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,
Honour of Pontefract Honour of Pontefract The Honour of Pontefract, otherwise known as the Feudal Barony of Pontefract, is a medieval English feudal barony which has existed since 1068 in present-day West Yorkshire. The honour was first granted to Ilbert de Lacy, 1st Baron Pontefract by William the Conqueror following his participation in the Harrying of the North. His son Robert supported Robert Curthose and was banished, the Honour being transferred to a Henry Traverse. Traverse himself was murdered three days later, and the barony changed hands again to Hugh de la Val. The de Lacy family were restored as Barons during the