Gascony in search of Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, to seek financial help to repay the Abbey’s creditors: “here we found our patron, the Earl of Lincoln, with other great men of the Court, attending upon the King; and to him we explained fully and to the best of our ability the distresses of the House. He was touched with pity at our representation, and promise us all the information and assistance in his power”. |
| 16/11/1295 | On 16th November 1295, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, obtained a pardon from Edward I for his steward, William de Stopham, who was to travel with him to Gascony, for marrying without the king’s licence.
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| 22/11/1232 | On 22nd November 1232, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was granted the third penny of the county of Lincolnshire after the death of his wife’s (Margaret) uncle Ranulph, Earl of Lincoln, on 26th October that year. This was the prelude to de Lacy’s formal investiture as Earl. The ‘third penny’ meant that de Lacy would receive one-third of the revenues of justice of the shire (£20 or over £31,000 in today’s money) |
| 23/11/1232 | On 23rd November 1232, by a charter dated at Northampton, John de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract and his wife, Margaret (only daughter and heir of Robert de Quincy, Earl of Winchester and Hawyse, youngest sister and co-heir of Ranulph de Mechines, Earl of Chester and Lincoln) were formally invested by Henry III as 2nd Earl and 2nd Countess of Lincoln. John obtained the title by right of his wife who, herself, had inherited the title via her mother and uncle who had died on 26th October that year. Ranulph had formally granted the Earldom of Lincoln to his sister ‘to the end that she might be countess, and that her heirs might also enjoy the earldom’. Margaret had specifically requested the king that her husband, John de Lacy, be created Earl of Lincoln with remainder to the heirs of his body by her. Ranulph’s principal barony, Bolingbroke, was retained by de Lacy’s mother-in-law, Hawyse until her death in 1243. Hawyse, herself, had been granted the title by formal charter in April 1231 and was invested as suo jure 1st Countess of Lincoln on the day after her brother Ranulph’s death, effectively holding it for less than a month. |
| 28/11/1223 | On 28th November 1223, Henry III and Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent and Chief Justiciar (king’s deputy during his minority), met a group of nobles including John de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, in London to try to resolve a declaration by Pope Honorius III on April 23rd that year. The pope, in seeking to increase contributions to his plans for a crusade had declared that Henry was then to be considered of age and should be allowed to retake possession of castles that had been held by others during his minority. Henry had, initially, ordered that Hereford and Gloucester castles be handed over to de Burgh, sparking an outrage amongst the affected and liable nobles. Despite some conciliatory suggestions to Henry by the pope, Archbishop Langton’s threat of excommunication of the barons unless the identified castles were returned, and Henry’s promise that the properties were to be reclaimed in a fair manner, caused the barons to submit. |
| Date | Event | | 1/11/1320 | Edward II now had a new favourite - Hugh Despenser the Younger - and when, in November 1320, he persuaded Edward that the lordship of the Gower should be taken into royal hands following the death of William de Braose, trouble was to follow with Thomas Earl of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract. Lancaster’s huge estates made him a neighbour of Despenser, and with Edward’s indulgence of Despenser aggression, Lancaster’s interests coalesced with those of the Marcher lords into a collective determination to restore the rule of law. The road to Lancaster’s downfall and final execution at Pontefract had begun. |
| 1/11/1328 | On 1st November 1328, a highly dissatisfied Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, marched into Winchester. Parliament adjourned and Lancaster was persuaded to allow the MPs and peers to pass through the city en route to London. Dowager Queen Isabella told the king, her son, that Lancaster was plotting to depose him. |
| 2/11/1355 | On 2nd November 1355, the forces of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, and his future son-in-law, John of Gaunt, landed at Calais along with Edward III’s army, Prince Lionel of Antwerp and one thousand mercenary soldiers from the Netherlands and Germany. Edward III intended to confront John II of France regarding, amongst other things, full English sovereignty over Aquitaine. Edward, the Black Prince, had belatedly set sail for Aquitaine directly that September. |
| 3/11/1311 | On 3rd November 1311, Piers Gaveston, court favourite of Edward II and recently created King’s Lieutenant in Scotland, sailed into exile at the instigation of the Lords Ordainers, foremost amongst them being Thomas of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract. The English nobility’s general detestation of Gaveston was only reflected in one of the forty-one Ordinances they had imposed on Edward II, the rest concerning his public duty as a king. Unfortunately, Edward’s ‘infatuation’ with Gaveston was precipitating civil war. |
| 3/11/1315 | On 5th October 1315, Sir John Lilburn, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster’s (lord of Pontefract) retainer, seized Knaresborough Castle, which Roger Damory had held for the king since December 1314. Alton Castle in Staffordshire, also in Damory’s custody, was evidently attacked at the same time, for on 3rd November Lancaster was ordered to deliver both the castles to the sheriffs of the respective counties. Knaresborough was held by the Earl’s men until 29th January 1316, having come under siege from William Roos of Helmsley, John Mowbray, John Marmion, Ralph de Bulmer, John Fauconberg, Simon Ward, and other Yorkshire magnates assembled by the sheriff (an interesting reflection of the opposition to Lancaster among a section of the northern baronage). Lilburn himself was pardoned in March. Once again Lancaster’s power had been demonstrated. |
| 3/11/1318 | On 3rd November 1318, King Edward II issued a Parliamentary writ ordering Thomas of Lancaster to cease attacking the Yorkshire Castles of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. One personal reason for Lancaster’s vendetta against de Warren had been that, in 1317, his wife Alice had been carried off from Cranford in Dorset, to Reigate by a knight of the Earl of Warenne, “not, however, by way of adultery, but in contempt of the Earl”. The king offered to do justice in the dispute towards Lancaster if he would desist. The chronicle of St. Werburgh's, Chester, records the devastation of all Warenne's lands north of the River Trent at this time. |
| 4/11/1359 | On 4th November 1359, Edward III’s army moved out of Calais in three columns to begin torching the countryside of Artois and Picardy. Prince Edward (The Black Prince) and Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, commanded the other two columns. |
| 5/11/1328 | On 5th November 1328, Henry, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, wrote to the Mayor of London intimating that he knew of the survival of the Earl of Kent’s half-brother, (purportedly murdered) Edward II. The Memoranda Rolls of London noted that after the parliament at Winchester which ended on 31st October that year and at which neither Kent nor Lancaster had attended, Lancaster stated that ‘the earl of Kent had made certain communications to him which he could not put in writing, but which the bearer would report by word of mouth.’ |
| 7/11/1309 | On 7th November 1309, Edward II visited Thomas, Earl of Lancaster’s, manor at Pontefract. |
| 8/11/1345 | On 8th November 1345, Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, 4th Earl of Lancaster, and lord of Pontefract, oversaw the fall of the crucial fortified town of La Reole on the Garonne in the Hundred Years War. The starving, besieged citadel surrendered in January 1346. Such was the lucrative nature of ransoms paid for captured prisoners, that Grosmont alone was reported to have personally accrued £50,000 (over £74 million in today’s money) from an ‘encounter’ at Auberoche the previous month. |
| 11/11/1381 | On 11th November 1381, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, attended an official service in St Paul’s Cathedral with Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, for a commemorative Mass for Gaunt’s first wife, Blanche of Lancaster. Gaunt had earlier challenged Northumberland to a duel as he had not allowed him to enter his castles in the North-East. |
| 11/11/1386 | On 11th November 1386 a treaty was concluded between John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, and his so-called ally King John of Portugal at River Minho on the Castilian-Portuguese frontier. Portugal agreed to help Gaunt invade Leon (W Castile) in 1387 with 5000 troops but as his own commanders had only consented to serve him during 1386, he had to renegotiate terms with them to stop their returning home. |
| 12/11/1355 | On 12th November 1355, Edward III returned to England, curtailing his French expedition in order to march north to repel Scottish forces led by the Earl of March and William, Lord of Douglas. The Scots had raided as far south as Durham and had slaughtered the Berwick-upon-Tweed garrison. John of Gaunt, later lord of Pontefract Castle, accompanied his elder brother, Lionel. Edward’s eventual march to Edinburgh, burning, pillaging and slaying en route became known as ‘Burnt Candlemas’. |
| 13/11/1362 | On 13th November 1362, John of Gaunt received the title ‘Duke of Lancaster’ from his father, Edward III. By then, he owned over thirty castles and estates in England (including Pontefract) and France. |
| 16/11/1326 | On 16th November 1326, Henry of Lancaster, brother of the executed Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and later to be lord of Pontefract, caught the fleeing Edward II and Hugh Despenser, the Younger, near Llantrisant, Wales. The king had been trying to reach Neath to escape his wife’s, Queen Isabella’s, invasion to overthrow him. He was kept prisoner in the keeping of Henry at Monmouth Castle. Despenser suffered a grisly execution of hanging, disembowelment, castration and beheading in Hereford market-place on 24th November. |
| 18/11/1340 | On 18th November 1340, Edward III wrote to Pope Benedict XII stating that the Archbishop of Canterbury had ‘spoken to me separately of my wife, and to my wife of me, in order that, if he were listened to, he might provoke us to such anger as to divide us forever.’ This communication is thought by some to refer to rumours that John of Gaunt, the king’s son and later lord of Pontefract, had been switched in infancy, in Ghent, with the baby of a Flemish woman, due to the death of a royal baby and the queen’s wish to avoid the king’s anger. In 1376, Queen Philippa was said to have confessed on her deathbed in 1369 to Bishop Wykeham that John of Gaunt had been switched; the truth being told just in case there was the likelihood that John would ever become king. |
| 20/11/1311 | On 20th November 1311, Edward II wrote to Thomas’, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, steward and close ally, Sir Robert Holland, concerning his cousin’s illness. The letter shows the affection still appertaining between king and earl; unfortunately, relations were to degenerate rapidly in the not-too-distant future: ‘We are very joyous and pleased about the good news we have heard concerning the improvement in our dear cousin and faithful subject Thomas, earl of Lancaster, and that soon he will be able to ride in comfort. And we send you word and dearly pray that as soon as he is comfortable and able to ride without hurt to his body, you ask him…to hasten to us at parliament.’ |
| 20/11/1361 | On 20th November 1361, The Register of John Thoresby, Archbishop of York, recorded the ordination of the new vicarage of the parish church of Pontefract with the provision of a chantry to sing masses for the soul of Thomas, late Earl of Lancaster, executed for treason at Pontefract in 1322. |
| 20/11/1399 | On 20th November 1399, Robert Waterton, Constable of Pontefract Castle (and also Constable at Tickhill Castle and Castle Donnington), was appointed Henry IV’s Master of Horse. This meant that all matters concerning the horses, hounds, stables, coachhouses, the stud, mews and kennels of the monarch came within his jurisdiction. |
| 24/11/1394 | On 24th November 1394, Charles of Orleans was born in Paris. He became Duke of Orleans in 1407 following the murder of his father, Louis I. In 1406, at the age of eleven, he married his sixteen-year-old cousin, Isabelle (daughter of Charles VI and Queen Isabeau of France) who was the widow of Richard II. Ironically, both Charles and Richard were imprisoned for periods in Pontefract Castle; Richard for a matter of weeks, Charles for two and a half years. |
| 26/11/1322 | On 26th November 1322, Edward II made the following declaration from York:
‘To Richard de Mosleye, the king's Receiver of Pontefract. Order to allow to the prior and convent of Newburgh, in the payment of £18 (£14,000 in today’s money) due from them for corn that belonged to Richard le Waleys at Dunsford’ |
| 26/11/1330 | On 26th November 1330, Parliament opened and Lord Berkeley was tried for his role in Edward II’s murder with Roger Mortimer (Dowager Queen Isabella’s lover) indicted too. Although Edward III wanted Mortimer hanged without trial, Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, insisted on due legal process and (a literally gagged) Mortimer’s trial started on 28th of the month. On the 29th, he was hanged (gagged again and in a plain tunic as a commoner not an earl) at Tyburn.
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| 28/11/1399 | On 28th November 1399, Robert Waterton, Constable of Pontefract Castle (and also Constable at Tickhill Castle and Castle Donnington), was granted the manor of Doubledyke in Gosberton, Lincolnshire, forfeited by Sir John Bushy after his execution for treason by Henry IV. |
| 29/11/1318 | After the execution of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, petitioned Edward II in 1322 to regain his lands taken from him by the Earl of Lancaster. John de Warenne described how Lancaster had attacked his Yorkshire castles and during a meeting at Pontefract had threatened him with death unless he released all his lands to him. These included not only the Yorkshire lands, such as the Wakefield Manor and Conisborough but also manors in North Wales and estates in Norfolk. De Warenne had been forced to comply on the 29th November 1318 when he signed documents to this effect at Doncaster. De Warenne was also given the impossible task of paying Lancaster £50,000 (approximately £47.5 million in today’s money) by Christmas Day at the house of the Friars Minor in Leicester. It appears that Lancaster was attempting to remove de Warenne's influence in the North of England completely. |
| 29/11/1321 | On 29th November 1321, Sir Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who later deposed Edward II and ruled with Queen Isabella during the minority of Edward III, arrived at Pontefract Castle on his travels to the north. |
| 30/11/1318 | The transfer of estates from John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, to the Earl of Lancaster was completed at Kirk Smeaton on the 30th November 1318 when de Warenne granted all his Welsh lands to Thomas for life. Warenne's lands in Norfolk e.g. Castle Acre, were almost certainly released to Lancaster at this time. In addition to lands, Warenne had to release to Lancaster the valuable wardship of Richard Foliot, who later died in 1325 before he became of age. Most of the land releases were ratified by Edward II in January of 1319. Now Lancaster had no rival in Yorkshire, already holding Pontefract Castle and its honour, he had now secured the castles of Sandal and Conisbrough as well as the manors of Sowerby, Halifax, Dewsbury, Wakefield, Thorne, Fishlake, Hatfield and Braithwell. He seemed unchallengeable in the North. |
| Date | Event | | 1/11/1541 | On 1st November 1541, Henry VIII was made aware of Queen Catherine Howard’s supposed infidelity with Thomas Culpepper, a courtier, at Pontefract Castle. A letter to him written by the queen and signed ‘Yours as long as life endures’ was believed to have been sent during this stay at the castle. Not only was the letter interpreted as evidence of an affair but also of Culpepper’s machinations to gain power and control over the queen, with the king in a poor state of health. On 7th November, Archbishop Cranmer led a delegation of councillors to Winchester Palace, Southwark, to question her. |
| 2/11/1536 | On 2nd November 1536, general pardons to all rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace who lived north of Doncaster, for any offences committed before 1st November, were drafted. These were very similar to the terms offered the Lincolnshire rebels the previous month. However, excepted persons were Robert Aske, Hutton of Snape, Kitchen of Beverley, bailiff William Ombler, shoemaker Henry Coke of Durham, Maunsell, Vicar of Brayton and four unnamed others. |
| 9/11/1530 | 
On 9th November 1530, ex-Cardinal Wolsey (but still Archbishop of York) arrived at the Cluniac Priory in Pontefract from Cawood Castle, accompanied by Henry Percy, 6th the Earl of Northumberland. Wolsey had earlier been stripped of his government office and property, and arrested on a charge of high treason. It was probable that he was intended for execution and was on his way to Sheffield to be given into the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Cavendish notes ‘every thoroughfare was blocked up with a living mass of human beings who…craved his blessing as he rode by them’. He reached Sheffield around the 25th and died at Leicester Abbey on the 29th/ 30th November. |
| 11/11/1536 | On 11th November 1536, Lord Darcy called the Archbishop of York and Archdeacon Magnus to witness that the defence of Pontefract Castle during the Pilgrimage of Grace had been impossible due to no powder, ordnance nor artillery stationed there and the king having sent no reply to his pleas for help. |
| 18/11/1594 | On 18th November 1594, John Bramall, later archbishop of Armagh, was baptised at Pontefract. Bramhall was at school in the town and was admitted to Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, graduating in 1612. |
| 23/11/1539 |  On 23rd November 1539, the Cluniac Priory of St John the Evangelist in Pontefract, which had been founded by Robert de Lacy in around 1090, was surrendered to Henry VIII's commissioners. The commissioners' report said that they had 'quietly takine the surrenders and dissolvyed the monasterie of Pountfrette, wher we perceyved no murmure ore gruge in any behalfe bot wer thankefully receyvede.' Pensions were granted to the prior (£50, nearly £50,000 in today's money) and twelve brethren. The prior, James Thwaytes, was then appointed Dean of St. Clement's for life. |
| 26/11/1538 |  On 26th November 1538, The Dominican Friary of Our Lady, Saint Dominic, and Saint Richard, which had been founded in about 1256 by Edmund de Lacy, was surrendered to the Crown Commissioners of Henry VIII. The two bells and roof lead were stripped and sold, as was the entire site. The buildings were demolished for their stone, wood, glass and fittings, which were also sold. The site reverted to agricultural use as pasture land and later became liquorice fields. Pontefract hospital eventually 'spread' over the site after the foundation of the Dispensary in the late 1890’s. |
| 28/11/1536 | On 28th November 1536, after various alleged transgressions of the truce brokered at Pontefract in the Pilgrimage of Grace, rebels began to assemble at the castle with Lord Darcy (returning from his home at Templehurst) and Robert Aske arriving by the 2nd December. |
| Date | Event | | 1/11/1648 |  Parliamentarian John Grant was in charge of the artillery at Pontefract Castle. He was described as an 'expert siege gunner', who was in charge of a 'great iron gunne' at the battle of Chequerfield in March 1645. When the castle and the artillery were seized by Colonel Morris, Grant was imprisoned in the dungeon and could have been there for months. Grant's wife was allowed in twice to see him in November 1648. |
| 3/11/1648 | On 3rd November 1648, Oliver Cromwell came back to Pontefract (where he had been around the 10th of August) during its third siege, fresh from his victory at Preston (17th-19th August) over Royalist and Scots’ forces commanded by the Duke of Hamilton. His main aim was to prevent any more sallies from the garrison by Royalist forces. He spent about two weeks there before being called south on matters concerning the king’s trial. |
| 4/11/1648 |  On 4th November 1648, during the third siege of Pontefract Castle, Cromwell took up headquarters at Byram Hall at Brotherton. (The hall is now mostly demolished apart from a service wing which is grade II listed) |
| 7/11/1648 | On 7th November 1648, a Council of War at Pontefract Castle determined:
7th die Novembr’ 1648
By Col: Marris Governor & Presidt., Jo: Dygby Kt., Hugh Cartwright Kt., Col: Washington, Mr Roger Portington, Col: Wheatley, Col: Portington, Lt. Co. : Ashton, Mr Thimelby, Mr Bently, Mr Rearesbie, Capt. Wm Paulden, Capt. Benson, Capt. Wentworth, Capt. Ashbie, Capt. Marris.
It was debated whether the Garrison of Newhall bee tenible, or noe, being putt to Vote it was carried in the negative, and it was further Ordered that it bee sett on fire, and made vnserviceable for the enimie and that this night followeing Mr Thimelby stay in the house wth sixteene or twenty souldjers : that Col: Wheatley draw forth the rest to Monke-hill ; and if there bee any app’ache of the enemie that they draw off to this Garrison.
THE RULES FOR THE GARRISON.
First. That ye Governor wth all other ye Ofiicers, Soldiers. Gentlemen & there servants and all others wthin this Castle haue passes wth free liberty to march away wth there horses pistolls & swords wth Bagg & Baggage to there severall habitations, there to remaine wth protections & freed from all Oaths & Covenants which they shall conceave contrary to their Consciences.
2 That the Governor, Officers, Soldiers, Gentlemen or any others belonging to this Castle shall not bee sued or molested either att ye Common law, Civill or Marti all Law for any Acts or words said or donne vnto any person or persons in relation to these vnhappy differences since the year 1641.
3 That ye Governor, Officers, Soldiers, Gentlemen or others beelonging to this Castle shall not bee sequestred in there lands or goods, and yt if any of them bee sequestred yt ye sequestration bee taken of imiately vpon ye Surrender of this Castle.
4 That ye Governor, Officers, Soldiers, Gentlemen or any others beelonging to this Castle vpon any of there desiers shall haue liberty wth passes to goe beyond the seas, and to take wth them, if yt please, there wifes & children and there owne goods anytime wthin six monethes after the rendeldo' of this Castle.
5 That all Officers & Soldiers beelonging to this Castle vpon the delivering vp of there armes shall receave a moneths pay to beare there charges home or els to haue free quarter by ye way, and yt noe foote bee compelled to march aboue 8 miles in one day in his iorney.
6 That all wounded or sick person who are not able to march, haue quarters assigned to them, wth allowance for maintenance of free quarter vntil they shalbee able to march and then to have passes wth mony of free quarter in there iorney as in the former Article.
7 That ye Governor's wife wth his children & family, wth all other gent'women, women, children & weak person haue passes to goe to there severall habitations wth there Baggs & Bayggage the day beefore the rendition of the Castle and yt they haue a convoy appointed y'em to secure there passage home.
8 That all prisoners on Pomphrett or els wheare taken since this seege for any thing in relation to this garrison shalbe sett att liberty vpon the rendition thereof and haue the benifitt of these articles.
9 That vpon Complaint made to a major General Lambert hee is to take order that restituition & satisfaction bee made to any person damnified or prediudiced contrary to ye true intent & meang of these Articles. And if ye breach of any Article bee laid vpon the person or persons offending and not imputed to there whole party.
10 That every Townsman of Pontefract or other Gent: or Contriman may haue leave the day before the rendition of ye Castle, to come to, receave there bedding or any other there goods in ye Castle and yt yy may take the same away.
12 That hereupon the Castle of Pomphrett wth all ye Cannon, Armes, Ammunitions together wth all other ye provisions bee delivered to Maior Generall Lambert or to such as ye Parlament or hee shall appoint att or vpon the feast of St John Baptist comonly called Midsomener day next, if in ye meane time wee bee not released by an Army.
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| 9/11/1648 | On 9th November 1648, Oliver Cromwell sent a summons to Colonel John Morris, leader of the besieged Royalist forces within Pontefract Castle, to surrender or see the castle stormed: “Being come hither for the reduction of this place, I thought fit to summon you to deliver your garrison to me, for the use of the Parliament. Those gentlemen and soldiers with you may have better terms than if you should hold it to extremity. I expect your answer this day”. |
| 10/11/1649 | On 10th November 1649, Lieutenant-General Thomas Fairfax, Commander-in-Chief of the New Model Army during the English Civil War, appealed to the Committee of the West Riding of York on behalf of a Mr Stringer for losses occasioned by the ‘Forces’ in the third siege of Pontefract Castle. |
| 11/11/1633 | On 11th November 1633, George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, was born in Thornhill, West Riding of Yorkshire. His father, Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet of Thornhill, had distinguished himself for the Royalists in the Civil War, but was killed in action near York. George Savile was elected as MP for Pontefract in 1660 in the Convention Parliament and in the same year made Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Yorkshire and Colonel of a foot regiment in the Yorkshire Militia. |
| 11/11/1648 | On 11th November 1648, during the third siege of Pontefract Castle, Oliver Cromwell wrote a letter to Colonel Morris asking permission for a Mrs Gray to enter the castle to visit her sick brother: 'Sir - the bearer Mrs Gray is desirous to goe into ye castle to see a brother of hers who lyes sick in ye castle; I desire you would give her your pass to returne within a limited time, I rest, Sr. yr. very humble servt.. O. Cromwell'. |
| 15/11/1648 | On 15th November 1648, during the third siege of Pontefract Castle, Oliver Cromwell wrote to the House of Commons describing the detailed situation at Pontefract. ‘For the Right Honourable the Committee of Lords and Commons sitting at Derby House
Knottingley, near Pontefract
So soon as I came into these parts, I met with an earnest desire ……to take upon me the charge here, for the reducing of the Garrison of Pontefract……things are so represented, as if the Siege were at such a pass that the prize were already gained….I thought fit to let you know what the true state of this Garrison is; as also the condition of the country…..
My Lords, the Castle hath been victualled with Two-hundred and twenty or forty fat cattle, within these three weeks; and they have also gotten in…..salt enough for them and more. So that I apprehended they are victualled for a twelvemonth. The men within are resolved to endure to the utmost extremity; expecting no mercy, as indeed they deserve none. The place is very well known to be one of the strongest inland Garrisons in the Kingdom; well watered; situated upon a rock in every part of it, and therefore difficult to mine. The walls very thick and high, with strong towers; and if battered, very difficult of access……The County is exceedingly impoverished…..nor well able to furnish provisions….my duty to represent unto you….
That moneys be provided for Three complete regiments of Foot and Two of Horse……..Five-hundred Barrels of powder…Six good Battering-guns, with Three-hundred shot to each Gun, be speedily sent down to Hull…We desire also some match and bullet….and two or three of the biggest Mortar-pieces with shells. …this place hath cost the Kingdom some hundred-thousands of pounds already…….And indeed I would not satisfy myself nor my duty to you and them, To put the poor men, at this season of the year, to lie in the field: before we be furnished with shoes, stockings and clothes, for them to cover their nakedness…’
On 18th November 1648, an order of the House, in reply to Cromwell’s 15th November request for money, materiel and provisions to continue the siege of Pontefract Castle, gave not ‘Five-hundred Barrels of powder’ but ‘Two-hundred and fifty’. The lack of provisions for the Parliamentary besiegers was one reason for the castle holding out for another four months! |
| 16/11/1633 | On 16th November 1633, there was the earliest record of a performance, at court, of Shakespeare’s Richard III during the reign of Charles I. The play had been written sometime between 1591-93 and had received regular performances by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men into the 1600s. The play was entered into the Register of the Stationers’ Company on 20th October 1597. Earl Rivers’ makes a memorable reference to Pontefract’s historic role in his impending execution and in English history in Act III, Scene III: “O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison, Fatal and ominous to noble peers! Within the guilty closure of thy walls Richard the second here was hack’d to death; And, for more slander to thy dismal seat, We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.” |
| 20/11/1648 | On 20th November 1648, Oliver Cromwell wrote from his Knottingley quarters to Robert Jenner and John Ashe: ‘GENTLEMEN, - I received an order from the Governor of Nottingham, directed to him from you, To bring up Colonel Owen, or take bail for his coming up to make his composition, he having made an humble Petition to the Parliament for the same.
If I be not mistaken, The House of Commons did vote all those to be Traitors that did adhere to, or bring in, the Scots in their late Invading of this Kingdom under Duke Hamilton. …this being a more prodigious Treason than those that had been perfected before; because the former quarrel was that Englishmen might rule over one another; this to vassalize us to a foreign Nation………….But now, when you have such men in your hands, and it will cost you nothing to do justice; now after all this trouble and the hazard of a Second War,- for a little more money, all offences shall be pardoned!....’ |
| 25/11/1648 | On 25th November 1648, , Oliver Cromwell wrote from his Knottingley quarters to Thomas St Nicholas in London: ‘ I suppose it’s not unknown to you how much the Country is in arrear to the Garrison of Hull: - as likewise how probable it is that the Garrison will break, unless some speedy course be taken to get them money; the soldiers at the present being ready to mutiny, as not having money to buy them bread; and without money the suborn Townspeople will not trust them for the worth of a penny……’ |
| 30/11/1646 | On 30th November 1646, a letter was read out in the Commons related to an attempt alleged to have been made to ‘surprise’ Pontefract Castle during its second siege. The persons concerned in this venture were named as ‘ the Lady Savile, Phillip Ann, Esquire, Mr Michael Ann, Lieutenant-Colonel Morris and Mr Samuelle Savile’. An order was made on 12th January 1647 ‘That those that are sent up as having an hand in betraying Pontefract Castle be referred to the examination of the Council of the Northern Association’ but on 21st January Lieutenant-Colonel Marries (as he was called during the proceedings) was able to convince the House that he was innocent and was discharged, paying no fees. |
| 30/11/1648 | In late November 1648, Oliver Cromwell reported to Parliament on the status and defensive capabilities of Pontefract Castle: “My Lords and Gentlemen I have had sight of a letter to the House of Commons wherein things are so represented, as if the siege were at such a pass that the prize were already gained….I thought fit to let you know, what the true state of this garrison is, … My lords, the Castle has been victualled with 220 or 240 fat cattle, within these three weeks; and they have also gotten in, as I am credibly informed, salt enough for them and more. So that I apprehend they are victualled for a twelvemonth. The men within are resolved to endure to the utmost extremity; expecting no mercy, as indeed they deserve none. The place is very well known to be one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom; well watered; situated upon a rock in every part of it; and, therefore difficult to mine. The walls are very thick and high, with strong towers; and, if battered, very difficult of access, by reason of the depth and steepness of the graft.” Cromwell quickly ordered that monies be made available for three full regiments of foot and two of horse and that 500 barrels of gunpowder and six ‘good battering guns’ be speedily sent by sea to Hull, which must all be at least ‘demi-cannons’. Also, that ‘match and bullet’ and three of the biggest mortar pieces be supplied.. Finally, Cromwell asked that the Parliamentary forces at Pontefract be provided with shoes, stockings and clothes, for them to cover their nakedness… and remarked that anyone under-estimating the castle’s importance and significance should bear in mind that “ place hath cost the kingdom some £100,000 (£10.4m in today’s money) already, and for all I know it may cost you more, it be trifled with” |
On 9th November 1530, ex-Cardinal Wolsey (but still Archbishop of York) arrived at the Cluniac Priory in Pontefract from Cawood Castle, accompanied by Henry Percy, 6th the Earl of Northumberland. Wolsey had earlier been stripped of his government office and property, and arrested on a charge of high treason. It was probable that he was intended for execution and was on his way to Sheffield to be given into the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Cavendish notes ‘every thoroughfare was blocked up with a living mass of human beings who…craved his blessing as he rode by them’. He reached Sheffield around the 25th and died at Leicester Abbey on the 29th/ 30th November.
On 23rd November 1539, the Cluniac Priory of St John the Evangelist in Pontefract, which had been founded by Robert de Lacy in around 1090, was surrendered to Henry VIII's commissioners. The commissioners' report said that they had 'quietly takine the surrenders and dissolvyed the monasterie of Pountfrette, wher we perceyved no murmure ore gruge in any behalfe bot wer thankefully receyvede.' Pensions were granted to the prior (£50, nearly £50,000 in today's money) and twelve brethren. The prior, James Thwaytes, was then appointed Dean of St. Clement's for life.
On 26th November 1538, The Dominican Friary of Our Lady, Saint Dominic, and Saint Richard, which had been founded in about 1256 by Edmund de Lacy, was surrendered to the Crown Commissioners of Henry VIII. The two bells and roof lead were stripped and sold, as was the entire site. The buildings were demolished for their stone, wood, glass and fittings, which were also sold. The site reverted to agricultural use as pasture land and later became liquorice fields. Pontefract hospital eventually 'spread' over the site after the foundation of the Dispensary in the late 1890’s.
Parliamentarian John Grant was in charge of the artillery at Pontefract Castle. He was described as an 'expert siege gunner', who was in charge of a 'great iron gunne' at the battle of Chequerfield in March 1645. When the castle and the artillery were seized by Colonel Morris, Grant was imprisoned in the dungeon and could have been there for months. Grant's wife was allowed in twice to see him in November 1648.
On 4th November 1648, during the third siege of Pontefract Castle, Cromwell took up headquarters at Byram Hall at Brotherton. (The hall is now mostly demolished apart from a service wing which is grade II listed)