Editing Calais (section)

===Early history===
Sources on the early history of habitation in the area is limited. It is sometimes claimed that [[Ancient Rome|the Romans]] called the settlement ''Caletum'' and that it was the departure point for [[Julius Caesar]]'s invasion of Britain.<ref name="Historyws">{{Cite web |title=History |url=http://www.calais.ws/History.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207224409/http://www.calais.ws/History.html |archive-date=7 February 2012 |access-date=5 February 2012 |publisher=Calais.ws|first1=June|first2=Len|last1=Riddell|last2=Riddell}}</ref> However, the name ''Caletum'' does not appear in Caesar's accounts of the invasion.<ref name="deBelloGallico">{{cite web |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall4.shtml |title=C. IVLI CAESARIS COMMENTARIORVM DE BELLO GALLICO LIBER QVARTVS |access-date=8 November 2022 |archive-date=8 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108222131/http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall4.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Caesar describes his departure point as ''Portus Itius'', which is believed to have been near [[Boulogne]]. At that time Calais was an island in the North Sea.<ref name="Caesar_Goldsworthy">Adrian Goldsworthy ''Caesar'', page 338</ref>

Calais was an English outpost for many centuries while it was an island surrounded by marshes, and difficult to attack from the mainland.  At some time before the 10th century, it would have been a [[Dutch language|Dutch]]-speaking fishing village on a sandy beach backed by pebbles and a creek,<ref>Delattre, Ch., Mériaux, E. and Waterlot, M. (1973) ''Région du nord : Flandre, Artois, Boulonnais, Picardie'', Guides géologiques régionaux, Paris : Masson, {{ISBN|2-225-36795-7}}, Fig. 18</ref> with a natural harbour<ref name="Ltd1877">{{Cite book |last=Thomas Cook Ltd |url=https://archive.org/details/cookstouristsha08ltdgoog |title=Cook's tourist's handbook for Holland, Belgium, and the Rhine |publisher=[[Thomas Cook & Son]] |year=1877 |access-date=5 February 2012}}</ref> at the west edge of the early medieval estuary of the river [[Aa (France)|Aa]]. As the pebble and sand ridge extended eastward from Calais, the haven behind it developed into [[fen]], as the estuary progressively filled with silt and peat. Afterwards, canals were cut between [[Saint-Omer]], the trading centre formerly at the head of the estuary, and three places to the west, centre and east on the newly formed coast: respectively Calais, [[Gravelines]] and [[Dunkirk]].<ref>The pre-siltation counterpart of Dunkirk was [[Bergues]].</ref> Calais was improved by the [[Count of Flanders]] in 997 and fortified by the [[Count of Boulogne]] in 1224.<ref name="Historyws" /><ref name="Ltd1877" />

The first document mentioning the existence of this community is the town charter granted by [[Mathieu d'Alsace]], [[Count of Boulogne]], in 1181 to [[Gerard I, Count of Guelders|Gerard de Guelders]]; Calais thus became part of the county of Boulogne.<ref name="Historyws" /><ref name="Malo1898">{{Cite book |last=Malo |first=Henri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHAvAAAAMAAJ |title=Un grand feudataire, Renaud de Dammartin et la coalition de Bouvines: contribution a l'étude du règne de Philippe-Auguste |publisher=H. Champion |year=1898}}</ref> In 1189, [[Richard the Lionheart]] is documented to have landed at Calais on his journey to the [[Third Crusade]].<ref name="Historyws" />