English invasion of Scotland (1400) the Solway Firth. As Historian Chris Given-Wilson has put it, 'England's confusion was Scotland's opportunity,' and in May 1399 Wark Castle was destroyed by a Scottish raid. The invasion, then, started being planned alsmost as soon as Henry took the throne. At least one historian has noted a tradition, by then, of newly crowned kings of England launching military campaigns at the beginning of their reigns. Edward III had done so the same year his reign commenced; Richard II immediately on reaching his majority, and Henry V would do so within three years. These campaigns have been summarised as "enforcing...royal
Pontefract third siege, Pontefract inhabitants, fearing a fourth, petitioned Parliament for the castle to be slighted. In their view, the castle was a magnet for trouble, and in April 1649 demolition began. the ruins of the castle remain and are publicly accessible. Pontefract was the site of Pontefract Priory, a Cluniac priory founded in 1090 by Robert de Lacy dedicated to St John the Evangelist. The priory was dissolved by royal authority in 1539. The abbey maintained the Chartularies of St John, a collection of historic documents later discovered among family papers by Thomas Levett, the High Sheriff of Rutland and