This Coming Week In History

This week in history

Date	Event
10/3/1322	In the bitter feuding between the king and some of his nobles, Edward II’s troops were able to cross the Trent at Walton on 10th March 1322 and advanced upon Burton from the south. Thomas of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, was outflanked and moved from his positions at the bridge to a field outside of Burton, firing the town as he went. Once he realised how badly outnumbered his men were, and that Sir Robert Holland was not moving to his aid, Lancaster decided to withdraw and was pursued by Edward’s forces. The Chronicle of Lanercost records that: ‘When, therefore, the whole strength of the king's party south of Trent was assembled at Burton-upon-Trent, some 60,000 fighting men, in the second week of Lent, about the feast of the Forty Martyr Saints, the Earl of Lancaster and the Earl of Hereford (who had married the king's sister) attacked them with barons, knights and other cavalry, and with foot archers ; but the earl's forces were soon thrown into confusion and retired before the king's army, taking their way towards Pontefract, where the earl usually dwelt. The king followed him with his army at a leisurely pace, but there was no slaughter to speak of on either side ; and although the earl would have awaited the king there and given him battle, yet on the advice of his people he retired, with his army into the northern district.’
10/3/1386	On 10th March 1386, Thomas Elys and William de Baillay were appointed 'to take any masons lately at work upon the Duke of Lancaster's castle at Pontefract and make them remain thereon at the Duke's expense until the work shall be completed, with the power to imprison contrariants'.
10/3/1394	On 10th March 1394, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, was appointed Lieutenant in Aquitaine by Richard II.
10/3/1485	On 10th March 1485, at Westminster Palace, Richard III, lord of Sandal, wrote a letter to Archbishop Bourchier and other bishops about a matter constantly on his mind. In line with his ‘fervent desire….to promote virtue and cleanness of living’ throughout the realm, he believed it essential that those of high rank set an example to the lower orders. He asked the archbishop to identify those in his jurisdiction who were guilty of ‘sin and vices’ and ensure ‘their sharp punishment.’ This letter became a hostage to fortune for later developments in Richard’s life.
10/3/1645	After Sir Marmaduke Langdale’s relief of the castle, on 10th March 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘From the 1th March to the 10th there was but little done in Pontefract Castle but fetching in of Provition & other necessaryes for the use of the Castle..’
10/3/1649	On 10th March 1649, Colonel Bright wrote to Parliamentarian Captain Adam Baynes: ‘…It’s hoped this castle will not hold out; some papers were thrown in which have begot some divisions amongst them. This day we are to meet and resolve to insist upon six persons to be delivered up to justice. Both our Mortar pieces have played this week; little execution to any within the castle, saving the ruining of some Rooms, by which means firing is more plentiful among them as usual; in truth, so extreme strong is the castle timber, that if our granadoes break through one story it goes no further….’
10/3/1649	On 10th March 1649, Cornet John Baynes wrote from the besieging forces at Pontefract Castle to his cousin Captain Adam Baynes in London:’ …This day the Castillians’ commissioners and ours do treat about a surrender…I only wish that some of these cavaliers may go the same way (living and dying) with Goring, &c; for that they have loved a life to be with their comrades rather in Hell (as some have said) than in Heaven with the Roundheads…’
10/3/1649	On 10th March 1649, Thomas Margetts wrote to Parliamentarian Captain Adam Baynes in London from Pontefract: ‘ …I acquainted you by the last that we were upon treaty with the Castillians then, but 6 being excepted to be delivered to mercy, they refused to treat any further, since which time we threw some papers tied to stones over their walls, to put all the unexcepted persons upon a way to redeem themselves by delivering up the castle and the 6 prisoners within 14 days……..They pretend honour and conscience will not let them deliver up any: it will be murder they say…and the first precedent of that kind in England……but I think the business will be done, though indeed they are able, if resolute, to hold out a great while still….’
10/3/1842	On 10th March 1842, Robert Gully, son of John Gully of Ackworth Park (MP for Pontefract 1832-37), was shipwrecked on the island of Formosa (now Taiwan) in the brig ‘Ann’. He was taken prisoner by the Chinese authorities and along with 300 other British subjects was executed around the 15th August in the town of Ty-wan-foo.
11/3/1322	On 11th March 1322, Edward II’s forces took Thomas of Lancaster’s (lord of Pontefract) Tutbury Castle in the Peak District and captured his ally Roger d’Amory who was mortally wounded, dying a few days later after being reprieved from execution by the king. Reputedly, written evidence was found of Lancaster’s treason with the Scots.
11/3/1461	On 11th March 1461, the Yorkist army began leaving London heading north; the first to leave being Lord Fauconberg at the head of Edward IV's vanguard. Edward himself left on the 13th. They followed the same route that his father, Richard Duke of York, had taken the previous year in his campaign against the Lancastrians. York had planned to use Pontefract as his base in 1460 only to be side-tracked to Sandal when he realised the Lancastrians were there before him. Edward realised in 1461 that Pontefract Castle would still make an ideal base from which  to launch his war in Yorkshire and beyond against the Lancastrians.
11/3/1468	On 11th March 1468 (as far as can be ascertained), John of Gloucester (or John of Pontefract) was probably born at Pontefract Castle. He was the illegitimate son of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and was knighted in September 1483 at York Minster and made Captain of Calais in March 1485; a position later revoked by Henry VII. Richard’s letter of appointment for Captain of Calais referred to him as ‘our dear bastard son’ and an order referring to his appointment calls him ‘John de Pountfreit Bastard’. Although’ tolerated’ by Henry VII, it seems likely he was executed in 1499.
11/3/1485	On 11th March 1485, John of Pontefract (or Gloucester), an illegitimate child of Richard III, was officially appointed Captain of Calais. An order relating to this appointment calls him ‘John de Pountfreit Bastard’ and Richard’s letter of appointment refers to him as ‘our dear bastard son.’ The patent appointing John gave him all the requisite powers of his position except of appointing officers, reserving these until he was twenty-one. In addition, John received the fortresses of Rysbank, Guisnes, Hammes and Lieutenant of the Marches of Picardy for life. After the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry VII removed John from the position of Captain of Calais but, as far as is known, did not persecute him further. John’s fate is not known for certain but a 17th century historian, George Buck, surmised that he was executed by Henry VII in 1499 to prevent his becoming a focus for Irish rebellion.
11/3/1645	On 11th March 1645, the second siege of Pontefract Castle began. The Parliamentary besiegers had a starvation policy and, on 19th July 1645, the Royalist garrison made an honourable surrender to Parliament's Colonel General Poyntz and was allowed to march away to Newark.
12/3/1322	On 12th March 1322, with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, declared a traitor by Edward II and all his lands forfeited, he fled north. Queen Isabella is said to have written to Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle and Sheriff of Westmorland, to move quickly south from Carlisle to trap Lancaster.
12/3/1396	On 12th March 1396, Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, stood in for Richard II (who was to die at Pontefract less than four years later) to the king’s marriage by proxy to Isabella, daughter of Charles VI of France at Sainte-Chapelle on the Île de la Cité. The marriage ’proper’ would take place when Richard and Isabella finally met.
13/3/1322	In the short interval between the abandonment of Tutbury Castle by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, and its occupation by Edward II and his forces, a large amount of money, jewellery and other goods was taken from the castle to the priory by some local inhabitants and deposited there with the connivance of the prior. This apparent conspiracy to defraud the king could not be kept secret and on 13th March 1322, three days before the Battle of Boroughbridge, an order was issued that all the jewels, goods and chattels of Earl Thomas and the other rebels, which were in the priory, were to be brought to the king. The following year, three officials of the late earl were charged with having conveyed £1,500 (£1.2 million in today’s money) from the castle to the priory.
13/3/1322	On 13th March 1322, the Calendar of the Fine Rolls (Edward II) noted: ‘Appointment during pleasure of Simon de Driby to keep the castle of Pontefract, late of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, which ought to come to the king's hand by his forfeiture, together with the men and all goods and chattels found therein, when the castle shall have been taken into the king's hand by Edmund, earl of Kent, the king's brother, and John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, whom the king has appointed thereto ; so that he answer for the issues thereof and for the said goods and chattels in the chamber. Order to the said earls of Kent and Surrey, as soon as they have taken the said castle, to deliver the same with the said goods and chattels to the said Simon by indenture to be made thereon.’
13/3/1397	In the early part of 1397, John of Gaunt arrayed for part of his inheritance to be held jointly with Katherine Swynford. With this settled, on the 13th March, John began his journey to Pontefract Castle.
13/3/1471	On 13th March 1471, Lord Montagu was at Pontefract when Edward of York landed at Ravenspur on the Humber on returning from exile, but he made no attempt to intercept Edward’s small force as he headed south to Nottingham. Edward, at this stage, declared himself only interested in reclaiming his title as Duke of York.
13/3/1645	On 13th March 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ 20 or 30 of our Gentlemen went down to Turnebridge, and brought in Leiutenant Collonell Lee, and Leiutenant Colllonell Ledger, and 3 gallant horses..’
14/3/1317	Writs by Edward II to attend a meeting at Westminster on 11th April 1317 were sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas of Lancaster (lord of Pontefract) and various nobles and justices (including Hereford, Holland, Bereford, the Despensers, Inge, and le Scrope), on 14th March 1317. Lancaster failed to appear and the absence of other magnates at a previous meeting may have made it impossible to take any decisions. Edward ordered that two household knights were sent to Lancaster on 16th March 1317 to ‘persuade’ him. However, their work was in vain, for Lancaster did not appear (this was hardly surprising, since his wife had been abducted by John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, four days before the opening of the meeting), and as a result he was publicly declared an enemy of king and kingdom.
15/3/1203	On 15th March 1203 (some sources say 1204), William de Warenne - 5th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle - was granted permission to hold a yearly fair at Wakefield.
15/3/1361	On 15th March 1361, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and nephew of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, wrote his will, appointing his eldest sister Blanche, Lady Wake, and cousin-in-law Eleanor Walkington as two of his ten executors.
15/3/1399	On 15th March 1399, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, was interred ‘in the Cathedral Church of St Paul, of London, near the principal altar, beside my most dear late wife Blanch, who is there interred’ (from his will of 1397). His will had stipulated that his body be laid out for forty days – ten times the customary period – with ‘no cering or embalming’.
15/3/1455	In mid-March 1455, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, ordered his son, the Earl of Warwick, to release the scheming Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, from his place of imprisonment at Pontefract Castle. Henry had been imprisoned for involving himself in the Northern war between the Neville and the Percy families, which was in direct disobedience to an oath all lords had taken to keep and respect royal authority during the illness of Henry VI.
15/3/1587	On 15th March 1587, Thomas Austwick was baptized at Pontefract. He was Mayor of Pontefract in 1621 and 1640 and was one of the volunteer defenders of the castle during its sieges. He died in March 1648. His son, Alan, was a lieutenant of horse for Charles I and one of the persons excepted for life at the surrender of the castle.
15/3/1645	On 15th March 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ there went out a p’ty towards Dauncaster and…they mett with Collonell Brandlin’s regiment and routed them, tooke one Major, one Captin, one Leiutenant, 3 officers, 67 Souldyers and about 100 horse…’
16/3/1322	The Battle of Boroughbridge was fought on 16th March 1322. Thomas Earl of Lancaster with an army of approximately 1000 men met Andrew Harclay, Earl of Carlisle, at Boroughbridge on the River Ure. Outnumbered four-to-one, Lancaster quickly surrendered and was taken to Pontefract Castle. The photo is of a monument commemorating the Battle of Boroughbridge. The Chronicle of Lanercost records that: 'The Earl [of Lancaster's] cavalry, when they endeavoured to cross the water, could not enter it by reason of the number and density of arrows which the archers discharged upon them and their horses. This affair being thus quickly settled, the Earl of Lancaster and his people retired from the water, nor did they dare to approach it again, and so their whole array was thrown into disorder. Wherefore the earl sent messengers to Sir Andrew, requesting an armistice until the morning, when he would either give him battle or surrender to him. Andrew agreed to the earl's proposal ; nevertheless he kept his people at the bridge and the river all that day and throughout the night, so as to be ready for battle at any moment. But during that night the Earl of Hereford's men deserted and fled, because their lord had been killed, also many of the Earl of Lancaster's men and those of my Lord de Clifford and others deserted from them. When morning came, therefore, the Earl of Lancaster, my Lord de Clifford, my Lord de Mowbray and all who had remained with them, surrendered to Sir Andrew, who himself took them to York as captives, where they were confined in the castle to await there the pleasure of my lord the king.’
16/3/1399	On 16th March 1399, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, was laid to rest besides his first wife, Blanche, in their alabaster tomb near the high altar of St Paul’s Cathedral.
16/3/1410	On 16th March 1410, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and first son of John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, and his mistress (at the time), Katherine Swynford, died. He had been born (sources quote 1371-73) whilst Gaunt was married to his second wife, Constance, and given the surname Beaufort after Gaunt’s French lands, Montmorency-Beaufort. Beaufort was created Earl of Somerset on 10th February 1397, only days after Parliament ‘legitimised’’ the four Beaufort children (John, Henry, Thomas and Joan) of John of Gaunt. Pope Boniface IX acceded to Parliament’s actions. Beaufort was the great grandfather of Henry VII.
16/3/1485	On 16th March 1485, Queen Anne Neville, wife of Richard III, lord of Sandal, died at Westminster, probably of tuberculosis. An eclipse on this day was read by some as an omen of her husband’s fall from heavenly grace and rumours even circulated of his having poisoned her in order to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York.
16/3/1684	On 16th March 1684 (some say May 1684 or 1685), burial records testify that William (or John) Nevison was hanged at the Knavesmire and interred at St Mary’s Church, Castlegate, York after being captured at the Three Houses Inn in Sandal Magna. His crime was the murder of a constable who had tried to arrest him near Howley Hall, Soothill, Batley. Born in 1639, in 1676 he supposedly rode his horse 200 miles from Rochester to York in a day to establish an alibi for a robbery, citing York’s Lord Mayor as a witness. It was rumoured Charles II nicknamed him Swift Nick on account of this alleged feat, later attributed to Dick Turpin in the 1834 novel Rookwood. Nevison’s Leap, a cutting through Ferrybridge Road, Pontefract, is the legendary place William Nevison spurred his horse to jump over to escape pursuing constables.

Last week in history

Date	Event
2/3/1389	On 2nd March 1389, Richard II bestowed the Duchy of Aquitaine on John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, as an appanage for his lifetime, a sign of his new favour for him. As the duchy was now separated from the English Crown, some Gascons complained that this violated the 1254 agreement that the duchy be held by the English king or at least on his behalf by his direct heir i.e. his son. Richard’s aim was to reassure Parliament that the sovereignty of the English king would not be compromised by his having to do homage to the King of France for his French domains, as Gaunt would do so instead.
2/3/1390	On 2nd March 1390, Richard II made John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, Duke of Aquitaine for the term of his life.
2/3/1605	On 2nd March 1605, James I confirmed the corporate charter of Pontefract. This charter sought to remove the uncertainties and disturbances around Henry VII’s charter’s means of electing the town’s mayor by acclamation (by the burgesses). A form of secret ballot of the burgesses was enacted resulting in the annual election of the town’s mayor on the 14th September.
2/3/1644	On 2nd March 1644, Ferdinando, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, a commander in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War and father to Thomas Fairfax (commander of the New Model Army) wrote to Hugh Lord Montgomery: 'I hath pleased God to suffer the enemy to give my forces a verie great defeat at Pontefract. About three thousand horse and one thousand dragoons under the command of Sir Marmaduke Langdale and Sir Thomas Blackwell, came so verie fast upp, as that I could not get my forces from the several places they were to come from to resist them……..I am afraid wee have lost verie many foot…..I intreat your lordship to draw upp your regement…..and give notice to others which are neare you to draw theirs with all convenient speed towards Burrow Briggs, whether I shall rally and advise with your lordship what may best be done for annoying the enemy, and securing this city and the passage to Scarbrough.’
2/3/1648	The earliest evidence of racing in the Pontefract area was in March 1648 when races took place near Pontefract Castle. Captain Baines, in charge of Cromwell's soldiers which had besieged the Castle, questioned whether he should ride his brother's grey mare in one of the races.
3/3/1316	On 3rd March 1316, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, was made Chief of the Royal Council (curia regis) because of Edward II’s waning power after his humiliating defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn two years earlier. Lancaster promised to re-instigate the Ordinances of 1311 but disagreements with other barons effectively paralysed government for the next two years.
3/3/1452	On 3rd March 1452, Richard, Duke of York, lord of Sandal Castle, had to submit to going to Henry VI's camp at Welling, where he and his current backers, the Earl of Devon and Lord Cobham, vainly presented a list of charges against Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset to the king. One source claims that Edward did arrest Beaufort but Queen Isabella made him release him.
3/3/1645	On 3rd March 1645, Sir Marmaduke Langdale returned south from Pontefract having relieved the castle’s first siege there two days before. His 2800 strong force (2000 horse and 800 infantry) had come to Pontefract via Northampton, Melton Mowbray and Wentbridge and, after his victory at Chequerfield near the castle and chasing of the Parliamentary troops all the way back to Tadcaster, left 160 enemy dead and wounded on the field and another 140 at Ferrybridge. Over 600 prisoners were taken, including Colonels Thornton and Maleverer.
3/3/1649	On 3rd March 1649, Thomas Margetts wrote to Parliamentarian Captain Adam Baynes in London from Pontefract: ‘ …This day we enter into a Treaty for the surrender of this Castle. They were not summoned: the overture was made by them…….Morris, in his letter of overture saith, they are not ashamed to live, nor afraid to die, and they give out they will die with their swords in their hands like men, but certainly they are brought into a low condition…’
3/3/2002	Kate was born.
4/3/1461	On 4th March 1461, Henry VI's reign ended with his formal deposition by  Edward IV, who was proclaimed King in Westminster Hall. There were now, effectively, two kings of England, but for Edward, a formal coronation would have to wait, for he was determined to  beat  conclusively Henry VI and his Lancastrian supporters. Edward prepared to march north to Pontefract, arriving on the 27th March 1461. He gathered his troops at Pontefract in readiness for the Battle of Towton on March 29th 1461.
5/3/1452	On 5th March 1452, Richard, 3rd Duke of York and lord of Sandal Castle, was forced to ride through London’s streets to the altar of St Paul’s Cathedral and recite an oath of fealty to Henry VI. Only a week earlier, York’s army had reached Blackheath with York demanding the arrest of Henry’s close adviser, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. After accepting Henry’s promise of Somerset’s arrest (not fulfilled) and disbanding his army, York swore never again to take up arms against Henry, duly come whenever he was summoned and expose any plots against the king he became aware of. A chastened York withdrew to his fortress at Ludlow on the Welsh border.
6/3/1204	On 6th March 1204, Chateau Gaillard, controlling shipping along the River Seine and commanded by Roger de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was overrun by Philip II’s French forces after a six months’ siege. Hundreds of local citizens (from a group of two thousand) initially admitted to the castle, but later forced out by Roger because of food shortages within, died due to starvation during the winter months. Roger de Lacy was captured and ransomed for £1000 (£2.1 million in today's money).
6/3/1340	On 6th March 1340, John of Gaunt, later to have his northern ‘powerhouse’ at Pontefract Castle, was born in Ghent, Flanders (now Belgium), the third surviving son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. Baptised at his birthplace, the Abbey of Saint Bavon, Gaunt was taken to England (Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire) in November of that year along with his brother, Lionel, for fear of a French invasion of Flanders. Attended to by eleven servants, he even had his own cradle-rocker.
6/3/1351	On 6th March 1351, Henry, 4th Earl of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, was made Duke of Lancaster by Edward III in honour of his achievements in Gascony.
6/3/1400	On 6th March 1400, having journeyed slowly from Pontefract to allow the body to be displayed and witnessed in the major towns, a requiem mass was celebrated in St Paul’s Cathedral for Richard (II) of Bordeaux, attended by Henry IV. The royal almoner distributed 25 marks (over £19,000 in today's money) to various priests to say a thousand masses for the king’s soul while a confessor doled out pennies to the poor.
6/3/1896	On 6th March 1896, ‘The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review’ noted: ‘Pontefract. —March 6th. The Guardians are inviting estimates for fitting up the new infirmary with electric bells. Particulars on application to Messrs. J. Holmes Greaves & Co., architects, 38, Albion Street, Leeds, and Corn Market, Pontefract.’
6/3/1905	It was reported by ‘The Chemist and Druggist’ that on 6th March 1905: ‘two soldiers and a shoemaker were sent to prison for one month each for being concerned in larceny at the warehouse of Mr. Alfred Collins, chemist and druggist, Corn Market, Pontefract, and stealing several bottles of wine and some soaps, pills, and Pontefract cakes.’
7/3/1400	On 7th March 1400, the body of Pontefract Castle’s most famous prisoner, Richard II, was laid to rest at the Dominican friary at King’s Langley, later being re-interred in 1413 at Westminster Abbey on the accession of Henry V. Richard's remains joined those of his first wife Anne of Bohemia in the tomb Richard had erected for them in the chapel of St Edward the Confessor, next to that of Edward III. The bodies lie in the tomb chest below the effigies. The tomb was made in 1396-1399 by London masons Henry Yevele and Stephen Lote, and coppersmiths Nicholas Broker and Godfrey Prest cast the gilt bronze effigies. The total cost was £933, 6 shillings and 8 pence (£588,000 in today's money) . Richard and Anne were originally depicted holding hands (as Richard had specified), but they have been broken off. This was the first double royal tomb and the effigies were cast in two sections rather than a single piece like Eleanor of Castile's effigy.
7/3/1649	A document dated 7th March 1649 by Major General Lambert was fastened to a stone and thrown over Pontefract Castle’s walls. Lambert was seeking the surrender of the castle under terms he considered reasonable and honourable. It stated: ‘ Gentlemen, Yo’r owne condicon is best knowne vnto you within. I conceive you cannot be ignorant how improbable it is you should have releife from without, which beinge seriously considered you cannot but as reasonable men judge how preiuditiall yf not destruction vnto yo’selves the wilfull and obstinate keepings of this Castle against all visible authority in the kingdome will be to the great oppression of the Country the dayly losse of Christian blood which doubtless will cry loud for Justice….upon surrender of the Castle, (some few p’sons not above sixe excepted) who have beene faithless to their former trust or guilty of other notorious and bloody crymes) I thought fit to vse those meanes to lett you know my intentions, and once more to make you an offer of faire termes which yf they shalbe by you neglected or refused you may both before god & man appears to be guiltye of yo’r owne destruction…’ Terms included: freedom to march away with their goods and possessions; not be pillaged or plundered; and ‘...That all others who shall oppose deliu’y therof shal be deliu’ed to mercy, and satisfye for all the blood which hath beene vnnecessarily spilt…’
8/3/1351	On 8th March 1351, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, was made Captain and Admiral of the West by Edward III.

Next week in history

Date	Event
16/3/1322	The Battle of Boroughbridge was fought on 16th March 1322. Thomas Earl of Lancaster with an army of approximately 1000 men met Andrew Harclay, Earl of Carlisle, at Boroughbridge on the River Ure. Outnumbered four-to-one, Lancaster quickly surrendered and was taken to Pontefract Castle. The photo is of a monument commemorating the Battle of Boroughbridge. The Chronicle of Lanercost records that: 'The Earl [of Lancaster's] cavalry, when they endeavoured to cross the water, could not enter it by reason of the number and density of arrows which the archers discharged upon them and their horses. This affair being thus quickly settled, the Earl of Lancaster and his people retired from the water, nor did they dare to approach it again, and so their whole array was thrown into disorder. Wherefore the earl sent messengers to Sir Andrew, requesting an armistice until the morning, when he would either give him battle or surrender to him. Andrew agreed to the earl's proposal ; nevertheless he kept his people at the bridge and the river all that day and throughout the night, so as to be ready for battle at any moment. But during that night the Earl of Hereford's men deserted and fled, because their lord had been killed, also many of the Earl of Lancaster's men and those of my Lord de Clifford and others deserted from them. When morning came, therefore, the Earl of Lancaster, my Lord de Clifford, my Lord de Mowbray and all who had remained with them, surrendered to Sir Andrew, who himself took them to York as captives, where they were confined in the castle to await there the pleasure of my lord the king.’
16/3/1399	On 16th March 1399, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, was laid to rest besides his first wife, Blanche, in their alabaster tomb near the high altar of St Paul’s Cathedral.
16/3/1410	On 16th March 1410, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and first son of John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, and his mistress (at the time), Katherine Swynford, died. He had been born (sources quote 1371-73) whilst Gaunt was married to his second wife, Constance, and given the surname Beaufort after Gaunt’s French lands, Montmorency-Beaufort. Beaufort was created Earl of Somerset on 10th February 1397, only days after Parliament ‘legitimised’’ the four Beaufort children (John, Henry, Thomas and Joan) of John of Gaunt. Pope Boniface IX acceded to Parliament’s actions. Beaufort was the great grandfather of Henry VII.
16/3/1485	On 16th March 1485, Queen Anne Neville, wife of Richard III, lord of Sandal, died at Westminster, probably of tuberculosis. An eclipse on this day was read by some as an omen of her husband’s fall from heavenly grace and rumours even circulated of his having poisoned her in order to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York.
16/3/1684	On 16th March 1684 (some say May 1684 or 1685), burial records testify that William (or John) Nevison was hanged at the Knavesmire and interred at St Mary’s Church, Castlegate, York after being captured at the Three Houses Inn in Sandal Magna. His crime was the murder of a constable who had tried to arrest him near Howley Hall, Soothill, Batley. Born in 1639, in 1676 he supposedly rode his horse 200 miles from Rochester to York in a day to establish an alibi for a robbery, citing York’s Lord Mayor as a witness. It was rumoured Charles II nicknamed him Swift Nick on account of this alleged feat, later attributed to Dick Turpin in the 1834 novel Rookwood. Nevison’s Leap, a cutting through Ferrybridge Road, Pontefract, is the legendary place William Nevison spurred his horse to jump over to escape pursuing constables.
17/3/1397	On 17th March 1397, Katherine Swynford, third wife of John of Gaunt, arrived at Pontefract Castle having received a jointure to the estates of John of Gaunt that had been granted to him in 1372. The picture is Katherine's larger tomb, next to the tomb of her daughter, Joan Beaufort.
17/3/1649	On 17th March 1649, Cornet John Baynes wrote to Parliamentarian Captain Adam Baynes: ‘ COUSIN, - This is the last day of treaty with this enemy. Yesterday they concluded upon a surrender upon Monday next, but could not well agree about delivering the six excepted persons to mercy. The Castillians propound to leave the said six in the Castle…….They are not yet nominated to their Commissioners, but it is concluded that, after the Sealing of the Articles, they shall know them by names…..Morris is one of the excepted..’
17/3/1649	On 17th March 1649, Thomas Margetts wrote to Parliamentarian Captain Adam Baynes: ‘…We are just now going to treat with the Castillians, and this day (I think) we shall either agree or break off the Treaty..’
18/3/1346	On 18th March 1346, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, was made Inspector of Welsh Levies for the King’s Army by Edward III.
18/3/1399	On 18th March 1399, (some sources say possibly the 20th March), whilst Henry Bolingbroke was exiled in France, his right to inherit and his possession of Pontefract Castle was annulled by Richard II. It was given to the Duke of Aumale, Normandy.
18/3/1399	On 18th March 1399, John of Gaunt’s (lord of Pontefract) estates passed into Richard II’s hands, depriving Gaunt’s son, Henry Bolingbroke, of his inheritance as long as he remained in exile. Richard II’s retribution for the actions of all five rebellious lords in 1388 was complete. John Holand secured Gaunt’s estates In Wales; Thomas Holand those in the north-west and north Midlands; Rutland those in Lincolnshire and the east Midlands; Scrope and Salisbury those estates in Yorkshire and Wiltshire.
18/3/1649	According to the notes of Royalist, Captain Thomas Paulden, on 18th March 1649 Colonel John Morris, Cornet Michael Blackburn and Ensign John Smyth escaped from Pontefract Castle before its surrender six days later. Smyth was killed in the attempt.
18/3/1746	On 18th March 1746, John Wesley, Methodist leader, made his first visit to Pontefract as mentioned in his journal. The ‘Stations’ of the Methodist Preachers were first published in 1765 with Pontefract included in the Leeds Circuit. He also preached in the town in March two years later.
19/3/1322	On 19th March 1322, Edward II arrived at Pontefract Castle following the capture of Thomas of Lancaster at Boroughbridge on the 16th. The constable of the castle immediately surrendered to Edward. The Chronicle of Lanercost records that: ‘The king, then, greatly delighted by the capture of these persons, sent for the earl to come to Pontefract, where he remained still in the castle of the same earl ; and there, in revenge for the death of Piers de Gaveston (whom the earl had caused to be beheaded), and at the instance of the earl's rivals (especially of Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger), without holding a parliament or taking the advice of the majority, caused sentence to be pronounced that he should be drawn, hanged and beheaded. But, forasmuch as he was the queen's uncle and son of the king's uncle, the first two penalties were commuted, so that he was neither drawn nor hanged, only beheaded in like manner as this same Earl Thomas had caused Piers de Gaveston to be beheaded.’
20/3/1300	On 20th March 1300, almost four years after his death, Edmund of Lancaster, the king’s brother, was finally buried at Westminster Abbey. He had stipulated that his body should not be interred until all his debts had been paid. His sons Thomas (future lord of Pontefract), Henry (over a quarter of a century later to inherit his elder brother’s lands and titles) and John and widow, Blanche were in attendance. Edmund’s remains were taken from the convent of the Minoresses to the Abbey via St Paul’s Cathedral and he was buried north of the high altar with his first wife, Aveline Forz.
20/3/1336	By 20th March (possibly on 20th February) 1336, Alice de Lacy of Pontefract, suo jure Countess of Lincoln and suo jure Countess of Salisbury and widow of Thomas of Lancaster, was forcibly married, for the third and last time, to Sir Hugh de Freyne, steward at Cardigan Castle. Alice had been seemingly happily married to Eble le Strange (a member of Thomas of Lancaster’s household), her second husband, for eleven years until his death on campaign in Scotland with Edward III in 1335. Her third marriage was reputedly forced under canon law due to her being raped by de Freyne, with punishment for the rapist being marriage to the victim. De Freyne died at Perth, on campaign in Scotland, in January/February 1337.
20/3/1471	In late March 1471, after having returned from exile and landed at Ravenspur on the River Humber, Edward of York moved his army around the Marquess of Montagu’s forces at Pontefract and arrived at Sandal Castle, the scene of his father's death. Despite, at this stage, having a far greater force composed of local militias (estimates say 6,000 to 7,000 men) than Edward, Montagu chose to track him as he moved south. Seemingly, even Pontefract Castle's bailiff deserted Montagu for the returning king, taking the castle's funds with him.
21/3/1396	On 21st March 1396, Richard II visited Pontefract Castle on his itinerary to Tadcaster the following day.
21/3/1645	On 21st March 1645, the Parliamentary forces besieging Pontefract Castle captured the upper town at Pontefract and entrenched at Baghill, Monkhill and New Hall. The Royalist forces sallied forth to attack these entrenchments.
22/3/1303	On 22nd March 1303, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was made Joint Procurator and Special Ambassador to France by Edward I.
22/3/1322	John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey,  who had lost Sandal castle to Thomas of Lancaster in a private war in 1317, was amongst the hastily-convened nobles who met, tried and passed judgement on Thomas Earl of Lancaster in the Great Hall of his magnificent fortress at Pontefract. On 22nd March 1322, Thomas was executed on a hill outside his castle with his face facing north towards Scotland with whom he was accused of conspiring. With two or three clumsy strokes, Thomas was beheaded and his head held aloft for Edward II to see.
22/3/1322	Following the defeat of Thomas Earl of Lancaster,  lord of Pontefract, and his supporters at the Battle of Boroughbridge on March 16th 1322, Thomas was tried and condemned in the Great Hall at Pontefract Castle. He was denied the opportunity to speak in his defence and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The sentence was commuted to beheading because Thomas was the king’s cousin and, it is rumoured, due to the intercession of Queen Isabella. He was taken on a mule  to St. Thomas’s Hill – as it has since been known – and executed on 22nd March 1322 in sight of his castle and whilst facing Scotland  (symbolic of his alleged treasonable correspondence with the Scots).  His was the first execution of a royal prince since the Norman Conquest. After his execution, the Monks of the Cluniac Priory of St John interred his body on the right hand side of their high altar. The Priory was situated on what is now Box Lane. The image is the seal of Thomas of Lancaster. Some thirty of Lancaster's followers were also executed, among these Clifford and the baron John Mowbray. Clifford was hung from Clifford’s Tower in York, which is now named after him. The Chronicle of Lanercost records the events and aftermath in a more ‘poetic’ fashion: ‘This man, then, said to be of most eminent birth and noblest of Christians, as well as the wealthiest earl in the world, inasmuch as he owned five earldoms, to wit, Lancaster, Lincoln, Salisbury, Leycester and Ferrers, was taken on the morrow of S. Benedict Abbot ' in Lent and beheaded like any thief or vilest rascal upon a certain hillock outside the town, where now, because of the miracles which it is said God works in his honour, there is a great concourse of pilgrims, and a chapel has been built.’
22/3/1537	On 22nd March 1537, Lord Darcy wrote to Henry VIII from Pontefract suggesting that as the disturbances of the Pilgrimage of Grace and its aftermath were no more, it would be advised not to keep a full garrison at the castle. He would like to visit the King at Easter albeit only being able to travel ‘but six miles a day’.
22/3/1645	On 22nd March 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘..we shott 15 Cannon to sevrall places & we had a woman shott thorow the hand, and a man shott thorow the thigh wth the same bulllitt upon the toppe of the round tower (but neither killd). The enemy fell a trenching in divers places about the towne but espetially before Allderman Lunnes howse..’
22/3/1649	On 22nd March 1649, Major General Lambert wrote to Parliament: ‘ Mr. SPEAKER After a long and heard winter Seige against the Castle of Pontefract, with great difficulties to the Soldjo’s, and heavy burthens upon the poore Country, I have thought fit to agree for the Rendicon of the said Castle upon the Articles and tearmes inclosed…….I have likewise taken upon mee the boldnes to p’sent unto yow the humble desires of the Majo’, Aldermen and well affected Inhabitants of the Towne of Pontefract, who earnestly pray for the demolishing of that Castle……and that this Castle hath beene occacon of ruine to diverse Families in that Towne, besides the great losse and p’judice to the Country adjacent…..’
22/3/2015	On 22nd March 2015, Richard III’s re-internment funeral cortege (‘the last journey of the last Plantagenet’) left the University of Leicester and travelled to Fenn Lance Farm near Stoke Golding, Market Bosworth, Newbold Verdon, Desford and Bow Bridge in Leicester itself. His coffin ‘lay in state’ for three days in the Cathedral of St Martin’s (an Anglican cathedral for a Catholic king) and he was entombed on the morning of 26th March under a black slab topped by Swaledale marble from Yorkshire.