This Coming Week In History

This week in history

Date	Event
25/4/1341	On 25th April 1341, Archbishop Stratford of Canterbury, was refused entry to Edward III’s parliament in the Painted Chamber at Westminster, sparking the so-called ‘Crisis of 1341’. Stratford had lambasted the king for his ‘tyrannical’ behaviour and forbade the payment of clerical taxation; even threatening excommunication. Edward had charged the archbishop with treason and informed the pope that the archbishop’s exile was being considered. John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, bravely smoothed the way for Stratford’s welcome back into the king’s favour by arguing that the parliament as then constituted was illegitimate as some attendees should not be present and some who should be leading proceedings were barred.
25/4/1408	On 25th April 1408, whilst at Pontefract, Henry IV delegated to the Earl of Westmorland the right to pardon or punish six rebels captured after the Battle of Bramham Moor (on 19th February)
25/4/1645	In late April 1645, on receiving information that the King had raised the siege at Chester and obtained some advantage over his enemies, the besieged Royalists in Pontefract Castle began to hope that they would  be speedily relieved. What bolstered this hope was the information from a woman who had been taken to William Wether. She said that the besiegers would remain only two or three more days before the castle and that the troops of Parliament would be collected together to watch the approach of the royal army. It seems unlikely that a woman would have information on the plans of the besiegers but the besieged were eager to believe her and had high hopes that the siege of Pontefract Castle would be raised in the near future. This information was true as regards Chester but the conclusions drawn from it were never realised and the besiegers continued to surround the castle.
26/4/1645	The Parliamentary besiegers received a reinforcement of 150 men on 26th April 1645. They came by way of Ferrybridge to the New Hall where they kept up a strong guard. During the night, they sent 100 men from the upper town to Baghill where they 'threw up' a trench. While the besiegers were employed in preparing for their own security, the besieged sallied forth in large parties to prevent them. About sixty men, commanded by Captain Smith and Lieutenant Savile, sallied forth out of Swillington Tower, up Northgate where they greatly alarmed the Parliamentarians who took to arms, both in the town and through all their trenches. A brisk fire was kept up on both sides for half an hour and the besieged retreated without any loss. At the same time, another party sallied out of the east gate and drove the besiegers from their sentries to their works near the New Hall. The besiegers carried on their works on Baghill and kept a hundred musketeers stationed there; they were regularly relieved by the same number from the upper town. The fire of the besiegers was so vigorous and constant that the besieged were closely confined. They could not send their cattle to graze without extreme danger. The garrison now began to suffer and fresh meat was a luxury. Some of the besieged seeing three hogs, which had strayed from Broad Lane, rushed out of the garrison and drove them into the castle. Men were willing to risk their own lives to gain a little fresh meat. During the night, the Parliamentarians worked in completing the trenches. A hundred men were replaced by a hundred and fifty from the town the following morning and they continued with the same work the whole of the day.
27/4/1279	On 27th April 1279, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was appointed as Joint-Lieutenant (locum tenentibus) of England i.e. king’s regent/deputy during King Edward I’s absence in France. This status was in alliance with the Bishops of Hereford and Worcester and the king’s cousin, Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall. Edward departed for France on 11th May in order to take possession of Queen Eleanor’s recently inherited county of Ponthieu and to conclude a treaty with Philip III regarding Edward’s jurisdiction in Gascony.
27/4/1296	On 27th April 1296, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, commanded the only major field action of that year in the war between Edward I and the Scots.  This was the Battle of Dunbar when the Scots were comprehensively defeated. Some estimates put the Scottish dead at 10000 with 100 lords, knights and men at arms taken prisoner. Roxburgh, Jedburgh, Edinburgh and Stirling were soon to surrender to Edward’s forces over the next two months. The Chronicle of Lanercost records: ‘On the fifth of the kalends of May, at the ninth hour of Friday … when the Earl of Warenne and barely a fifth part of the King's army were preparing to go to bed, they [Scots] showed themselves boldly on the brow of a steep hill, provoking their enemy to combat. And although their columns were in close order and strong in numbers, before it was possible to come to close quarters [with them], they broke up and scattered more swiftly than smoke.’
27/4/1473	On 27th April 1473, in a letter dated at Pontefract, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, granted Richard Knaresborough an annuity of six marks (£5,000 in today's money).
27/4/1645	On 27th April 1645, a party of the Parliamentary besiegers horse assembled about noon and marched through the Park to Ferrybridge. On seeing this, a party of brave men led by a soldier called Lowder rushed out of Pontefract Castle without a formal commander and assaulted the Parliamentary troops  under the command of Sir John Savile. Having killed or wounded as many of the enemy as equalled their own number of men they retreated safely back to the castle.
27/4/1645	On 27th April 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ Sunday the beseegers Came againe from the upp’ towne to Baghill about 8 a Clocke, & there Continued all the day, shooting very hard at any they Could see either wthn or about the Castle wth about 100 musketeres, so that we Could not put forth our Cattell to grasse. in the fore no one there Came downe 3 very good hoggs downe at brode lane end, towards the Castle, and our Souldyers seeing them (out of Barbican) went out and fetcht then in wch was a good booty for the Souldyers…’
28/4/1308	On 28th April 1308, the nobility met with Edward II at the convening of parliament. The feeling amongst the lords of the realm had been growing, for a while, that Edward II could not meet and govern the needs of his kingdom. Earlier in the month, the earls had met at Henry de Lacy’s castle at Pontefract to discuss their next steps. The only real supporter, of influence, for Edward in the country was Thomas of Lancaster. The earls met to draw up a document that was presented to Edward at the parliament of 28th April. Henry de Lacy - who was now 58 and had been the right-hand man of Edward I - was a moderating force on the final document that emerged. However, on this date, Henry would confront the king on behalf of the peers stating ‘Homage and oath of allegiance are more in respect of the crown than in respect of the kings’s person’. If the king could not be guided by reason, then his subjects had a duty to act to ‘re-instate the king in the dignity of the crown’; by force if necessary.
28/4/1376	On 28th April 1376, the Good Parliament opened in the King’s Chamber at Westminster Palace; Parliament not having sat for three years, its longest adjournment since the turn of the century. Edward III was unpopular and desperate for funds and with his heir, the Black Prince, too ill to continue attending (he died six weeks later on the 8th June), John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, was made his representative. This Parliament was notable for electing the first ever Speaker of the House of Commons, Peter de la Mare, a Hertfordshire knight and a steward of the Earl of March.
28/4/1442	Richard Duke of York's (lord of Sandal Castle) son Edward, Earl of March, was born at Rouen on 28th April 1442. He would later become King Edward IV.
28/4/1645	During the night of 28th April 1645, the Parliamentary besiegers employed at least 300 men on their entrenchments at Baghill. The next morning, the Royalist garrison, hoping to keep some of their cattle alive, put them out to graze but were compelled to drive them back in with the loss of one cow and two horses. The governor of the castle hearing nothing satisfactory of the King's affairs, and seeing the increasing force of the enemy, decided to send four of his officers to Newark to inform his majesty of the state of the garrison and to obtain, if possible, some relief.
28/4/1648	Royalist Sir Marmaduke Langdale, having seized Berwick on 28th April 1648 and in anticipation of the Duke of Hamilton’s invasion of England from Scotland in support of Charles I, assembled a force of some 3,000 in Cumberland and Westmorland. The plan was to march south and link up with forces commanded by Colonel Morris who was to seize Pontefract Castle days later.
29/4/1484	On the 29th April 1484, Richard III arrived at Pontefract Castle on his northern progress of that year, before heading off to York. From there, Richard would go on to Middleham, Barnard Castle, Newcastle and Durham which he would reach on the 14th May.
29/4/1645	During the night of 29th April 1645, four  Royalist officers departed from the castle, accompanied by twenty musketeers, and attacked the enemy along part of Northgate while their friends pushed forward and cleared the lines.
29/4/1892	On 29th April 1892, a display of artefacts and antiquities was opened after the construction of a small museum at Pontefract Castle. A similar collection is now in the castle's visitor centre.
30/4/1230	On 30th April 1230, John de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, sailed out of Portsmouth with Henry III to secure most of Brittany and Poitou, areas held before 1224. De lacy received the manors of Collingham and Bardesy as reward for this service.
30/4/1408	Having spent three weeks over Easter at Pontefract, Henry IV left the castle on 30th April 1408 arriving at Windsor by 21st May and the Tower of London 29th-31st May. Henry had headed for Yorkshire to supervise the arrests and executions of fugitives from the Battle of Bramham Moor, south of Wetherby, in February in which Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, was killed and his invading army from Scotland routed. Percy’s ‘treacherous’ body was hanged, drawn and quartered, his head placed on London Bridge and other parts of his anatomy displayed in various locations.
30/4/1474	On 30th April 1474, in letters dated that day at Pontefract, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, ordered £29 12s (£20,300 in today's money) worth of seafish from Thomas and Robert Burdon for his household and £54 (£37,000 in today's money) of sheep and cattle from Matthew Metcalfe.
30/4/1645	On 30th April 1645, the Parliamentary besiegers of Pontefract Castle relieved the guard at Baghill with at least 150 men and through the day a heavy fire was kept up on both sides. The besieged Royalists had one horse killed in the Barbican and the enemy had several men killed and wounded by the musketry from the Round Tower. During the night, the besiegers burnt two houses; one at Monkhill and a smaller one by the castle walls.
30/4/1646	On 30th April 1646, it was resolved by the House of Commons that Royalist Sandal Castle should be made untenable as a military garrison having being besieged three times in 1645 by Parliamentary forces.
1/5/1207	On 1st May 1207, King John stayed at Pontefract Castle on his not infrequent ‘processions’ throughout his realm. The 3rd of the month saw him at Derby, 4th at Hunston, 5th Lichfield, 8th Gloucester, 10th Bristol etc. culminating via nine other venues at Lewes on the 31st. These regular nation-wide itineraries were a feature of John’s reign: some surmising that they were for personal protection i.e. never sleeping in the same place for long, as much as surveying his kingdom.
1/5/1218	In May 1218, John de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, accompanied Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester and 1st Earl of Lincoln, on the Fifth Crusade to Damietta in Egypt, returning in 1220.
1/5/1230	In May 1230, Edmund de Lacy, later lord of Pontefract, was born. He succeeded his father, John de Lacy, on his death in 1240 but, being a minor, was raised in the royal household of Henry III as a ward of the crown albeit his sisters initially remained with their/his mother, Margaret, until 1243. Edmund was in the custody of Richard le Norman and John de Barsham, effectively his tutors.
1/5/1247	On 1st May 1247, Edmund de Lacy, later lord of Pontefract, married Alasia di Saluzzo in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Alasia (Alice) was the granddaughter of Amadeus, Count of Savoy, the uncle of Queen Eleanor of Provence. The marriage was highly politically motivated: forming part of the Anglo-Savoyard treaty of 1246 which bolstered Henry III’s foreign interests against Louis IX’s encroachments; it strengthened Queen Eleanor’s Savoyard faction at court; and attempted to pre-empt any potentially unfavourable alliances should Edmund’s mother re-marry.
1/5/1248	In May 1248, Edmund de Lacy, later lord of Pontefract, and still legally underage, was permitted to inherit all of his estates for a relief of £858 (£626,000 in today's money).
1/5/1265	In early May 1265, John de Warenne, 6th earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, landed on the coast of Pembrokeshire along with William de Valence and a force of 120 men. John was joining with Gilbert de Clare, the 6th earl of Gloucester - some historians show Gilbert as the 7th earl -  in the ongoing struggle between Simon de Montfort and King Henry III. Gilbert had decided to change sides and withdraw his support of Simon which would eventually lead to Simon's death at the Battle of Evesham on 4th August 1265. It is not known for sure whether John de Warenne was at the Battle of Evesham, but it is highly likely.
1/5/1278	On 1st May 1278, Dominus Petrus de Cestreia (Peter of Chester or Peter of Lascy, illegitimate son of John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, Constable of Chester and Earl of Lincoln) was the first witness to his nephew Henry de Lacy’s charter to the burgesses of Pontefract, being described as Provost of Beverley.
1/5/1293	In May 1293, King Edward I asked his brother, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster (father of Thomas, future Earl) and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and lord of Pontefract, to go to France to try to resolve diplomatic problems with the King of France, Philip IV. Quarrels between English and French sailors from Normandy had resulted in the former attacking La Rochelle and Philip’s letters to Edward were discourteous, failing to address him as King of England nor acknowledging him as Duke of Aquitaine.
1/5/1315	On 1st May 1315, the Constable of Barnard Castle was ordered to allow Thomas of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, and his men, who were going north on the king’s business, to use the castle whenever they liked and on 8th June his envoys, on their way north on Scottish affairs, were given safe-conducts.
1/5/1360	On 1st May 1360, after advice from Henry, Duke of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, negotiations with the French to seek a permanent peace took place at Bretigny. Edward III agreed in principle to relinquish his claim on the French throne in return for sovereignty of all the territories he had inherited as a vassal and those gained by conquest. Henry (according to Froissart) cautioned Edward: ‘You can press on with your struggle and pass the rest of your life fighting or you can make terms with your enemy and end the war now with honour’. Further, and dubiously attributable remarks by Henry warned: ‘’we might lose in a single day all that we have gained in twenty years’.
1/5/1483	On 1st May 1483, Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Edward IV, went into sanctuary at Westminster, the day after Edward V (her son) met Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lord of Sandal, and the Duke of Buckingham at Stony Stratford on his way to London.
1/5/1484	On 1st May 1484, a German Silesian knight and traveller, Niclas Von Popplau, passed or visited  Pontefract on a visit to King Richard III who was in residence at York. This visit may have been a diplomatic mission on behalf of Maximillian Duke of Burgundy, who was in conflict with the French king Louis XI who also claimed the Burgundian title.  This is a translation of the 15th century text of his visit by Niclas; “Ten miles from Doncaster as we travel towards York, there is a castle. In there the king keeps his treasure and all great gentlemen, also the kings children and the sons of princes, which are kept like prisoners. And the castle is called Pons Fractus as the king himself by the name of Richard King of England .... told me and explained to me. I arrived on the day Phillip and Jacobi, that is the first of May (1484) on Saturday, and graciously granted me audience on the next day.” It is interesting to speculate who the 'children and sons of princes' may have been. Much controversy has surrounded the deaths of the two princes in the Tower in 1483, but it worth noting what Popplau then goes on to say; 'And King Richard who reigns now, had put to death the sons of King Edward, they say, so that not they but he was crowned. But many say (and I count myself amongst them) they still live and are kept in a very dark cellar'. Readers are invited to share their thoughts and comments and any evidence they have on this world - famous 'murder mystery', with us via the 'Contact Us' button on the right hand side of this page.
1/5/1528	In May 1528, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, and the illegitimate son of Henry VIII was in residence in Pontefract.  Henry was the result of a 'liaison' between Henry VIII and one of Catherine of Aragon’s ladies in waiting, perhaps Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount. Henry Fitzroy had spent the greater part of 1527 and all the early part of 1528 at Pontefract and it is known from a letter written by William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton and brother of Catherine Parr, to Cardinal Wolsey, that a sweating sickness was reported in Pontefract in May 1528. Henry Fitzroy was in good health  but ‘ there has six persones lately disseased within the lordship of Pontefracte … and that many young children bee sick of the pokkes nere thereabouts”. Henry was moved to Ledston (Ledston Hall), a house that belonged to the Prior of Pontefract.
1/5/1645	On 1st May 1645, the Parliamentary besiegers, having  relieved their guard at Baghill,  began to erect a strong triangular work which they walled with stone and filled with earth. The besieged Royalists planted their cannon against this work and, by well-directed shot, greatly annoyed the Parliamentarians. Several sallies were made by small parties against the besiegers at Monkhill and the troops of Sir John Savile were driven from their positions several times during the day, with the loss of some killed and more wounded. In the afternoon, three of the garrison (without orders) sallied forth against the Parliamentarians and continued their assault until the enemy began to retaliate and they retreated. One of them, Nathaniel Sutton, a barber, was shot dead, another received a fracture to the skull but recovered and a ball entered the doublet of a third who had stooped to avoid the fire of the enemy. The photo above is of a 3kg cannon ball fired from a medium-sized cannon used during the Civil War.

Last week in history

Date	Event
21/4/1194	On 21st April 1194, Roger de Lacy, Constable of Chester, legally acquired the lands of Robert de Lacy, viz the honours of Pontefract and Clitheroe, by virtue of an agreement with his grandmother, Albreda (Aubrey) de Lisours.
21/4/1317	Royal envoys visited Thomas of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, at Donington between 21st April and 2nd May 1317, and again between 29th May and 12th June 1317. It may have been the latter embassy which delivered a writ of summons to the Earl to be at Newcastle on 8th July 1317 for a new campaign; was this summons intended as a final test of the Earl’s loyalty?
22/4/1444	Richard Duke of York's (lord of Sandal Castle) daughter, Elizabeth, was born at Rouen on Saturday 22nd April 1444. The photo shows Elizabeth's effigy St Andrew's parish church, Wingfield, Suffolk.
22/4/1472	On 22nd April 1472, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lord of Sandal, was given papal dispensation to marry Anne Neville as they were related within four degrees: they shared descent from Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, and Joan Beaufort and were both descended from Edmund of Langley.
22/4/1473	On 22nd April 1473 (possibly 1476) a signet letter close (a letter sent closed-up and sealed with a signet ring and written on paper not vellum) signed and dated from Pontefract was sent by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to a group of Westmorland councillors regarding a dispute between some tenants of Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland, concerning leaseholds around Raby and Brancepeth in County Durham. The letter was sold at Christies in 2012 for £21,250.
22/4/1645	On 22nd April, the Scottish troops aiding the Parliamentarians marched away through the Park and were replaced by troops commanded by Sir John Savile. From this time, the besiegers regularly brought up parties to Baghill putting them behind hedges and in trenches. Keeping a constant watch on the garrison, they poured in their shot and opened fire at every available opportunity, which the besieged, in like manner, returned. In these attacks, lives were lost on both sides but it does not appear that the besieged  Royalists were ever able to sally beyond the enemy's positions as, from this time, they were completely surrounded.
23/4/1144	On 23rd April 1144, the Castle of Rouen, the Duchy of Normandy’s capital city, garrisoned by William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal castle, surrendered to Count Geoffrey of Anjou, husband of Empress Matilda, after a three months’ siege. Geoffrey was soon invested as Duke of Normandy, ceding Gisors and the Vexin to Louis VII of France in return for his recognising Geoffrey as the new Duke.
23/4/1344	On 23rd April 1344,  according to The Complete Peerage, under 'the Founders of the Order of the Garter'  the Order was first instituted (other dates from 1344 to 1351 have been proposed). Henry of Grosmont, first Duke of Lancaster, who was the nephew of Thomas 2nd Earl of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, was the second inductee to this order. After Thomas' execution in 1322, the Honour of Pontefract was eventually restored to Thomas's brother Henry, the father of Henry Grosmont.
23/4/1358	On St. George’s Day 1358, a great tournament was held at Windsor in celebration of the English victory at Poitiers and capture of the French king. Unfortunately for Henry, Duke of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, he was severely wounded whilst jousting with a knight.
23/4/1361	In April 1361 (probably St George’s Day the 23rd), John of Gaunt, not long after the death of his father-in-law, Henry, 1st Duke of Lancaster (lord of Pontefract) and soon to receive this title from Edward III, was fast-tracked into the Order of the Garter.
23/4/1377	On 23rd April 1377, Edward III nominated the heirs to the kingdom for the Order of the Garter: his grandsons Richard of Bordeaux (later Richard II) and Henry of Bolingbroke (later Henry IV and son and heir of John of Gaunt who had made Pontefract Castle his personal residence). In addition, Edward also knighted his youngest son, Thomas of Woodstock and the young heirs to the earldoms of Oxford, Salisbury, and Stafford and the heirs to the baronies of Mowbray, Beaumont and Percy concluding with knighting his own illegitimate son, John Southeray (by Edward’s mistress Alice Perrers).
23/4/1643	On 23rd April 1643, Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, wrote to Charles: ‘My dear heart, …..Having heard that Pontefract was besieged, our army advanced, as soon as money could be got to make it march: they set off, and by the road, I gave six thousand pieces, for without that, they could not have marched; but this truth should not be known by every body. The army marched to Pontefract; I hear that the rebels quitted the place, and went to Leeds to join the rest of Fairfax’s forces: our troops followed them, and it was resolved to besiege Leeds……but when our cannon came to play, it produced no effect, on which a council of war was called…..’
23/4/1645	On 23rd April 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded:' …came the beseegers from the upp’ towne to baghill wth 50 musketeres, 7 lined the hedge 7 the dike wth them; they played very soare against the Castle but did no harme, onely a young maid was Drying of Clothes in Mr Taytons Orchard (Close by the lower Castle gate). She was shott into the head whereof she dyed that night…’
24/4/1483	On 24th April 1483, Richard Duke of Gloucester came to Pontefract Castle prior to meeting Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers and Richard Grey at Northampton on the 29th. It was at Northampton that Gloucester had agreed to meet with his supporter Buckingham, who had a retinue of 300 men, the same as the Duke of Gloucester. After an apparently convivial dinner Earl Rivers and Richard Grey found that their rooms were locked from the outside. In the morning, they were arrested by Gloucester and Buckingham. Following the arrest, Richard and his retinue rode the fifteen miles to Stony Stratford where they dismissed the king's (Edward V) escort and arrested two of his household; the chamberlain Thomas Vaughan and Richard Haute, who along with Earl Rivers and Richard Grey would be subsequently executed at Pontefract in June. It was from that day that Richard's plan to take control of Edward V gathered pace.
24/4/1645	On 24th April 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ in the afternoone, at the burial of the maid, a few of our musketeers attended the Corpes to the Church, & gave a valley of Shott, wch gave the beseegers in the upp towne an Allarum…’
24/4/1885	On 24th April 1885, Thomas William Tew JP of Carleton Grange, Pontefract, was installed as Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master for the West Riding of Yorkshire (for the Most Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of England) at the Albert Hall, Leeds. This was by command of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, its Grand Master on 10th January that year.
25/4/1341	On 25th April 1341, Archbishop Stratford of Canterbury, was refused entry to Edward III’s parliament in the Painted Chamber at Westminster, sparking the so-called ‘Crisis of 1341’. Stratford had lambasted the king for his ‘tyrannical’ behaviour and forbade the payment of clerical taxation; even threatening excommunication. Edward had charged the archbishop with treason and informed the pope that the archbishop’s exile was being considered. John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, bravely smoothed the way for Stratford’s welcome back into the king’s favour by arguing that the parliament as then constituted was illegitimate as some attendees should not be present and some who should be leading proceedings were barred.
25/4/1408	On 25th April 1408, whilst at Pontefract, Henry IV delegated to the Earl of Westmorland the right to pardon or punish six rebels captured after the Battle of Bramham Moor (on 19th February)
25/4/1645	In late April 1645, on receiving information that the King had raised the siege at Chester and obtained some advantage over his enemies, the besieged Royalists in Pontefract Castle began to hope that they would  be speedily relieved. What bolstered this hope was the information from a woman who had been taken to William Wether. She said that the besiegers would remain only two or three more days before the castle and that the troops of Parliament would be collected together to watch the approach of the royal army. It seems unlikely that a woman would have information on the plans of the besiegers but the besieged were eager to believe her and had high hopes that the siege of Pontefract Castle would be raised in the near future. This information was true as regards Chester but the conclusions drawn from it were never realised and the besiegers continued to surround the castle.
26/4/1645	The Parliamentary besiegers received a reinforcement of 150 men on 26th April 1645. They came by way of Ferrybridge to the New Hall where they kept up a strong guard. During the night, they sent 100 men from the upper town to Baghill where they 'threw up' a trench. While the besiegers were employed in preparing for their own security, the besieged sallied forth in large parties to prevent them. About sixty men, commanded by Captain Smith and Lieutenant Savile, sallied forth out of Swillington Tower, up Northgate where they greatly alarmed the Parliamentarians who took to arms, both in the town and through all their trenches. A brisk fire was kept up on both sides for half an hour and the besieged retreated without any loss. At the same time, another party sallied out of the east gate and drove the besiegers from their sentries to their works near the New Hall. The besiegers carried on their works on Baghill and kept a hundred musketeers stationed there; they were regularly relieved by the same number from the upper town. The fire of the besiegers was so vigorous and constant that the besieged were closely confined. They could not send their cattle to graze without extreme danger. The garrison now began to suffer and fresh meat was a luxury. Some of the besieged seeing three hogs, which had strayed from Broad Lane, rushed out of the garrison and drove them into the castle. Men were willing to risk their own lives to gain a little fresh meat. During the night, the Parliamentarians worked in completing the trenches. A hundred men were replaced by a hundred and fifty from the town the following morning and they continued with the same work the whole of the day.
27/4/1279	On 27th April 1279, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was appointed as Joint-Lieutenant (locum tenentibus) of England i.e. king’s regent/deputy during King Edward I’s absence in France. This status was in alliance with the Bishops of Hereford and Worcester and the king’s cousin, Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall. Edward departed for France on 11th May in order to take possession of Queen Eleanor’s recently inherited county of Ponthieu and to conclude a treaty with Philip III regarding Edward’s jurisdiction in Gascony.
27/4/1296	On 27th April 1296, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, commanded the only major field action of that year in the war between Edward I and the Scots.  This was the Battle of Dunbar when the Scots were comprehensively defeated. Some estimates put the Scottish dead at 10000 with 100 lords, knights and men at arms taken prisoner. Roxburgh, Jedburgh, Edinburgh and Stirling were soon to surrender to Edward’s forces over the next two months. The Chronicle of Lanercost records: ‘On the fifth of the kalends of May, at the ninth hour of Friday … when the Earl of Warenne and barely a fifth part of the King's army were preparing to go to bed, they [Scots] showed themselves boldly on the brow of a steep hill, provoking their enemy to combat. And although their columns were in close order and strong in numbers, before it was possible to come to close quarters [with them], they broke up and scattered more swiftly than smoke.’
27/4/1473	On 27th April 1473, in a letter dated at Pontefract, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, granted Richard Knaresborough an annuity of six marks (£5,000 in today's money).
27/4/1645	On 27th April 1645, a party of the Parliamentary besiegers horse assembled about noon and marched through the Park to Ferrybridge. On seeing this, a party of brave men led by a soldier called Lowder rushed out of Pontefract Castle without a formal commander and assaulted the Parliamentary troops  under the command of Sir John Savile. Having killed or wounded as many of the enemy as equalled their own number of men they retreated safely back to the castle.
27/4/1645	On 27th April 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ Sunday the beseegers Came againe from the upp’ towne to Baghill about 8 a Clocke, & there Continued all the day, shooting very hard at any they Could see either wthn or about the Castle wth about 100 musketeres, so that we Could not put forth our Cattell to grasse. in the fore no one there Came downe 3 very good hoggs downe at brode lane end, towards the Castle, and our Souldyers seeing them (out of Barbican) went out and fetcht then in wch was a good booty for the Souldyers…’

Next week in history

Date	Event
5/5/1242	On 5th May 1242, the Henry III Fine Rolls recorded: ‘To the barons of the Exchequer. The king has committed to the venerable father in Christ Walter (de Gray) archbishop of York, primate of England, all lands, castles and vaccaries (a place for keeping cattle) with all their appurtenances formerly of John de Lacy, formerly earl of Lincoln (and lord of Pontefract) which are in the king’s hands outside the county of Chester, excepting the castle and manor of Donington and the manors of Snaith and Wadenhoe, to hold at farm for the five years next following the Invention of the Holy Cross in the twenty-sixth year, rendering for each manor per annum at the Exchequer the extent at which they have been extended by Nicholas de Molis, Sheriff of Yorkshire, by the king’s order, one moiety (one part) thereof at Michaelmas and the other moiety at Easter, namely £122 19s 10d (“over £218,000 in today’s money) for the manor of Pontefract…….’
5/5/1550	On the 5th May 1550, Edward VI again issued the Pontefract's Charter. A confirmatory charter was issued by James I in 1606-07.
5/5/1645	On 5th May 1645, and the following days there was little firing on both the Royalist and Parliamentarian sides. There were not more than thirty or forty Parliamentarians on guard at Baghill.
6/5/1323	On 6th May 1323, Henry of Lancaster, brother of the executed’ traitor’ Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, instructed his attorneys Sir Thomas Blount and Sir Richard Rivers to petition Edward II for the restoration to him of the earldoms of Lancaster and Leicester, albeit not the earldom of Derby.
6/5/1389	In May 1389, Richard II, then twenty-two, later to be Pontefract Castle’s most famous prisoner, declared himself of age, thereby able to rule in his own right.
6/5/1471	On 6th May 1471, two days after the Battle of Tewkesbury, a court of chivalry under Richard, High Constable of England, Duke of Gloucester and steward of the Duchy of Lancaster north of Trent with official residence at Pontefract Castle, convened to try various opponents for treason. Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, Hugh Courtenay, cousin of the Earls of Devon, and Sir John Langstrother, prior of the military order of St John were amongst the Lancastrians executed after makeshift trials.
6/5/1645	On 6th May 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘…There Came in this Day a horselitter from Ferrybrigges into the towne, wch went away next morning….We supposed did Carrye away summe wounded officer in it…….This night there Came into the Castle a Sargient from the enemy, wch tould us summe newes of the enemyes p’ceedings in the towne..’
7/5/1202	On 7th May 1202, Hamelin de Plantagenet died. He was the illegitimate half brother of Henry II and a loyal supporter of the king. He provided a strong defence in Yorkshire against Scottish raiding parties. In 1164, he married Isabel de Warenne, who owned Sandal Castle. Hamelin was a significant builder and military innovator as his castle at Conisborough shows. The earliest stone castle at Sandal is likely to be his work.
7/5/1285	From 7th May 1285 until 28th June, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was at Edward I’s court witnessing forty-one royal charters (from 5th May – 20th June 1289 he witnessed fifty-four). As on numerous past occasions when Henry had undertaken this function, this was an indication of his favoured standing in royal circles.
7/5/1645	On 7th May 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ This morning the enemy shott of theire drake from Baghill to the Castle (it was loaded with Case shott) 7 scarce hit the Castle, for summe p’te of it hit the Stable, & summee the Battlementes of the Castle, & the rest flew over the Castle, but did no hurt at all…’
8/5/1202	On 8th May 1202, Hamelin de Plantagenet, was succeeded by his son William de Warenne, the 5th Earl of Surrey who became owner of Sandal Castle. William remained loyal to King John throughout his reign, being one of the few nobles who did. William was one of the four nobles whose name appeared on  Magna Carta for King John: "John by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, count of Anjou....greeting. Know that we, inspired by God and for the salvation of our soul........and the reform of our kingdom....... and of the noble men, William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl of Warenne, William earl of Arundel...."
8/5/1360	On 8th May 1360, a treaty was agreed between England and France at Brétigny, near Chartres after negotiations between Henry of Grosmont, lord of Pontefract, and French ambassadors. Its terms were modelled on an earlier agreement between Edward III and King John II at London in May 1358 with Edward renouncing his claim to the crown of France and former Plantagenet possessions of Anjou, Maine, Touraine and Normandy. In return, Edward would hold Aquitaine, Ponthieu, Calais and Guînes ‘in all freedom and perpetual liberty, as sovereign lord and liege and neighbour to the king and realm of France, without recognising the king or crown of France as sovereign over him, nor paying him homage, showing obedience or being in subjection to him.’ King John’s ransom was reduced to 3 million gold crowns (nearly £360 million in today’s money).
8/5/1436	On the 8th May 1436 a Royal Commission named Richard Duke of York , owner of Sandal castle,  as the new Lieutenant-General of France, although Richard would not take up the office until June of that year and the appointment was for a specified period of one year only. Richard was appointed to this role again in July 1440. The fact that Richard was expected to control English lands in France from his own funds whilst, when replaced by Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset and grandson of John of Gaunt, was provided with money from the Crown, would be a source of great enmity to York and one of the prime reasons for the bitter rivalry between the Houses of York and  Beaufort that would drive the Wars of the Roses.
8/5/1483	On 8th May 1483, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lord of Sandal, was named Lord High Protector of the realm due to Edward IV’s death the previous month and Edward V’s minority. Duties included governance of the country and preparations for Edward V’s coronation. Within seven weeks, Parliament declared Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville invalid and also Edward V’s claim to the throne due to his illegitimacy.
8/5/1645	On 8th May 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘…this night Captin Horsfold (wth his man) went forth to Sandoll Castle, and allso Bellwether was sent againe towards newarke…’
8/5/1756	On 8th May 1756, markets for horned cattle at Pontefract were opened having not been allowed for several years on account of ‘a distemper which had so long raged amongst them……The distemper continued for many years, and many were very great sufferers…..notwithstanding so many died yet beef was not dear…’
9/5/1308	The formal grant of the Lord High Stewardship of England to Thomas of Lancaster, later lord of Pontefract, and his heirs was given on 9th May 1308. It is an important indication of Lancaster’s position at this time, of his influence with Edward II, and perhaps of the king’s feckless generosity, that he was able to obtain for himself an honour which Edward I had been unwilling to grant even to his own brother, Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster and Thomas’ father.
9/5/1384	Probably on 9th May 1384, a Carmelite friar, John Latimer, warned Richard II that his uncle, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, was plotting to kill him. Gaunt, summoned to a public meeting to answer the accusation, stated to Richard: ‘Oh why, my Lord, do you trust such informers? Am I not your uncle? Am I not your protector? Am I not the chief man in the realm after you? What could influence me to betray or even kill you, when I would gain nothing from your death?’ Latimer was imprisoned at Salisbury Castle and then tortured to death before his corpse was dragged through Salisbury on a hurdle, before burial.
9/5/1402	On 9th May 1402, the authorities in Cumberland and Westmorland were ordered to arrest anyone claiming that Richard II, who had ‘died’ at Pontefract Castle in February 1400, was still alive.
9/5/1645	On 9th May 1645, each party recommenced fire. The besieged Royalists in Pontefract Castle shot an officer and one soldier at the works at the top of Broad Lane. About four o'clock, the besieging Parliamentarians set fire to several houses and barns in different parts of the town.
10/5/1312	On 10th May 1312,  John de Warenne, lord of Sandal Castle,  started to besiege Scarborough Castle along with the Earls of Pembroke, Percy and Clifford. John was normally loyal to the king but Edward II's 'antics' with Piers Gaveston had proved too much for him.
10/5/1326	On 10th May 1326, John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, was made Chief Commissioner of Array in the North by Edward II. Later Commissions were made for de Warenne by Edward III to treat with Scotland (1327) and France (1331).
10/5/1403	On 10th May 1403, four years after her husband, John of Gaunt’s, lord of Pontefract, death, Katherine Swynford, Dowager Duchess of Lancaster, died and was buried at Lincoln Cathedral where her son, Henry Beaufort, ruled as bishop. Her youngest child, Joan Neville (neé Beaufort), Countess of Westmorland, was buried with her many years later. Gaunt’s marrying his mistress and legitimising their children had major dynastic ramifications: they were the great-grandparents of Edward IV and Richard III and the great-great-grandparents of the first Tudor king, Henry VII.
10/5/1645	On 10th May 1645, the besieging Parliamentarians made a new work on Monkhill. The work was in the form of a half moon or crescent shape and afforded protection to the besiegers but constantly annoyed the besieged Royalists. If they made a sally up Northgate, they were exposed to the fire from the Parliamentary forces from Monkhill. The following day, a strong fire was kept up on both sides. The besieged observed the enemy send three or four wagons loaded with goods in the direction of Ferrybridge. This led them to believe the besiegers were getting ready to depart. Strengthening their belief was the sight of sheep and cattle being driven along the same road the following day. It was found afterwards that the wagons and animals were being sent to York to supply the troops there. The besiegers received on the same day a reinforcement of a troop of horse from Doncaster, which joined the main guard at the New Hall.
11/5/1138	On 11th May 1138, William de Warenne, the 2nd Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal castle, died and was buried in Lewes, Surrey. William had been born circa 1071 and had taken control of the castle in 1088. His father William, the 1st Earl of Surrey, was one of William the Conqueror's most trusted barons, who on his death was either the third or fourth richest magnate in England. It is assumed that the builder of the first Norman castle at Sandal was William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey. The earthenwork defence could well have been finished before his death in 1138.
11/5/1264	On 11th May 1264, Henry III arrived at Lewes which was in the keeping of his supporter John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, prior to the Battle of Lewes during the Second Barons’ War. The previous month, de Warenne and Roger de Leybourne had been besieged by the 6th Earl of Leicester’s (Simon de Montfort) forces at Rochester Castle.
11/5/1392	On 11th May 1392, John of Gaunt’s, lord of Pontefract, party arrived at Calais en route to Gaunt meeting Charles VI of France at Amiens. Negotiations surrounded the Duchy of Aquitaine with agreement that it should contain Agenais, Perigord, Quercy and Rouerge, and Angouleme which had all been re-conquered by Charles V. The French were to retain Poitou and the Limousin. Gaunt would hold the territories as a hereditary appanage (perquisite) with direct homage by him as duke to the King of France thereby obviating the King of England having to perform ‘liege homage’ to another sovereign and so diminishing his authority.
11/5/1402	On 11th May 1402, Henry IV wrote to the prior of the Dominicans at Oxford warning him to restrain his preachers from broadcasting that Richard II, who had ‘died’ at Pontefract Castle in February 1400, was still alive.
11/5/1645	On 11th May 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘This day being Sunday, we had 2 learned Sermonds, the one by Doctor Bradlay, the other by Mr Oley (as we have everySonday 2)…..allso we had one of our men was looking out of a Porthole on the Round Tower (A wright by trade), & seldome using to Come thether, but he was shott thorow the Arms, and though at a weekes end full of payne yet there is no signe of his death. We had also a boy about 9 yeares of age (as he was getting of greene sawse (a type of sorrel chewed by children and also used medicinally) without Swillington Tower) was dangerously shott in the Belly from their works at Munkhill.’
11/5/2016	On 11th May 2016, Wessex Archaeology announced that it would be taking part in the community archaeology project which formed an important part of the Pontefract Castle, 'Key to the North' project. Its aim was to collect finds from a spoil heap deposited during the late 19th century on the area covering the former buildings known as the Royal Apartments (Queen's Tower,King's Tower either side of the Great Hall).