Pontrefact, a place of considerable note in English history, is situated
about two miles south-west from Ferrybridge, nine miles nearly east from
Wakefield, and fifteen miles north-west from Doncaster, in Yorkshire. The
origin of the town is unknown; and the etymology of its name has been a
matter of dispute, in which figures a monkish legend ascribing the name of
Ponsfractus, or Pontefract, to the breaking of a bridge, and the fall of
many persons into the river Aire, who were miraculously saved by St.
William, Archbishop of York. The river Ouse and the city of York, however,
put in a stronger claim as the scene of this miracle, and unfortunately
for Pontefract, the town is so named in charters of fifty-three years'
date before the miracle is pretended to have been performed. Still the
etymology is referable to the breaking down of "_some bridge_," (_pons_,
bridge; _fractus_, broken,) but this unravelment is not antiquarian.
Camden says, that in the Saxon times, the name of this town was Kirkby,
which was changed by the Normans to Pontefract, because of a broken bridge
that was there. But as there is no river within two miles of the place,
this bridge appears to have been built over the Wash, which lies about a
quarter of a mile to the east of the Castle. Other researches prove
Pontefract to have been a secondary and subordinate Roman station.
The history of the Castle is, of course, involved in that of the manor.
The town is stated to have been a burgh in the time of Edward the
Confessor; but how long it had enjoyed this privilege is uncertain.[1]
After the Conquest, this manor, with 150 others, or the greatest part of
so many in Yorkshire, besides ten in Nottinghamshire, and four in
Lincolnshire, were given by William to Hildebert, or Ilbert de Lacy, one
of his Norman followers, who _built the Castle_. The work occupied twelve
years, and it was finished in 1080. The labour and expense of its erection
was so great, that no person unless in the possession of a princely
fortune, could have completed a work of such magnitude. Hildebert was
succeeded by his son Robert, commonly called Robert de Pontefract, from
his being born at that town. Robert enjoyed his vast possessions in peace
during the reign of William Rufus; but after the accession of Henry I. he
with more ambition than prudence, joined with Robert, Duke of Normandy,
the King's brother, who claimed the crown of England. In consequence of
this transaction, Robert de Lacy was banished the realm, and the castle
and honour of Pontefract were given by the King to Henry Traverse, and
afterwards to Henry De-laval.[2] Robert de Lacy was, however, restored
after a few years exile, and the property continued in the Lacy family
till the year 1193, when another Robert de Lacy dying without issue, the
estate and honour of Pontefract devolved on his uterine sister Aubrey de
Lisours, who carried these estates of the Lacys by marriage to Richard
Fitz-Eustace, constable of Chester. Thence they descended to John
Fitz-Eustace, who accompanied Richard I. in his crusade, and is said to
have died at Tyre in Palestine. Roger, his eldest son, also in the crusade,
succeeded to his honour and estates. He was present with Richard at the
memorable siege of Acre. On his return to England he was the first of his
family that took the name of Lacy, in which Pontefract Castle continued
till 1310, when Henry de Lacy, through default of male issue, left his
possessions to his daughter and heiress, Alice, who was married to Thomas,
Earl of Lancaster; and, in case of a failure of issue from that marriage,
he entailed them on the King and his heirs.
The Earl of Lancaster, it will be remembered, became embroiled with Edward
II. and his minion Gaveston, who partly through the interference of
Lancaster, was beheaded at Warwick after a siege in Scarborough Custle.
The King swore vengeance for the death of his favourite, which led this
weak sovereign into a long series of dissentions with the barons, at the
head of whom, was the Earl of Lancaster. Both parties now flew to arms,
but Lancaster soon found himself ill supported by his compeers, and
marching northward for reinforcements from the celebrated Bruce, King of
Scotland, the King in the meantime, sent the Earl of Surrey and Kent to
besiege the castle of Pontefract, which surrendered at the first summons.
Lancaster was next closely pursued by the king with great superiority of
numbers. "The earl, endeavouring to rally his troops, was taken prisoner,
with ninety-five barons and knights, and carried to the castle of
Pontefract, where he was imprisoned in a tower which Leland says he had
newly made towards the abbey," This tower was square: its wall of great
strength, being 10-1/2 feet thick; nor was there any other entrance into
the interior than by a hole or trap-door in the floor of the turret: so
that the prisoner must have been let down into this abode of darkness,
from whence there could be no possible mode of escape; the room was
twenty-five feet square. A few days after, the King being at Pontefract
ordered him to be arraigned in the hall of the castle, before a small
number of peers, among whom were the Spencers, his mortal enemies. The
earl was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; but the punishment
was changed to decapitation. After sentence was passed, he said, "Shall I
die without answer?" He was not, however, permitted to speak; but a
certain Gascoign took him away, and having put an old hood over his head,
set him on a lean mare without a bridle. Being attended by a Dominican
friar as his confessor, he was carried out of the town amidst the insults
of the people; and there beheaded. Thus fell Thomas, Earl of Lancaster,
the first Prince of the Blood, being uncle to Edward II. who condemned him
to death. Several of his adherents were hanged at Pontefract.
The next royal blood that stained Pontefract castle was that of King
Richard II. who was here murdered or starved to death; though there is a
tradition that it was merely given out that Richard had starved himself to
death, and that he escaped from Pontefract to Mull, whence he shortly
proceeded to the mainland of Scotland, where, for nineteen years, he was
entertained in an honourable but secret captivity.[3] The matter remains
in tragic darkness.[4] In the succeeding reign of Henry IV. Richard
Scroope, archbishop of York, being taken prisoner, was in Pontefract
castle, condemned to death. Next in the calendar of atrocities committed
within these drear walls, were the murders of Anthony Woodville, Earl
Rivers; Richard, Lord Grey; Sir Thomas Vaughan; and Sir Richard Hawse, in
1483; by Richard III., whom Shakspeare makes to whine forth:
O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison!
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls,
Richard II. here was hack'd to death;
And for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink.
We may now pass over matters of minor importance in the history of
Pontefract to the time of Charles I. In the King's contest with his
Parliament, this was the last fortress that held out for the unfortunate
monarch. At Christmas 1644, Sir Thomas Fairfax laid siege to the castle,
and on Jan. 19, following, after an incessant cannonade of three days, a
breach was made: the brave garrison would not surrender; the besiegers
mined, but the besieged counter-mined, and the work of slaughter went on
till the garrison were greatly reduced. At length the Parliamentarians
were attacked and repulsed by a reinforcement of Royalists from Oxford,
and thus ended the first siege of Pontefract. In March, 1645, the enemy
again took possession of the town, and after three months cannonade, the
garrison being reduced almost to a state of famine, surrendered the castle
by an honourable capitulation on June 20. Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed
governor, and he thinking the royal party to be subdued, appointed a
colonel as his substitute, with a garrison of 100 men. The royalists next
by stratagem recovered Pontefract, of which Sir John Digby was appointed
governor.
The third and final siege of this fine castle commenced in October, 1648.
General Rainsborough was appointed to the command of the army, but he
being previously intercepted at Doncaster, Oliver Cromwell undertook to
conduct the siege. After having remained a month before the fortress,
without making any impression on its massy walls, Cromwell joined the
grand army under Fairfax, and General Lambert being appointed commander in
chief of the forces before the castle, arrived at Pontefract on the 4th of
December.
The ENGRAVING represents the castle precisely at this period. It is copied
from a large print taken from a drawing found in the possession of a
descendant of the Fairfax family of Denton; in one angle is the following
memorandum: "Governor Morris commanded in the Castle. General Lambert
commanded the Siege, being appointed thereto on the death of General
Rainsborough, who was intercepted and killed at Doncaster, by a party from
the Castle, as he was going to take command."
General Lambert raised new works, and vigorously pushed the siege; but the
besieged held out. On January 30, 1649, the King was beheaded; and the
news no sooner reached Pontefract, than the royalist garrison proclaimed
his son Charles II. and made a vigorous and destructive sally against
their enemies. The Parliamentarians, however, prevailed, and on March 25,
1649, the garrison being reduced from 500 or 600 to 100 men, surrendered
by capitulation. Six of the principal Royalists were excepted from mercy:
two escaped, but were retaken and executed at York; the third was killed
in a sortie; and the three others concealing themselves among the ruins of
the castle, escaped after the surrender; and two of the last lived to see
the Restoration.
This third siege was the most destructive to the castle: the tremendous
artillery had shattered its massive walls; and its demolition was
completed by order of Parliament. Within two months after its reduction,
the buildings were unroofed, and all the materials sold. Thus was this
princely fortress reduced to a heap of ruins.
The Castle of Pontefract was built on an elevated rock, commanding
extensive and picturesque views. The north-west prospect takes in the
beautiful vale along which flows the Aire, skirted by woods and
plantations. It is bounded only by the hills of Craven. The north and east
prospect is more extensive, but the scenery is not equally striking and
impressive. The towers of York Minster are distinctly seen, and the
prospect is only bounded by the limits of vision. To the east--while the
eye follows the course of the Aire towards the Humber, the fertility of
the country, the spires of churches, and two considerable hills, Brayton
Barf, and Hambleton Haugh, which rise in the midst of a plain, and one of
which is covered with wood, increase the beauty of the scene. The
south-east view includes part of the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham.
To the south and south-west, the towering hills of Derbyshire, stretching
towards Lancashire, form the horizon, while the foreground is a
picturesque country variegated with handsome residences.
The Castle, by its situation, as well as by its structure, was rendered
almost impregnable. It was not commanded by any contiguous hills, and it
could only be taken by blockade.
By referring to the Engraving, the reader will better understand this
defence. The outworks are there distinctly shown with the respective posts
and guards: indeed, these lines exhibit a fine specimen of fortification.
The quadrangular enclosure on the crest of the hill, in the lower part of
the Engraving, represents Lamberts' Fort Royal. To the right is the
approach to the castle by the south gate to the barbican, crossed by a
wall, with the middle gate, with the east gate at the extremity of the
line. We next approach, the ballium, or castle yard through the Porter's
Lodge of two towers with a portcullis. The wall of the castle-yard, it
will be seen, has a parapet, and is flanked with towers, and the chapel to
the right of the Lodge. East and West of the yard is seen the
semi-circular moat or ditch; and on an eminence near the western extremity
of the ballium, stands the keep or round tower, the walls of which are
said to have been twenty-one feet thick. The state rooms are on the second
story. The dungeons of the towers are terrific even in description: one
was about 15 feet deep, and scarcely six feet square, without any
admission of light. The whole area occupied by the Pontrefact fortress
seems to have been about 7 acres, now converted into garden ground.
The church seen within the work is that of All Saints, or Allhallows, a
Gothic structure, probably of the time of Henry III., and almost destroyed
in the sieges of the castle.
Pontefract must be numbered in our recollections of childhood; since here
were grown whole fields of liquorice root, from the extract of which are
made. _Pontefract Cakes_, impressed with the arms--three lions passant
gardant, surmounted with a helmet, full-forward, open faced, and
garde-visure. We have likewise seen them impressed with the celebrated
fortress, and the motto "Post mortem patris pro filio,"--after the death
of the father--for the son--denoting the loyalty of the Pontefract
Royalists in proclaiming Charles II. at the death of his father.
[1] The present Borough of Pontefract was incorporated by Richard
III., and has sent Members to Parliament since the reign of
James I.
[2] Dugdale Bar. vol. i p. 99.
[3] This tradition is moulded into a pleasing tale entitled "the White
Rose in Mull," in the Scottish Annual, the _Chameleon_, noticed by
us a few weeks since.
[4] Shakspeare lays Scene v. of Act. v. of Richard II. in a dungeon of
Pomfret Castle.
* * * * *
"LACONICS," GUESSES AT TRUTH, &c.
(_For the Mirror_.)
It is the interest of an indolent man to be honest: for it requires
considerable trouble and finesse, to deceive others successfully.
Money was a wise contrivance to place fools somewhat on a level with men
of sense.
It will be observed, that people have generally the identical faults and
vices they accuse others of; we may instance cowardice.
Wherever a proposition is self-evident, it is but weakening its strength
to bring forward arguments in its support.
It is a melancholy reflection that a glass of wine will do more towards
raising the spirits, than the finest composition ever penned.
It is a great mistake in physiognomists to take outward signs as evidences
of feeling: the seat of real sensation is within.
Wherever art has travelled out of her proper sphere to ape nature, she has
proved herself but a miserable mimic, even in her most approved efforts.
We must not allow ourselves to dwell too seriously on life; for otherwise
we shall be tempted to forego all our plans, to indulge in no future
wishes, and, in short, to live on in torpid apathy.
Books are at last the best companions: they instruct us in silence without
any display of superiority, and they attend the pace of each man's
capacity, without reproaching him for his want of comprehension.
A disgust of life frequently proceeds from sheer vanity, or a wish to be
supposed incapable of deriving gratification from the ordinary routine of
happiness.
It sometimes happens that with men as well as animals, that evidences of
spirit are only the effect of excited fear.
(_To be continued_.)
* * * * *