Pontefract Castle II was captured by Henry Bolingbroke's supporters in August 1399 and 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. William Shakespeare's play Richard III mentions this incident: 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". In 1536, the castle's guardian, Thomas Darcy,
John Roches John Roches Sir John Roches (c.1333-1400), of Bromham, Wiltshire, was an English admiral, diplomat, magistrate and politician. He was made Ambassador to the Kingdom of Aragon from 30 October 1377 to 4 May 1378, and then again 20 June 1378 . He was then elected as Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Wiltshire in 1381, May 1382, October 1382, February 1383, April 1384, November 1390, 1394, January 1397 and 1399. He was first appointed Admiral to the West a senior command of the English Navy from 22 May 1381 to 23 November 1383. He was then given the