Pontefract Castle earl becoming a martyr with his tomb at Pontefract Priory becoming a shrine. It next went to Henry, Duke of Lancaster and subsequently to John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III. He made the castle his personal residence, spending vast amounts of money improving it. In the closing years of the 14th century, Richard II had banished John of Gaunt’s son Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford from the country and with the death of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster in 1399, much of Bolingbroke's patrimony was being given away by Richard II to his favourites. The castle
Clan Ramsay was claimed by the Douglases who became jealous and William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale captured Alexander Ramsay with a strong force of men, imprisoning him in Hermitage Castle, where he was starved to death. Alexander's brother, William Ramsay, was captured by the English at the Battle of Neville's Cross but was not killed by them as he lived to tell the tale. In 1400 another Sir Alexander Ramsay held out in Dalhousie Castle against a siege by the English, who were forced to retreat due to Ramsay's resolute resistance. In 1513 during the Anglo-Scottish Wars, Sir Alexander's descendant, another Alexander