Pontefract was referred to as "Pomfret". William Shakespeare's play "Richard III" mentions the castle:<br> Pomfret is referred to in Shakespeare's Richard II also My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke is changed:You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower.And, madam, there is order ta'en for you;With all swift speed you must away to France Pontefract suffered throughout the English Civil War. In 1648–49 the castle was laid under siege by Oliver Cromwell, who said it was "... one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom." Three sieges by the Parliamentarians left the town "impoverished and depopulated". In March 1649, after the
Barciany Castle Barciany Castle Barciany Castle, or Ordensburg Barten, is a 14th-century Teutonic Castle in Barciany village in Kętrzyn County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Barciany Castle was first mentioned in 1325 as a wooden structure. In the late 14th century the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Winrich von Kniprode decided to place the seat of a Komtur. The construction of a brick castle started in 1377, ending around 1400, with later additions in the 15th century. The castle remained under the rule of the Order until the moment of its secularization, when it became the seat of the steward of