Editing Pontefract Castle (section)

===Richard II===
[[File:Pontefract Castle, 2010 (1).jpg|thumb|The ruins of Pontefract Castle's keep]]
In the closing years of the 14th century, [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] banished John of Gaunt's son [[Henry Bolingbroke]], Duke of Hereford, from England. Following the death of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in 1399, Richard II seized much of the property due to Bolingbroke. Richard then shared some of the seized property around among his favourites.  The castle at Pontefract was among such properties which was under threat. These events aroused Bolingbroke to return to England to claim his rights to the Duchy of Lancaster and the properties of his father.  Shakespeare's play ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'' (Act 2, scene 1, 277) relates Bolingbroke's homecoming in the words of Northumberland in the speech of the eight tall ships:-


{{quote|<poem>NORTHUMBERLAND
Then thus: I have from Port Le Blanc,
A bay in Brittany, receiv'd intelligence,
That Harry Duke of Herford, Rainold Lord Cobham,
Thomas, son and heir to th' Earl of Arundel,
That late broke from the Duke of Exeter,
His brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston,
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis Quoint—
All these, well furnished by the Duke of Brittany
With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience,
And shortly mean to touch our northern shore</poem>}}

When Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur on the Humber, he made straight way for his castle at Pontefract. King Richard II, being in Ireland at the time, was in no position to oppose Bolingbroke.  Bolingbroke soon deposed Richard and took the crown for himself as Henry IV.

[[File:Bolingbroke-richard-flint-castle-harley-ms-1319.png|thumb|left|Richard II was captured at [[Flint, Flintshire|Flint]] on 16 August 1399 and imprisoned.{{sfn|Tuck|2004}}]]
Richard II was captured by Henry Bolingbroke's supporters in August 1399 and was initially imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]]. Sometime before Christmas that year he was moved to Pontefract Castle (via Knaresborough) where he remained under guard until his death, perhaps on 14 February 1400.{{sfn|Tuck|2004}} [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' mentions this incident:

{{quote|<poem>Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls
Richard the second here was hack'd to death;
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.</poem>}}

Various chroniclers suggest that Richard was starved to death by his captors, and others suggest he starved himself. A contemporary French chronicler suggested that Richard II had been hacked to death, but this is, according to the [[ODNB]], "almost certainly fictitious".{{sfn|Tuck|2004}}