Pontefract was referred to as "Pomfret". William Shakespeare's play "Richard III" mentions the castle:<br> Pomfret is referred to in Shakespeare's Richard II also My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke is changed:You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower.And, madam, there is order ta'en for you;With all swift speed you must away to France Pontefract suffered throughout the English Civil War. In 1648–49 the castle was laid under siege by Oliver Cromwell, who said it was "... one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom." Three sieges by the Parliamentarians left the town "impoverished and depopulated". In March 1649, after the
English invasion of Scotland (1400) in booty or ransom. Henry still needed to pay his army's wages – the merchant sailors' wages alone were £500 – and with the crown now a few thousand pounds further in debt, a parliament was summoned for York. Before either finances or parliament had been resolved, the Glyndŵr Rising, which continued for the rest of Henry's reign, had begun in Wales. Henry IV's campaign into Scotland in June 1400 was to be the last one ever led by an English king in person. English invasion of Scotland (1400) The English invasion of Scotland of August 1400 was the first