Berkhamsted Castle was taken prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers. When the Black Prince fell ill following his campaigning in France, he retired to Berkhamsted and died there in 1376. Richard II inherited Berkamsted Castle in 1377; initially the use of it was given to his favourite, Robert de Vere and, after de Vere's fall from power and exile in 1388, to John Holland. Henry IV lived in the castle after he deposed Richard in 1400, and he used the property to detain rival applicants to the throne. During this period Geoffrey Chaucer, later famous for his "Canterbury Tales", oversaw renovation work
Pontefract Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in West Yorkshire, England, near the A1 (or Great North Road) and the M62 motorway. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250, increasing to 30,881 at the 2011 Census. Pontefract's motto is "Post mortem patris pro filio", Latin for "After the death of the father, support the son", a reference to the English Civil War Royalist sympathies. At the end of the 11th century, the modern township of Pontefract consisted