Editing Plymouth (section)

=== Early defence and Renaissance ===
[[File:Prysten House, Plymouth.jpg|left|thumb|[[Prysten House]] (1498) on Finewell Street is the oldest surviving house in Plymouth, built from local Plymouth limestone and [[Dartmoor]] granite.]]
During the [[Hundred Years' War]] a French attack in 1340 burned a manor house and took some prisoners, but failed to get into the town.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sumption |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V6vghfDY7loC |title=The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-8122-1655-5 |page=347 |chapter=Sluys and Tournai: The War of the Alberts |access-date=29 June 2008 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723222309/https://books.google.com/books?id=V6vghfDY7loC |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1403 the town was burned by [[Breton people|Breton raiders]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Devon timeline |url=http://www.devon.gov.uk/localstudies/100323/1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505082701/http://www.devon.gov.uk/localstudies/100323/1.html |archive-date=5 May 2008 |access-date=29 June 2008 |publisher=[[Devon]] County Council}}</ref> On 12 November 1439 the market town of Sutton was incorporated as a [[borough status in the United Kingdom|borough]] and formally renamed Plymouth, with a subsequent charter the following year formalising its boundaries. It was the first time a borough charter had been issued by [[Parliament of England|parliament]] rather than directly from the monarch.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hawkyard |first1=A. D. K. |title=Plymouth Borough |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/constituencies/plymouth |website=The History of Parliament |access-date=13 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Moseley |first=Brian |date=24 June 2013 |title=Place Names |url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Place-Names.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927031814/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Place-Names.htm |archive-date=27 September 2013 |access-date=13 February 2015 |website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |publisher=Plymouth Data}}</ref>

In the late fifteenth century, [[Plymouth Castle]], a "castle quadrate", was constructed close to the area now known as The Barbican; it included four round towers, one at each corner, as featured on the city coat of arms.<ref>{{cite web |title=Plymouth City Council: coat of arms |url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/councilanddemocracy/aboutus/lordmayoralty/coatofarms.htm |access-date=20 February 2015 |archive-date=16 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316011429/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/councilanddemocracy/aboutus/lordmayoralty/coatofarms.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Plymouth 1540.png|left|thumb|Charter map of Sutton harbour and Plymouth in 1540]]
The castle served to protect [[Sutton Harbour|Sutton Pool]], which is where the fleet was based in Plymouth prior to the establishment of [[HMNB Devonport|Plymouth Dockyard]]. In 1512, an Act of Parliament was passed to further fortify Plymouth. The work included defensive walls at the entrance to Sutton Pool (across which a chain was extended in times of danger).<ref>{{cite web |title=Magna Britannia: Volume 6, Devonshire – Parishes: Pancras Week – Plymouth : British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol6/pp381-408#h3-0011 |access-date=20 February 2015 |archive-date=20 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220214203/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol6/pp381-408#h3-0011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Defences on [[St Nicholas Island]] also date from this time, and a string of six artillery [[blockhouse]]s were built, including one on Fishers Nose at the south-eastern corner of the Hoe.<ref>See [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/a/zoomify82820.html 1591 Spry Map of Plimmouth and surrounding areas, British Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519121154/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/a/zoomify82820.html |date=19 May 2017 }}</ref> This location was further strengthened by the building of a fort (later known as Drake's Fort) in 1596; it was the site of the [[Royal Citadel, Plymouth|Citadel]], established in the 1660s (see below).<ref>{{cite web |title=Drake's Fort and the Royal Citadel |url=http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/royal_citadel.html |access-date=6 November 2019 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041732/http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/royal_citadel.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Plymouth siege map 1643.gif|left|thumb|[[Siege of Plymouth]], 1643]]
During the 16th century, locally produced wool was the major export commodity.<ref name="slaves">{{cite web |title=Slave Ships in Plymouth |url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/leisureandtourism/libraries/whatsinyourlibrary/lns/slaveryandabolition/slavetradetriangle/plymouthslaveships.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609015200/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/leisureandtourism/libraries/whatsinyourlibrary/lns/slaveryandabolition/slavetradetriangle/plymouthslaveships.htm |archive-date=9 June 2008 |access-date=26 July 2008 |publisher=Plymouth City Council}}</ref> Plymouth was the home port for successful maritime traders, among them [[Sir John Hawkins]], who led England's first foray into the [[Atlantic slave trade]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Adventurers and Slavers |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/early_times/adventurers.htm |access-date=13 October 2007 |publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] |archive-date=26 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235727/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/early_times/adventurers.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as Sir [[Francis Drake]], Mayor of Plymouth in 1581–2. Crews for the first English failed settlement attempt at [[Roanoke Colony]] in North America departed in 1587 under Sir [[Walter Raleigh]]'s and Drake's leadership; returning bearing maize, tobacco and [[potatoes]].
In 1588, according to legend, Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls on the [[Plymouth Hoe|Hoe]] before engaging the [[Spanish Armada]].<ref name="drake">{{cite web |title=Sir Francis Drake |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/discovering/famous/francis_drake.shtml |access-date=24 July 2008 |publisher=The [[BBC]] |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723222312/https://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/4ce2251c28db82aa892a105b718dba4d6a74c327.gif |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1620 the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] set sail for the [[New World]] from Plymouth, establishing [[Plymouth Colony]] – the second English colony in what is now the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellogg |first=William O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mKhRlkY278QC |title=American History the Easy Way: The Easy Way |publisher=Barron's |year=2003 |isbn=0-7641-1973-7 |edition=3rd |series=Barron's Educational Series |location=Hauppauge, N.Y. |page=20 |access-date=14 November 2008 |archive-date=20 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120002039/https://books.google.com/books?id=mKhRlkY278QC |url-status=live }}</ref>  In 1625, the town Mayor estimated that African slavers captured that summer about 1,000 villagers from the area, to be sold in Africa.<ref name=WG>{{cite book |author1=Giles Milton |author1-link=Giles Milton |title=White Gold • The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves |date=2005 |publisher=Isis Publishing Ltd |location=Oxford |isbn=0-7531-5647-4 |language=en |chapter=A New and Deadly Foe |quote=By the end of the dreadful summer of 1625, the mayor of Plymouth reckoned that 1,000 skiffs had been destroyed, and a similar number of villagers carried off into slavery.  These miserable captives were taken to Salé, on Morocco |edition=Large Print |page=14 |orig-date=2004 }}</ref>
[[File:English Ships and the Spanish Armada, August 1588 RMG BHC0262.jpg|left|thumb|The 'invincible' [[Spanish Armada]], 1588]]
During the [[English Civil War]] Plymouth sided with the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarians]] and was [[Siege of Plymouth|besieged]] for almost four years by the [[Cavalier|Royalists]].<ref name="civilwar">{{cite web |date=6 January 2003 |title=Siege |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southwest/series2/siege_civil_war_plymouth.shtml |access-date=6 July 2008 |publisher=The [[BBC]] |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723222314/https://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/2843332958e858bbee113ba55d5d94b7efdb56fa.css |url-status=live }}</ref> The last major attack by the Royalists was by Sir [[Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet|Richard Grenville]] leading thousands of soldiers towards Plymouth, but they were defeated by the Plymothians at Freedom Fields Park.<ref name="civilwar" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Jenny Mashford |title=Plymouth City Council – Freedom Fields Park |url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/freedomfieldspark |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728080413/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/freedomfieldspark |archive-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> The civil war ended as a Parliamentary win, but monarchy was restored by [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]] in 1660, who imprisoned many of the Parliamentary heroes on [[Drake's Island]].<ref name="civilwar" /> Construction of the [[Royal Citadel, Plymouth|Royal Citadel]] began in 1665, after [[Stuart Restoration|the Restoration]]; it was armed with cannon facing both out to sea and into the town, rumoured to be a reminder to residents not to oppose [[the Crown]].<ref name="citadel">{{cite web |date=25 January 2008 |title=Coast Walks: Point 3 – The Citadel |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2005/06/07/coast05walks_stage3_feature.shtml |access-date=5 July 2008 |publisher=The [[BBC]] |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723222350/https://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/2843332958e858bbee113ba55d5d94b7efdb56fa.css |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Mount Batten]] tower also dates from around this time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jewitt |first=Llewellynn Frederick |title=A history of Plymouth |publisher=Oxford University |year=1873 |page=648}}</ref>