Warenne's castle at Reigate. This gave rise to a private war between the two powerful houses of Lancaster and Warenne, and is said to have been the historical foundation of an old popular local drama called "Revenge upon Revenge," the last scene of which, in a manuscript copy of it, is, according to Hunter, laid "at Cannon Hall, nigh Cawthorne."
On March 7, 1327, the sentence of attainder against the late Earl Thomas of Lancaster was reversed, and his brother Henry was allowed to succeed to his honours and estates, which he held till his death in 1345, when he was succeeded by his son Henry. This Henry was created Duke of Lancaster by the king's special charter, 6 March, 1351, the first duke created, except the Black Prince, since the Norman Conquest. The charter gave him power to hold a Chancery in the county of Lancaster, and to enjoy the liberties of a County Palatine.
When he died of the great pestilence, March 24, 1361, he left only two daughters, the younger of whom, Blanche, was married to John of Gaunt (Ghent), Earl of Richmond, fourth son of Edward III., to whom she brought her father's estates of the Manor of Pontefract and its Honour. On the elder sister dying without issue, she brought her husband all the other estates, and he was advanced to the title of Duke of Lancaster. On his death in Feb. 1399, his estates and honours descended to his son Henry, called Henry Bolingbroke from being born (1366) at Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire. By deposing his unfortunate cousin Richard II., Henry assumed the crown in 1399 as Henry IV., "with the concurrence," Hallam observes, "of Lords, Commons, and people."
From that time to the present, the Honour of Pontefract has vested in the Crown, though Henry was too prudent to suffer it to be united to it, "lest," as Blackstone says, "if he lost one, he should lose the other also." He knew he had the Duchy of Lancaster by sure and indefeasible title, but that his title to the crown was not so assured: for that, after the decease of Richard II., the right of the crown was in the heir of Lionel Duke of Clarence, second son of Edward III., whilst John of Gaunt, Henry's father, was but the fourth son. He procured an Act of Parliament, therefore, ordaining that the duchy and all his hereditary estates should remain to him and his heirs, and
