- Pontefract Castle 13th Century
- 1205 - On 27th May 1205, Roger de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, was awarded the manor of Snaith and allied soke (a minor administrative district) by King John for the service of one knight’s fee. Snaith was worth approximately £30 pa to Roger (about £63, 000 in today's money).
- Pontefract Castle 14th Century
- 1311 - The immediate product of Thomas of Lancaster’s de Lacy inheritance (including Pontefract) in February 1311, was a worsening of his relations with the king. The Lanercost chronicler tells how he came north to do homage for his new earldoms, but refused to leave the kingdom to meet Edward II, while Edward similarly refused to come to him over the Tweed. Civil war was feared, for Lancaster threatened to return with a hundred knights and enter his new lands by force. Eventually, however, the king gave way, crossed the Tweed and came to the earl near Berwick, where an apparently amicable meeting took place; though Lancaster still refused to greet Gaveston, who accompanied the king. The Chronicle of Lanercost records that on 27th May 1311 Edward II ordered the escheators (legal officers dealing with a deceased’s property) to deliver the bulk of the former de Lacy lands to Lancaster and his wife, ‘Thomas having done fealty and the king having respited his homage . . . until he be lawfully warned to do the same’. Lancaster did not perform homage until 26th August.
- 1359 - From the 27th to the 29th May 1359, the ‘Rogation Days’, Edward III and his older sons – Edward, Lionel and John of Gaunt, future lord of Pontefract, - appeared in disguise at the royal tournament at Smithfield, London.
- 1384 - On 27th May 1384, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, led a second round of Anglo-French talks in Flanders but could only secure a year’s truce not a treaty. The April Parliament that year had agreed to the idea of doing homage to Charles VI of France by oath for Aquitaine but not Calais, with some historians suggesting a Ricardian/Gaunt plan to hand over Aquitaine to Gaunt as a hereditary appanage so he, not Richard II, would do homage for it. Despite French envoys encouraging the Scots to enter into their truce with England, Archibald Douglas raided Northumberland the following month.
- Pontefract Castle 15th Century
- 1402 - On 27th May 1402, the head of the Dominicans at Winchelsea and the Rector of Horsmonden (Kent) plus four other Franciscan friars were ordered to be sent to the Tower after claiming that Richard II, who had ‘died’ at Pontefract Castle in February 1400, was still alive.
- Pontefract Castle 17th Century
- 1643 - On 27th May 1643, Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, wrote to Charles: ‘…I have consulted with the Earl of Newcastle and General King upon the state of this army, and the means there were for me to come to you. The conclusion has been that the Earl of Newcastle should give me two thousand foot men, twelve companies of cavalry and two hundred dragoons. For arms you must not expect them at present, for I have been constrained to give them, to arm the new men. I shall set out the 31st of this month, and that it may not be hindered, I keep it very secret. I pretend only to go to Pontefract, during the time they are besieging Leeds, which will not be, being impossible, bringing you the forces which I do.’
- 1645 - The besieged Royalists (at Pontefract Castle) played their cannon against the enemy on 27th May 1645 and on the same night, about twelve o'clock, Lieutenant Wheatley arrived. He had been sent with Captain Worthington a few days before, to Sandal Castle. He had brought with him forty or fifty horses and on the way had taken two enemy scouts prisoners. They had also met with one hundred and twenty or thirty head of cattle, which they had driven before them. They had to get them into the castle which was no easy task because of the Parliamentarians' strong works and guards with which the castle was surrounded. Wheatley had left the cattle at some distance while he went on to the castle and it was agreed that the cattle should be brought from the Chequer Field by way of Carleton and on to the public road to Baghill, and that when he came near he would cry out“ a prince! A prince! To arms! To arms!” All was ready in the castle an hour before the cattle arrived. On arrival of the cattle, a cannon was played against the besiegers' works and different parties sallied out aid in bringing in the cattle. The different parties reached their stations and fully succeeded in checking the Parliamentary forces. Captain Joshua Walker with about twenty men went to Baghill to collect the cattle. Anxious to place the cattle in safety and before the Parliamentarians could collect together in large numbers to prevent this, they drove the cattle down the hill with such force that they lost thirty or forty into the hands of the besiegers. However, the garrison managed to get ninety-seven cattle safely into the castle. Once the cattle were in the castle, the drums beat a retreat and all the different parties of the garrison returned without loss of life and only one man wounded. The besieged Royalists now gave vent to their joy; they lit bonfires on the tops of all the towers of the castle and commenced a heavy fire against their enemy works in all directions. Heavy fire against the castle was commenced the next day by the besiegers. They told their commander that five hundred men had escorted the cattle into the castle as an excuse for their failure in not stopping the cattle going into the castle.
- Pontefract Castle 20th Century
- 1954 - On 27th May 1954, at the annual meeting of the Council (Wakefield), the assurance of the Duchy of Lancaster by letter was accepted: ‘as occasion arises should require to do such repairs to the castle ruins to ensure that they are not a danger to the public'.
- Sandal Castle 11th Century
- 1085 - On 27th May 1085, Gundred, Countess of Surrey, wife of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey (possible founder of the castle at Wakefield, precursor to de Warenne’s son’s castle at Sandal Castle), died at Castle Acre in Norfolk and was buried at Lewes Priory. Both Gundred’s and de Warenne’s lead chests containing their remains were discovered in October 1845 during excavations within the Priory grounds for the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings railway.
- Sandal Castle 12th Century
- 1199 -
On 27th May 1199, Hamelin de Warenne attended the coronation of King John at Westminster Abbey. The photo shows King John's tomb effigy in Worcester Cathedral. William de Warenne, later 5th Earl of Surrey, and son of Hamelin was also present. William would take ownership of Sandal Castle in May 1202 and would be loyal to King John through part of his reign, being one of the counsellors, by whose advice, the king agreed to Magna Carta on 15th June 1215. However, William would submit to Prince Louis of France in June 1216 after allowing him to enter his castle at Reigate unopposed earlier in the month. It would appear that William changed sides when it looked likely that Louis, with the rebellious barons' support might emerge victorious from the first Barons' War. As soon as it seemed the king's side would prevail, he came back to the fold. - Sandal Castle 13th Century
- 1240 - On 27th May 1240, William de Warenne - the 5th Earl of Surrey - and owner of Sandal Castle, died in London. William had been the son of Hamelin de Plantagenet and his wife Isabel, the 4th Countess of Surrey. William had been present at the coronation of King John and had been one of the few barons to continue to support John - his cousin - throughout his reign. Indeed when a general rebellion was feared in 1212, John had committed to him the custody of the northern shires. He was buried at Lewes Priory in Sussex. He was succeeded by his son, John de Warenne, at the age of nine years old. John became a ward of King Henry III and was raised at court.