This Coming Week In History

This week in history

Date	Event
19/6/1270	On 19th June 1270 at a hearing in Westminster Hall concerning manorial rights, John de Warenne’s, 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal castle, followers overwhelmed Alan de la Zouche and his eldest son, causing serious harm to de la Zouche the elder who later died of a fever, brought on by his wounds, on 10th August. On fleeing, de Warenne was taken to Reigate castle by Prince Edward (later King Edward I), fined ten thousand marks (over £6 million in today's money ) and purged by the oath of twenty-five knights at Winchester.
19/6/1312	On 19th June 1312, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, Lieutenant of Scotland and court favourite of Edward II, was executed on the road to Kenilworth on the Earl of Lancaster’s lands after a meeting of barons at Warwick Castle. His ‘jurors’ included the Earls of Warwick, Lancaster, Hereford and Arundel. Gaveston had been besieged and captured by the Earls of Pembroke, and Surrey and Baron Henry de Percy a month before at Scarborough. The Earl of Lancaster’s advice to his fellow rebels ‘While he lives there will be no safe place in the realm of England’ was the harbinger of Gaveston’s death.
19/6/1645	On 19th June 1645,  Colonel General Poyntz and Colonel Overton, Governor of Pontefract, returned from Doncaster and drew up their Parliamentary forces  in the Marketplace. Captain Washington and Lieutenant Empson went out of the castle to Newark, most probably to obtain correct information and ascertain whether anything could be done for the relief of Pontefract Castle.
20/6/1264	On 20th June 1264, all of the lands of John de Warenne - 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle - were seized by  Simon de Montfort who now had control of King Henry III. All estates, which included Sandal Castle, and with the exceptions of Reigate and Lewes, were given into the custody of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester. The Sussex lands were given to the Simon de Montfort's second son, also called Simon de Montfort.
20/6/1645	Parliament's Colonel General Poyntz called a council of law on 20th June 1645 in the town. In the afternoon, there arrived several loaded wagons at the New Hall in which in one of these there was a cannon. A party of infantry played their cannon without doing any damage. On the following day, Parliamentary forces began to form a platform at Monkhill for the cannon. Efforts by the Royalist garrison in firing at them were unsuccessful for the works they had already raised protected the opposing forces. The following night, the cannon was brought from New Hall and placed against the church. The guard was relieved at the church and a deserter came into the castle and informed the besieged Royalists that the Parliamentary troops, unsuccessful against His Majesty, had since been routed.
21/6/1317	The terms on which Thomas, Earl of Lancaster’s (lord of Pontefract) retainers served him are set out by four extant indentures, which differ little from the normal type of written contract which bound a man to his lord during this period. One indenture is that sealed with Sir William Latimer, a Yorkshire banneret, on 15th May 1319; others are with Sir Hugh Meynill of Derbyshire (24th July 1317), Sir John Eure of Northumberland (29th December 1317) and Sir Adam de Swillington, another Yorkshireman (21st June 1317). All four instruments specified that service was to be for life, in peace and war, in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and against all men save the king (this last clause was invoked by at least two of the Earl’s knights to excuse their desertion of him under the stress of events of 1320-1322).
21/6/1395	In the summer of 1395, Richard II, Pontefract Castle's most famous prisoner, campaigned vigorously for the canonisation of his great-grandfather, Edward II. Richard had newly painted white harts circling the pillars beside Edward’s tomb in the abbey church at Gloucester and petitioned the pope in Rome with accounts of the miracles that had occurred there.
21/6/1483	After Edward IV's death in April 1483, Richard Duke of Gloucester became Protector of the Realm. In June 1483, Richard declared there was a conspiracy against the Protectorship. Richard directly accused Hastings, Stanley, Morton and Rotherham of plotting with the Woodvilles, including the Queen Dowager, Elizabeth Woodville, against the government. Richard sent letters to his supporters in the north, including York, Hull and Northumberland. The Burghers of York proclaimed that an army of no less than 300 men should meet up at Pontefract Castle before marching to London on 21st June 1483.
21/6/1645	On 21st June 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded:' …we had a poore manwho before this Seege dwelt at Munkhill and having his howse burnt by the enemy Came into the Castle for suckor, & going forthis morning to get grasse for the Cattell by Munkhill mill, was there shott dead upon the place where he was getting of it & fetcht in at night & buryd…’
22/6/1307	A papal letter by Pope Clement V, dated 22nd June 1307, authorised the Archbishop of York to give a commission to William de Pykeringe, archdeacon of Nottingham and canon of York, to reconcile the churchyard of Pontefract, which had been polluted by bloodshed.
22/6/1449	On the 22nd June 1449, Richard Duke of York, owner of Sandal castle, finally set sail from Beaumaris to take up his position as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, almost two years after being appointed to the position.
22/6/1483	On 22nd June 1483, Dr Ralph Shaw (or Sha), a Cambridge doctor of divinity and brother of the Mayor of London, Edmund Shaw, delivered an ‘explosive’ sermon from the open-air pulpit at St Paul’s Cross in London. This was to vindicate Richard’s, Duke of Gloucester, lord of Sandal, claim to the crown. Shaw announced a ‘precontractual’ marriage/betrothal between Edward IV and Lady Eleanor Butler invalidating Edward’s later marriage to Elizabeth Woodville thereby rendering their children illegitimate and negating any rights to the throne. Shaw’s text from the fourth chapter of the Book of Wisdom quoted: ‘Bastard slips shall not take deep root.’ Bishop Stillington is later said to have confirmed this as he was present at Edward’s and Eleanor’s betrothal. Some sources even claim that Shaw questioned the legitimacy of Edward IV and his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, by reason of their mother’s Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, infidelity; citing Richard, Duke of Gloucester’s resemblance to his father, Richard, Duke of York, unlike his two brothers.
22/6/1484	Between 22nd and 23rd June 1484, Richard III stayed at Pontefract Castle after visiting York. During June of this year, Richard had been at Pontefract for twenty two days.
22/6/1645	On 22nd June 1645, as soon as the day dawned, Parliamentary forces made a strong attack upon the guard in the Low Church, which they entered with a hundred men. Another party went up the trenches of the besieged Royalists and so to the castle. The guard in the church compelled those who entered to retreat, and those in the steeple gave the alarm to the Royalist garrison by ringing the bell. A continuous fire from the steeple and from the East Tower of the castle rendered the attempt of those who had entered the trenches useless, and so they retreated to their works, carrying their dead and wounded with them. After some time, the cannon planted at Monkhill, and carrying a ball of eighteen pounds in weight, began to aim against the lantern of the steeple. In about an hour and a half, they aimed thirteen times but did no damage. The besieged Royalists, in order to preserve the church and to protect their guard, played their cannon from King's Tower against the enemy's works at Monkhill and at the fifth discharge, dismounted the cannon of the Parliamentary forces. The remainder of the day was spent by the Parliamentarians remounting their cannon and throwing up works for its security. In the afternoon, the besieging Parliamentarians relieved all their guards, and in the evening, the besiegers conversed freely with the besieged and informed them of Cromwell's success and the almost final destruction of the forces belonging to His Majesty. The besieged Royalists considered this information as designed to induce them to surrender, and still hoped that they should soon be relieved.
22/6/1897	On Tuesday, 22nd June 1897,  celebrations for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee commenced with ‘Dinner to the Aged Poor’. 275 people attended dinner in the Assembly Room. The dinner consisted of roast beef and plum pudding, with bread and cheese washed down with ale or aerated waters. At 2pm, school children and teachers of the town, numbering about 2000, marched from their schools to the Corn Market. Each child had received a medal at school before setting off. Groups taking part in the procession included: The Borough Band; The Pontefract Volunteers; The Fire Brigade; The St George Lodge of Oddfellows; The Pontefract Miners Association; The Old Tradesmen’s Association, and ‘The Cyclists of the Town and District in Cycling Costume, on plain or decorated machines. The procession finished at Pontefract Castle, where entertainments were provided for the children. At 5 o'clock, the children and teachers marched back to their schools where they were provided with tea, buns and sweet cake. At 10 o'clock that night, rockets were set off from Park Hill to signal the lighting of The Beacon Fire. Four local dignitaries each lit a corner of the Beacon, and the crowd sang ‘God Save the Queen’. Around the main streets of Pontefract, crowds walked to see the beacon and rockets, accompanied by outbursts of national music. The celebrations continued well past midnight.
22/6/1911	On 22nd June 1911, a bonfire consisting of over 100 tons of timber was lit at ten o clock by Wakefield’s Mayor, Mr A Hudson, on Sandal Castle hill, to celebrate George V’s coronation. It was one in a chain of hundreds that stretched from John O’ Groats to Land's End.
23/6/1253	On 23rd June 1253, Sir Edmund de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was given the custody of the hundred (a division of an English shire consisting of 100 hides: a hide being about 30 modern acres) of Staincliffe, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, for £26 3s and 6d a year (£37,417 in today's money) and was assured in July that if the land was leased for farming, first refusal would lie with Edmund.
23/6/1314	On 23rd June 1314,  Thomas Earl of Lancaster,  although not taking part in the Battle of Bannockburn, assembled a private army at Pontefract believing that if Edward II was successful he would next attack Thomas. When Edward II retreated to York after the battle, Thomas confronted Edward and was able to exact a pardon for himself and a hundred others for breaches of the peace.
23/6/1381	On 23rd June 1381, from Edinburgh, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract Castle, summoned his wife, Duchess Constance, to travel north to meet him, nervous about the encroaching rioting in the south of England. Gaunt had sent out orders on the 17th indicating he was moving his household north from Leicester to Pontefract. Constance was to reach Knaresborough Castle by the 29th June having been barred from Pontefract Castle by its Constable en route because of his fear of the wrath of the rebels.
23/6/1483	On 23rd June 1483, in his prison at Sheriff Hutton, prior to his being escorted to Pontefract the following day, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, was informed he had been sentenced to death by Richard of Gloucester, Constable and Protector, as a result of his sister’s plotting. His will, dated from Pontefract, concludes with an appeal to Richard: ‘I humbly beseech my lord of Gloucester in the worship of Christ’s passion, and for the merit and weal of his soul, to help and assist as supervisor of this testament, that mine executors may, with his pleasure, fulfil this my last will’.
23/6/1643	On 23rd June 1643, Queen Henrietta, wife of Charles I, left Pontefract Castle having landed at Bridlington with troops and arms on her return from Europe raising money for the Royalist cause. She met her husband at Kineton, near Edgehill, on her way to Oxford. Henrietta was the last royal figure to be entertained at the castle.
23/6/1645	On 23rd June 1645, the besieging Parliamentary forces played their cannon against the church as early as 2 o'clock in the morning and continued fire against the lantern of the steeple until 6 o'clock, when a breach was made and a part of it fell down. Fire was discontinued until the afternoon when the steeple was so badly damaged that the besieged Royalists considered it no longer tenable. However, they sent twenty musketeers to relieve the guard but only two or three men were allowed in the church; the rest were ordered to occupy the houses around the church. The Royalists concluded that their opponents would make an attempt in the night to gain possession of the church and had loaded their cannon with grapeshot. As expected, at one o'clock, the enemy made an attack on the church; the besieged fired upon them and the enemy were forced to retreat to their works.
24/6/1088	On 24th June 1088, William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, died after being mortally wounded in the siege of Pevensey Castle. He was buried next to his wife, Gundred, at Lewes Priory. William's son, the 2nd Earl of Surrey, founded Sandal Castle.
24/6/1158	On 24th June 1158, William of Blois, 4th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, was knighted by Henry II.
24/6/1268	On 24th June 1268, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and lord of Sandal, took the cross and vowed to go on crusade to the Holy Land at the urging of Pope Clement IV. John was in illustrious company as Prince Edward (later Edward I), his brother Edmund of Lancaster, their cousin Henry of Almain, their uncle William de Valence, Gilbert de Clare the Earl of Gloucester and numerous other English noblemen similarly made the vow.
24/6/1300	On 24th June 1300, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was with the royal army when it assembled in Carlisle for the invasion of Scotland. His scutage (tax in lieu of military service) in respect of the knights’ fees for Widnes, Tottington, Penwortham, Blackburnshire (Blackburn and Whalley) and Bowland entered in the Compotus Rolls (royal accounts) amounted to £25 8s (£30,000 in today’s money).
24/6/1483	On 24th June 1483, Earl Rivers, Lord Richard Grey, Sir Thomas Vaughan and possibly Sir Richard Haute were brought to Pontefract Castle prior to their execution the following day, on the orders of Richard III. Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, wrote this poem knowing he was to die: Sumwhat musyng, and more mornyng, In remembring the unstydfastnes; This world being of such whelyng, Me contrarieng, what may I gesse? I fere dowtles, remediles, Is now to sese my wofull chaunce. For unkyndness, withouten less, And no redress, me doth avaunce, With displesaunce, to my grevaunce, And no suraunce of remedy. Lo in this traunce, now in substaunce, Such is my dawnce, wyllyng to dye. Me thynkys truly, bowndyn am I, And that gretly, to be content: Seyng playnly, fortune doth wry All contrary from myn entent. My lyff was lent me to on intent, Hytt is ny spent.  Welcome fortune! But I ne went thus to be shent, But sho hit ment; such is her won.'
24/6/1645	Few shots were fired on 24th June 1645 until the evening when the different guards were relieved. It was expected that the besiegers (Parliament) would make another attack in the night and the governor ordered Lieutenant Otway and two files of musketeers, who had been sent down to relieve the guard, to return to the castle at the beating of the tattoo. The Parliamentarians, as was expected, entered the church and the lower part of the town at about one o'clock. Finding nobody to resist them, they remained in possession. They were greatly annoyed by fire from the garrison and the besieged Royalists played their cannon from the King's Tower against the steeple of the church and fired five shots from the garden into the body of the church. It appears that the body of the church was damaged and the interior wholly destroyed.
24/6/1648	On 24th June 1648, Parliamentarian Colonel Sir Edward Rossiter wrote from Lincoln to the Committee at Derby House: ‘The late riseing of the disaffected party with Styles and Hudson neer Stamford was happily supprest before mv comeing downe, yet was not this country therby freed from danger, the enimye much increasing at Pontefract, wherby their partie in these partes were incouraged to list men, and the better to carry on their designe, the most active of them had very frequent meetings in divers parts by which the peace of this county was much indangered. To prevent which I have with the assistance of the committee compleated a troope of horse ; save onely for armes, for supply whereof I humbly crave your Lordshipps’ order, and by these I hope the country wilbe continued quiet within itselfe, though not protected from the growinge enimy, who is so increased at Pontefracte, as that he may without interrupcion march into any parte of this county.’
24/6/1726	On 24th June 1726, Robert Monckton, MP for Pontefract 1752-53 was born (dying on the 21st May 1782). Monckton was an officer of the British Army and colonial administrator in British North America. He had a distinguished military and political career, being second in command to General James Wolfe at the battle of Quebec and later named the Governor of the Province of New York. Monckton is also remembered for his role in a number of other important events in the French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War), most notably the capture of Fort Beauséjour in Acadia, and the island of Martinique in the West Indies, as well as for his role in the deportation of the Acadians from British controlled Nova Scotia and also from French-controlled Acadia (present-day New Brunswick).
24/6/1926	On 24th June 1926, a folk-dance festival was held in the grounds of Pontefract Castle with the highlight being the local men’s morris dancing troupe.
25/6/1483	On 25th June 1483, four nobles who had supported the young king Edward V  viz Earl Rivers, Richard Grey, Thomas Vaughan and possibly Richard Haute ( there is debate as to whether he was in fact executed at this time) were condemned to death by the Earl of Northumberland on the charge of plotting the death of Richard Duke of Gloucester, soon to be Richard III. They were 'tried' without being able to make a vocal defence and were summarily beheaded. Many contemporary writers agreed that the four had committed no crime. There is also some debate as to whether the seventy-years-old-plus Vaughan was executed with Rivers and Grey as various chroniclers (Mancini, Rous) do not mention him and his tomb at Westminster Abbey would seem a curious honour for a man deemed a traitor by the reigning king.
25/6/1645	On 25th June 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ This morning about 1 a Clock the enemy entred the Church, & the lower end of the towre, there beeing none to resist them, at wch time our musketeers from the Castle shott very hard at them, and likewise we playd 5 peeses of Cannon from the Kinges tower to the Church steeple…….the enemy keeps digging up dead men’s Corpes, & making a worke in the Church……This day morning, that worthy knight Sr Gervis Cuttler dep’ted this life, the enemy not suffering any fresh meate ever to be brought to him since he fell sick, onely one Chickin & one poore Joynt of meate his lady brought wth hur 2 daies before he dep’ted, neither will the enemy suffer him either to be buryed or Convyed to his owne habitation to take place with his Auncetors…’
25/6/1901	On 25th June 1901, Sir Lionel Milborne-Swinnerton-Pilkington, 11th Baronet of Chevet, owner of Sandal Castle and estates across Yorkshire and Staffordshire covering 8000 acres, died at Chevet Park.

Last week in history

Date	Event
15/6/1215	On 15th June 1215, Magna Carta Libertatum was sealed at Runnymede in front of 25 barons. The youngest of the barons was probably John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, one of the guarantors or sureties of the Great Charter.
15/6/1215	On 15th June 1215, William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey and lord of Sandal castle, was one of the advisers and supporters of King John advising the King to accede to Magna Carta. He was in stark contrast to John de Lacy of Pontefract Castle who was one of the 25 rebel barons, united in their dislike of John, actively trying to force the King to observe Magna Carta. William was named in Magna Carta. The following year, William left King John and supported Prince Louis of France's (later King Louis VIII) claim to the English throne. The claim of Prince Louis failed and William subsequently sided with King John's son Henry III.
15/6/1483	On 15th June 1483, Richard Ratcliffe, a north country ducal councillor, at the behest of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector, reached York where he delivered to the civil council the Protector's order for them to send an armed force to the Earl of Northumberland at Pontefract Castle forthwith. The force was intended to bolster Richard's supposed precarious position after the death of his brother, Edward IV. This order was part of a series of events from the 30th April 1483 at Northampton when Earl Rivers was arrested by the Duke. Rivers was detained for moving the young King Edward V to Stony Stratford without the knowledge of Richard and for withholding news of the death of his brother Edward IV. Richard was wary of the Woodvilles' manipulation of the young king and his likely figurehead role (only) as Protector.
15/6/1484	In June 1484, probably whilst staying for prolonged periods at Pontefract Castle, Richard III visited Sandal and authorised the building of a new tower in the castle. He would later order the building of a new bakehouse and brewhouse. By this time, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, and head of the Ducal Council of the North and, following the death of Richard's son Edward in April 1484, Richard's nominated heir apparent, was ordered to reside permanently at Sandal Castle, rather than one of Richard Neville's other properties. Richard III had drawn up a series of ordinances for the household in the north at Sandal, which detailed 'the hours of God's service, diet, going to bed and rising, and also the shutting of the gates". In terms of breakfast, Lincoln and Lord Morley would sit at one table, the Council of the North at another whilst the children (exactly who is open to question) were to 'dine together at one breakfast'. Deliveries of wine, ale and bread were strictly controlled, with John de la Pole, whilst at Sandal, being treated like the king's servant rather than his nominated heir.
15/6/1645	On 15th June 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ This day, being Sunday, at afternoon the enemy went downe boanegate with a troop of horse, wch we espying from the Kinges tower, we plaied the Cannon from thence, wch light amongst them, where we see 3 horses & men lay killd……we playd also another Cannon up the towne, wch went through the howses against Mr Rusbyes, but what hurt was done we know not…..Captin Cartwright releeved the Church wth 26 men till the next releefe…’
15/6/1655	On 15th June 1655, administration of goods left in her husband’s will was finally granted in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury to Margery Morris, widow of Colonel John Morris, last Governor of Pontefract Castle during its third siege. Morris had been executed as a traitor six years before.
16/6/1317	Around 14th June 1317, the people of Bromfield and Yale, in North Wales, wrote to their lord, John de Warenne ,Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, to tell him that they had been threatened by Thomas of Lancaster, lord of Pontefract, who had written to them to say that he meant to have their land and that if they behaved well towards him he would be a good lord to them, but that he would have the country ‘une manere ou autre’. They appealed to Warenne for help, saying that they could do nothing against such a great power and begged him to ask the king to order the Justices of Wales and Chester and the sheriffs to go to their aid. De Warenne forwarded a copy of this petition to the King on 14th June, expressing surprise that the Earl should act in this way. He asked for speedy help from the justices and the king’s men in those parts for the defence of his lands and the king’s honour. A minute of the council’s decision on the matter survives. De Warenne was to be told to go to Bromfield to guard his own lands if he wished, while Lancaster was to be informed of de Warenne’s message to the king and ordered to refrain from breaking the peace in that region; letters close to this effect were sent to Lancaster on 16th June.
16/6/1483	On 16th June 1483, Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Edward IV, in sanctuary at Westminster, handed over her younger son, Richard, Duke of York, to Richard III’s (lord of Sandal) envoy as his brother, Edward V, ‘lacketh a playfelowye’ and needed ‘disporte and recreacion’ (as per Sir Thomas More).
16/6/1483	On receiving a letter from Richard Duke of Gloucester pertaining to the alleged plot against the Protectorate of the Realm, the Earl of Northumberland undertook the forty miles' journey on horseback to Hull. He approached the port with a proclamation 'that all men between the ages of 60 and 16 should be ready to attend of my said Lord of Northumberland at Pontefract'. The port's reaction was not enthusiastic, and they agreed to send only twelve men to Pontefract, with each man paid 12d (£35 in today's money) for twenty days.
16/6/1645	On 16th June 1645, there was great rejoicing among the besiegers on hearing the news of the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Naseby. A letter was sent from Parliament's Colonel General Poyntz to Governor Lowther at the garrison  to inform him of this event and to summon him to surrender the castle, whilst there was yet time for mercy. The governor of the castle replied that he neither feared Colonel General Poyntz's forces nor valued his mercy.
16/6/1648	On 16th June 1648, Royalist Governor John Morris of Pontefract Castle, elected as such by the garrison’s soldiers, granted a safe escort to Mr Tennet (Ferrett), the minister to depart from the town, with Mr Charles Davison officiating in his place.
17/6/1453	On 17th June 1453, Malise Graham, Earl of Menteith (formally Strathern), was released from imprisonment at Pontefract Castle having entered England in November 1427 as a hostage for King James I of Scotland. It appears that the King’s ransom money promised to England was never paid, except a part of the first year’s instalment; and in consequence of this, Scottish hostages were detained in England. Many of them died in England, some ransomed themselves, a few escaped. In June 1453, the Earl of Menteith, who had gone to England as a hostage, was liberated from Pontefract castle, when his son Alexander surrendered himself in his stead with the Earl of Douglas and Lord Hamilton becoming sureties for his return in case of the escape of his son.
17/6/1645	During the siege of Sandal Castle, on 17th June 1645, the well tower bore the brunt of the bombardment. More than forty cannon balls were found on the motte slope outside the tower.
17/6/1645	On 17th June 1645, the Parliamentary besiegers of the castle enlarged the works, begun on 10th June, which were east of Baghill in the closes, south of the church where they had lost many men. This work was designed to check the Royalist garrison and prevent any relief being afforded. The Royalists had already received information that the king was at Melton Mowbray and intended marching north, and in the space of ten days, if all went well, would relieve the castle of Pontefract. In the afternoon, the besiegers received a considerable body of forces and continued a brisk fire against the castle. The besieged sent Captain Smith with twenty musketeers to relieve their guard in the church.
17/6/1648	On 17th June 1648, having taken Pontefract Castle by deceit earlier that month and consigned Parliamentary Governor Cotterell to the makeshift dungeon, Colonel John Morris appointed a Council of War with himself as president; albeit nominally, congenial but ineffective Sir John Digby, Colonel General, was in charge. Eight Articles of War were agreed and officers were appointed to command infantry and horse soldiers within the castle and in the town itself where Royalist troops were to be garrisoned. The articles ended with a warning: ‘If any officer, gentleman, or soldier be negligent upon any duty…or go from guard without order, he shall forfeit a day’s pay, and be disarmed at the head of the troops, or company wherein he serves, and shall be imprisoned twenty-four hours, and the day’s pay be disposed to his fellow soldiers.’  It is noteworthy that on the Council was George Bonevant, former Governor of Sandal Castle which had surrendered nearly three years before.
18/6/1239	Edward I was born on the night of 17th-18th June 1239 at Westminster to Eleanor, wife of Henry III. William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey and lord of Sandal, conferred £10 a year (nearly £14,000 today) to the messenger who brought him the news.
18/6/1381	On 18th June 1381 (some sources say the 19th), news reached John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract Castle, at Berwick that his Savoy Palace in London had been destroyed by rioters during the Peasants’ Revolt. Rumours were to circulate that Gaunt’s southern castles, including Leicester, were in ruins and that two groups of rebels, both 10,000 strong, were searching for him. That same day, Gaunt agreed a renewal of the truce with the Scots until February 1383.
18/6/1483	On 18th June 1483, reports began to spread that 20000 men that had gathered at Pontefract (including 300 from York) on the orders of Richard III, were now heading to London from the north in ‘frightening and unheard of numbers’. Following the death of Edward IV on the 9th April that year, Richard, through manipulation, had taken the two princes into his custody for safe-keeping - Edward Prince of Wales at Stony Stratford on the 30th April, and Richard, Duke of York, from sanctuary at Westminster Abbey on the 16th June. A week earlier on the 9th June, William, Lord Hastings and one of Richard’s great supporters, had, at a council meeting, opposed the removal of the young Richard from sanctuary, perhaps coming to realise the true intentions of Richard himself. It would seem that the council meeting was the final straw for Richard and he decided to strike first. Richard was now showing his hand and his actions leading to his intended usurpation of the throne were now in full force (see entry for 10th June 1483 for the content of Richard’s letter asking for men to be sent to the capital).
18/6/1645	On 18th June 1645, two letters were received by the besieged Royalist garrison. They were dated the 15th June from Newark  and stated that the king, at the head of his army, was at Melton Mowbray, as mentioned before and that he intended to be at Newark the following Tuesday and then to march forward to the relief of Pontefract. Boothroyd suggests that this might have been a trick by the castle's governor to keep up the spirit of the garrison but some letters must have arrived from Newark because they brought information about the dissension in Parliament and in the City of London.
19/6/1270	On 19th June 1270 at a hearing in Westminster Hall concerning manorial rights, John de Warenne’s, 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal castle, followers overwhelmed Alan de la Zouche and his eldest son, causing serious harm to de la Zouche the elder who later died of a fever, brought on by his wounds, on 10th August. On fleeing, de Warenne was taken to Reigate castle by Prince Edward (later King Edward I), fined ten thousand marks (over £6 million in today's money ) and purged by the oath of twenty-five knights at Winchester.
19/6/1312	On 19th June 1312, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, Lieutenant of Scotland and court favourite of Edward II, was executed on the road to Kenilworth on the Earl of Lancaster’s lands after a meeting of barons at Warwick Castle. His ‘jurors’ included the Earls of Warwick, Lancaster, Hereford and Arundel. Gaveston had been besieged and captured by the Earls of Pembroke, and Surrey and Baron Henry de Percy a month before at Scarborough. The Earl of Lancaster’s advice to his fellow rebels ‘While he lives there will be no safe place in the realm of England’ was the harbinger of Gaveston’s death.
19/6/1645	On 19th June 1645,  Colonel General Poyntz and Colonel Overton, Governor of Pontefract, returned from Doncaster and drew up their Parliamentary forces  in the Marketplace. Captain Washington and Lieutenant Empson went out of the castle to Newark, most probably to obtain correct information and ascertain whether anything could be done for the relief of Pontefract Castle.
20/6/1264	On 20th June 1264, all of the lands of John de Warenne - 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle - were seized by  Simon de Montfort who now had control of King Henry III. All estates, which included Sandal Castle, and with the exceptions of Reigate and Lewes, were given into the custody of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester. The Sussex lands were given to the Simon de Montfort's second son, also called Simon de Montfort.
20/6/1645	Parliament's Colonel General Poyntz called a council of law on 20th June 1645 in the town. In the afternoon, there arrived several loaded wagons at the New Hall in which in one of these there was a cannon. A party of infantry played their cannon without doing any damage. On the following day, Parliamentary forces began to form a platform at Monkhill for the cannon. Efforts by the Royalist garrison in firing at them were unsuccessful for the works they had already raised protected the opposing forces. The following night, the cannon was brought from New Hall and placed against the church. The guard was relieved at the church and a deserter came into the castle and informed the besieged Royalists that the Parliamentary troops, unsuccessful against His Majesty, had since been routed.
21/6/1317	The terms on which Thomas, Earl of Lancaster’s (lord of Pontefract) retainers served him are set out by four extant indentures, which differ little from the normal type of written contract which bound a man to his lord during this period. One indenture is that sealed with Sir William Latimer, a Yorkshire banneret, on 15th May 1319; others are with Sir Hugh Meynill of Derbyshire (24th July 1317), Sir John Eure of Northumberland (29th December 1317) and Sir Adam de Swillington, another Yorkshireman (21st June 1317). All four instruments specified that service was to be for life, in peace and war, in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and against all men save the king (this last clause was invoked by at least two of the Earl’s knights to excuse their desertion of him under the stress of events of 1320-1322).
21/6/1395	In the summer of 1395, Richard II, Pontefract Castle's most famous prisoner, campaigned vigorously for the canonisation of his great-grandfather, Edward II. Richard had newly painted white harts circling the pillars beside Edward’s tomb in the abbey church at Gloucester and petitioned the pope in Rome with accounts of the miracles that had occurred there.
21/6/1483	After Edward IV's death in April 1483, Richard Duke of Gloucester became Protector of the Realm. In June 1483, Richard declared there was a conspiracy against the Protectorship. Richard directly accused Hastings, Stanley, Morton and Rotherham of plotting with the Woodvilles, including the Queen Dowager, Elizabeth Woodville, against the government. Richard sent letters to his supporters in the north, including York, Hull and Northumberland. The Burghers of York proclaimed that an army of no less than 300 men should meet up at Pontefract Castle before marching to London on 21st June 1483.
21/6/1645	On 21st June 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded:' …we had a poore manwho before this Seege dwelt at Munkhill and having his howse burnt by the enemy Came into the Castle for suckor, & going forthis morning to get grasse for the Cattell by Munkhill mill, was there shott dead upon the place where he was getting of it & fetcht in at night & buryd…’

Next week in history

Date	Event
1/7/1230	On Ist July 1230, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, left Nantes and accompanied Henry III on his way to Poitou. Henry’s original intentions of conquest morphed into a promenade through the country as many towns were ostensibly loyal to Louis IX of France and Henry could not rely on the loyalty of the Poitevin barons.
1/7/1300	On 1st July 1300, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was made Commander of the 1st Division of the King’s Army by Edward I on his Scottish campaign. This position had been similarly conferred on Henry in June 1298.
1/7/1345	On 1st July 1345, Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, brother of the executed’ traitor’ Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, was appointed a member of the advisory council to aid the Keeper of the Realm whilst Edward III went abroad. At this time, he was also appointed as an adviser to Edward III’s six-years-old son Lionel of Antwerp, his grandson-in-law and great-great-nephew.
1/7/1370	On 1st July 1370, the Black Prince in discussions with John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, and Edward III rejected a policy of punishment towards French towns that had gone over to Charles V of France and now wanted to return to English allegiance. This decision also gave his brother, Gaunt, overall authority in the conduct of military operations but any decision on the fate of Limoges’ citizens would have to be agreed by both men.
1/7/1495	In July 1495, Henry VII commissioned a Nottingham tradesman, Walter Hylton, to erect an unpretentious alabaster tomb for Richard III (lord of Sandal) over the ex-king’s grave near the altar in Leicester Grey Friars. Payment of £50 (£48,000 today) was paid in two instalments with a separate fee of £10 (£9600 today) issued to James Keyley two months later for additional work on the tomb. This edifice remained in situ until about 1538 when the friary was suppressed. Despite Richard’s reputation suffering Tudor ridicule (and more), Henry saw an opportunity to lessen any animosity towards him for Richard’s quick, ‘unseemly’ burial and remind any Yorkist supporters that transferring their loyalties to Perkin Warbeck would ignore Richard’s own delegitimization of Edward IV’s sons.
1/7/1645	On 1st July 1645,  the besieged Royalist garrison saw the Parliamentarians  carrying faggots and scaling ladders down to the church which raised their suspicion of an intended assault. The guards were then doubled and at about 12 o'clock most of the troops were under arms, ready to receive any attack made by the Parliamentary forces. However the opposition remained in their works during the night. The number and strength of the besiegers rendered any sally by the garrison more dangerous to themselves than to the Parliamentary forces and from this period the besieged made no sallies against the enemy's works. On the other hand,  Parliament's Colonel  General Poyntz did not wish to expose his men to danger and so each party watched the other rather than carry on any vigorous enterprises.
1/7/1879	On 1st July 1879, public passenger train services began at Baghill railway station (on the Sheffield to York line) greatly increasing access to Pontefract town and castle for Victorian visitors. The castle, by this time, was often viewed as a romantic ruin and pleasure garden with tennis courts and ornamental rose gardens. Tanshelf railway station near the centre of the town had opened eight years earlier giving easy access to Pontefract Racecourse. This station had closed in 1967 but was opened on 11th May 1992 when the line between Wakefield Kirkgate and Pontefract Monkhill was re-opened. Pontefract’s other railway station, Monkhill was opened by the Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway in April 1848.
1/7/1893	On 1st July 1893, ‘The Spectator’ magazine reported: ‘Lord Randolph Churchill, speaking at Pontefract on Saturday last, made a very happy point by saying that Mr. Gladstone’s new financial resolutions would condemn Ireland to penal,—he meant, he said, “ financial,”—servitude for six years. This is, indeed, precisely what the Parnellites think of the step taken. They have issued an address to their Irish friends in the United States, imploring their support to resist and defeat this withdrawal of all financial power from the Irish Legislature for this long period, which they regard as fatal to any genuine kind of Home-rule………. The Pontefract by-election ended in the return of the Gladstonian by the narrow majority of 32, Mr. T. W. Nussey receiving 1,191 votes, against 1,159 given for Mr. Elliott Lees, the Conservative.’
2/7/1440	On 2nd July 1440, on the day Henry VI sealed the terms of Charles, Duke of Orleans’ release from Imprisonment, he appointed a new Lieutenant-General and Governor of France, Richard, Duke of York (lord of Sandal Castle) for the second time. York was promised an annual income of £20,000 (£20.3 million in today’s money) to support his position.
2/7/1483	In the first days of July 1483, Richard III’s (lord of Sandal) northern forces of around four thousand men under the command of the Earl of Northumberland and Richard Ratcliffe arrived In London with Richard greeting them bareheaded as a sign of respect. Richard was preparing to avoid/avert any troubles surrounding his coronation days later.
2/7/1637	On 2nd July 1637, Sir John Jackson, MP, died. Knighted on 19 April 1619, in 1624, Jackson was elected Member of Parliament for Pontefract in the Happy Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Pontefract in 1625, 1626 and 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.
2/7/1644	On 2nd July 1644, Cromwell was victorious at the Battle of Marston Moor at Tockwith, near York. Some of the Royalist survivors escaped the battlefield and took refuge at Pontefract Castle, where they joined the garrison under the command of Sir Richard Lowther.
2/7/1645	On 2nd July 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ in the Afternoone our dutchman playd his Cannon from the Platforme by Treasurers Tower into the Markitt place, where we saw 2 or 3 kild dead..’ The unnamed ‘dutchman’ is first mentioned in the diaries on 10th June this year, most probably associated with his countrymen’s draining operations in the east of Yorkshire under the patronage of King Charles I.
3/7/1282	On 3rd July 1282, Sir Henry de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, agreed with Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray, to exchange lands resulting in a consolidation of areas to the northern and south-eastern parts of Henry’s Pontefract estates.
3/7/1557	A survey report of Pontefract Castle dated 3rd July 1557 recorded: ‘ That our Tower called the Gyllot Tower, or the great Round Tower, both within, & without the Walls of our Castell of Pountfret, p’cel of our said Duchy, in our said County, is in great ruine & decay, as well in tymber-work as in Stonework & is likely shortly to fall down, unless some speedy Remedy be had & provided for the same…….We authorize you…to take such Stone 7 tymber meet, & necessary for the Repair of our said Tower in such places hereafter recited. That is to say the said Stone, as well of the late dissolved Abbey of Pountf’t aforesd, as of the decayed Chappell called St Thomas Hill being distant one quartr of a Mile or thereabouts from our said Castell; And the said Timber Tress to be taken in our Woods of Creedling Sowewood & Ackworth…….’
3/7/1645	On 3rd and 4th July 1645, and at different times, a brisk fire of musketry was maintained on both Parliamentary and Royalist sides. Towards evening, the  Parliamentary forces' horse, which had been drawn up in the West Field for most of the day, began to depart to their quarters. However a considerable body remained all night and kept up considerable fire.
3/7/1901	On 3rd July 1901, the ‘Wakefield Advertiser and Gazette’ reported that a garden party and sale of work took place at Sandal Castle in aid of the Wesleyan Chapel and Sunday Schools. Mr Isaac Briggs JP performed the opening ceremony.
4/7/1318	On 4th July 1318, the Earl of Pembroke, Hugh Despenser the Younger, 1st Baron Badlesmere, the Archbishop of Dublin, and the Bishops of Ely and Norwich went from the court’s HQ at Northampton to meet Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract. They agreed to a cancellation of royal grants that had breached the Ordinances of 1311 and that Roger d’Amory, Hugh d’Audley (Despenser’s wife’s sisters’ husbands) and Baron William Montague should only be allowed at court when summoned for military service.
4/7/1399	On 4th July 1399, Henry Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur, Humberside from France with a small band of exiles attempting to overthrow King Richard II
4/7/1483	On 4th July 1483, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, now proclaimed Richard III, lord of Sandal, with his wife, Anne, arrived at the Tower of London in advance of their coronation in two days’ time. A 10pm curfew was imposed in London with Richard’s soldiers ‘guarding’ the streets.
4/7/1645	On 4th July 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘This morning the enemy had an allarum, but we knew not where, but all the horse that went out last night Came in againe very yearely to the Towne, & the drew up about 400 foot into the upper Markitt olace & stood to theire armes wth theirs knapsacks on theire backes: and about 12 a Clock all the horse wch was about towne drew towards wentbridge and appeared in 2 bodyes upon the hill top on this side wentbridge……..’
4/7/1648	On 4th July 1648, it was reported by The Parliament Committee for Advance of Money (set up in November 1642, and ceasing in 1656, to produce voluntary loans and subsequently compulsory assessments for the fight against Charles I and from 1645 to uncover the concealed resources of Royalist ‘delinquents’) that Captain William Armitage of Netherton had raised forces and money for the King at Pontefract Castle. He had been taken prisoner to Featherstone by Sir Henry Cholmley’s regiment along with thirty men and horse.
4/7/1752	On 4th July 1752, Sir Robert Monckton-Arundel, 4th Viscount Galway, was born. He served as MP for the family seat of Pontefract in 1774 and from 1780-1783, then giving up his seat following his appointment as envoy to the Elector Palatine. However, on this appointment not materialising, he was elected to the York constituency in 1783. Failing to re-gain Pontefract in 1790, he was successful in 1796 and resigned his seat in 1802. He was appointed a Privy Councillor in 1784 and was Comptroller of the Household (ancient position in the royal household including helping with the auditing of accounts, arranging of royal travel and adjudicating upon offences committed within the bounds of the palace) from 1784-1787.
5/7/1561	On 5th July 1561, Edward Rusby (or Rustbie) was married to Grace Alline in Ackworth Parish Church. Rusby was later to be Mayor of Pontefract in 1582 having resided at Hundhill in the 1570s.
5/7/1645	On 5th July 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘ …The enemy also brought into the Towne this morning a Small dimiculvarin or some other smaule feeild peese wch was said thay Caryed up into the west field. And about 3 a Clock the enemy shott of theire Cannon againe to the lower Castle gate & shott thorough the draw bridge, & so fell betwixt the bridge & the gate….’
5/7/1648	On 5th July 1648, a report was made to the Commons that: ‘ Colonel Rossiter met with the Pontefract forces upon their return after their plundering voyage (see the entry for 30th June), and engaged them at a place called Willoughby Field, routed their whole party, consisting of about 1000, took the commander-in-chief and all his officers – the rest routed but not many slain. Colonel Rossiter unhappily wounded in the thigh. List of the prisoners:- Sir Philip Mouncton, General; Sir Gilbert Byron, Major General……….4 cornets, 2 ensigns, 24 gentlemen of quality….about 500 prisoners taken, who were all horse, except 100 dragoons…..8 carriages taken with arms and ammunition: Colonel Pocklington and Colonel Cholmeley slain, with many others not yet found, because the fight was in the corn-fields; all their colours, bag and baggage taken.’
29/6/1237	On 29th June 1237, John de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, was appointed by Henry III as one of several lords overseeing the arrival and mission of Cardinal Otto of Tonengo, Pope Gregory IX’s legate. Otto had been requested by the king in order to provide guidance and help in overcoming his precarious financial situation and faltering peace treaty with Scotland. His barons were resentful and mistrusting of foreign interference in matters of state with Matthew Paris recording: “Our king perverts all things. In every way he sets at nought our laws and disregards his plighted faith and promises……… now he has secretly called a legate into the country, who will change the whole face of the land: now he gives and now at will he takes back what he has given.” Otto was to remain in England until the 7th January 1241.
29/6/1347	On 29th June 1347, John de Warenne, the 7th and final Earl of Surrey (some historians show him as the 8th Earl), died at Conisbrough Castle and was buried in Lewes Priory, East Sussex. The earl's land, including Sandal Castle, reverted to the crown. John had lost his possessions during his dispute of 1317 with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and, on the subsequent execution of Thomas in March 1322, the lands became the Crown's ownership. It was not until 1326 that John regained some of his lands, and only in 1334 that he regained the castles at Conisbrough and Sandal, but only on the proviso that they remained with him until his death, when they would again revert to the Crown. On the death of John, Sandal passed to Edward III, who granted it to his fourth son, Edmund Langley, Duke of York. It would be from this lineage that the castle would come into the possession of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and become his key base in the North during the Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485.
29/6/1645	On 29th June 1645, Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded: ‘..a little after no one, the Enemyes Genrall (Poyntes) Nathan Drake, Royalist diarist, recorded sent down the Lady Cuttler wth hur waytingmaid to the Barbican gates againe, she having not had any meate of 24 howers. Our Governor of the Castle would not suffer hur to Come into the Castle againe, because they had sent for hur out & given hur free liberty to goe home to hur Children, therefore he thought it sttod not wth his honor to be so Fooled by them, and by that meanes the poore Lady wth hur maid & hur Chaplin staid starving in the streetes till about 10 a Clock in the night, at wch time the Enemy sent for hur up into the Towne, & for any thing we heare, she sent for 2 horseyes that night, & so went away the next day. There was this night 2 Boan fires…made upon Sandoll Castle and we answered it wth one heare upon the Round Tower. We supposed to be good newes because of 2 Fires.’
30/6/1253	At some time in 1253 (no sources give an exact date), John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, was convicted of unjustly enclosing common land in Wakefield and was ordered to remove the fences he had just erected.  John was known as a strict and unpopular landlord.
30/6/1268	At some stage in 1268 (some sources credit this to 1269 although there is no exact date for either),  John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, was involved in a land dispute with Henry de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract. This quarrel was in danger of escalating into a private war, with both sides raising armies, until King Henry III intervened and the royal justices determined that the pastureland in question belonged to Henry de Lacy.
30/6/1286	On 30th June 1286, John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, was born. He succeeded his grandfather, John de Warenne (his father having been killed in a tournament when he was only six months old), in September 1304 as Earl of Surrey, becoming a ward of Edward I.  He was eight years old when his mother died. In 1306, he was married to King Edward I's granddaughter, Joan of Bar, when she was only ten. The marriage was unsuccessful and Joan was largely abandoned by her husband who had been trying to divorce her since 1313. John would have numerous illegitimate children during his life and would take ownership of Sandal Castle in 1304 at the age of eighteen. De Warenne’s aunt, Isabella de Warenne, was married to John Balliol, who became king of Scotland in 1292.
30/6/1289	At some stage in 1289 (the date is unclear), John de Warenne , 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, and Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln and owner of Pontefract Castle, formed part of a commission that was set up to hear complaints by the Scots of extortions committed by northern sheriffs.
30/6/1404	On 30th June 1404, Henry IV, from Pontefract, issued a passport for a quarter of a year to Sir John Sinclair, brother of Henry II Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. Henry had been captured following the Battle of Homildon Hill in 1402 and released on ransom. The battle had been a disastrous defeat for the Scots under Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, but a triumph for English forces led by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, and his son Harry ‘Hotspur’. It is surmised that Sinclair’s passport was a ‘safe passage’ granted by the king.
30/6/1484	On 30th June 1484, Richard III, lord of Sandal, and one-time Lord High Admiral of England, inspected the royal fleet at Scarborough to ensure its preparedness against incursions or invasion by the French or Scots and its ability to prevent the secreting of important persons, such as his nieces or ‘conspiring’ nobles, to the continent.
30/6/1537	On 30th June 1537, Lord Darcy, Constable of Pontefract Castle during the previous year’s Pilgrimage of Grace, was beheaded on Tower Hill and his head exposed on London Bridge. Contrary to his wishes that his whole body be buried by that of his second wife, Edith Sandys, Lady Neville, in the Friary at Greenwich, his headless body was buried at the Crossed Friars beside the Tower of London.
30/6/1645	On 30th June 1645, the besieging Parliamentary forces had a general rendezvous on Brotherton Marsh of all their horse in the area, which amounted to a thousand. They departed then in companies to different villages. The besiegers relieved their guard at New Hall with at least 600 men and different bodies of infantry moving in all directions. This led to the governor of the castle to conclude that the enemy seriously intended to assault the castle and he gave orders that the guard should be doubled and strict watch kept.
30/6/1648	On 30th June 1648, a report was made to the Commons that: ‘The enemy at Pontefract Castle still go on at pleasure, taking and plundering whom they please, and yet please to deal so with none but those who have been most active for the Parliament. Having quitted the Isle of Axholme, they came towards Lincoln, and yesterday entered the city, plundered the house of Capt. Pert, who is now in arms in Northumberland for the Parliament…..They have prisoners Capt. Bees, Capt. Fines, and others….They went further on, and took prisoner Mr Ellis; they brag they have 3000 listed in Lincolnshire…’
30/6/1888	On 30th June 1888, the ‘Leeds Times’ reported that it had been decided to erect a boundary wall around Sandal Castle and also build a lodge.