Editing Portsmouth (section)

=== Norman to Tudor ===

[[File:Round Tower (Portsmouth)2009.jpg|thumb|The [[Round Tower (Portsmouth)|Round Tower]] was built in 1418 to defend the entrance to [[Portsmouth Harbour]].|alt=A front facing view of Portsmouth's Round Tower, which once guarded the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. The Round Tower itself is made of stone and has a large circular base.]]
Although Portsmouth was not mentioned in the 1086 [[Domesday Book]], ''Bocheland'' ([[Buckland, Portsmouth|Buckland]]), ''Copenore'' ([[Copnor]]), and ''Frodentone'' ([[Fratton]]) were.<ref name=history3>{{cite web |url=http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/6408.html |title=History of Portsmouth |publisher=Portsmouth Council |access-date=12 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513023331/http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/6408.html |archive-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> According to some sources, it was founded in 1180 by the Anglo-Norman merchant [[Jean de Gisors]].<ref name="history2"/>

King [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] died in 1189; his son, [[Richard I of England|Richard I]] (who had spent most of his life in France), arrived in Portsmouth en route to his coronation in London.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=32}} When Richard returned from captivity in [[Duchy of Austria|Austria]] in May 1194, he summoned an army and a fleet of 100 ships to the port.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=33}} Richard gave Portsmouth market-town status with a royal charter on 2 May, authorising an annual fifteen-day free-market fair, weekly markets and a local court to deal with minor matters, and exempted its inhabitants from an £18 annual tax.<ref name=history3/>{{sfn|Quail|1994|pp=14–18}} The 1194 royal charter's 800th anniversary was celebrated in 1994 with ceremonies at the city museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Portsmouth 800 |url=https://www.portsmouth-guide.co.uk/local/port800.htm |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.portsmouth-guide.co.uk}}</ref>

[[John, King of England|King John]] reaffirmed Richard{{nbsp}}I's rights and privileges, and established a permanent naval base. The first docks were begun by [[William of Wrotham]] in 1212,<ref name=history3/>{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=33}} and John summoned his earls, barons, and military advisers to plan an invasion of [[Duchy of Normandy|Normandy]].{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=34}} In 1229, declaring war against France, [[Henry III of England|Henry{{nbsp}}III]] assembled a force described by historian Lake Allen as "one of the finest armies that had ever been raised in England".{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=36}} The invasion stalled, and returned from France in October 1231.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=37}} Henry{{nbsp}}III summoned troops to invade [[Guienne]] in 1242, and [[Edward I of England|Edward{{nbsp}}I]] sent supplies for his army in France in 1295.{{sfn|Allen|2015|pp=37, 39}} Commercial interests had grown by the following century, and its exports included wool, corn, grain, and livestock.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=43}}

[[Edward II of England|Edward II]] ordered all ports on the south coast to assemble their largest vessels at Portsmouth to carry soldiers and horses to the [[Duchy of Aquitaine]] in 1324 to strengthen defences.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=44}} A French fleet commanded by [[David II of Scotland]] attacked in the [[English Channel]], ransacked the [[Isle of Wight]] and threatened the town. [[Edward III of England|Edward{{nbsp}}III]] instructed all maritime towns to build vessels and raise troops to rendezvous at Portsmouth.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=44}} Two years later, a French fleet led by [[Nicholas Béhuchet]] [[Raid on Portsmouth (1338)|raided Portsmouth]] and destroyed most of the town; only the stone-built church and hospital survived.{{sfn|Sumption|1990|pp=395, 396}}{{sfn|Seward|1988}}{{page needed|date=May 2020}} After the raid, Edward{{nbsp}}III exempted the town from national taxes to aid its reconstruction.<ref name="porthis">{{cite web |title=Portsmouth port history |url=http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/GBR_Portsmouth_Continental_Ferry_Port_1368.php |publisher=World Post Source |access-date=19 July 2016 |archive-date=14 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514064951/http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/GBR_Portsmouth_Continental_Ferry_Port_1368.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1377, shortly after Edward died, the French landed in Portsmouth. Although the town was plundered and burnt, its inhabitants drove the French off to raid towns in the [[West Country]].{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=48}}

[[File:Map of portsmouth a bit before 1540.PNG|thumb|right|Portsmouth {{circa}} 1540|alt=A black and white map of Portsmouth dated around 1540]]

[[Henry V of England|Henry V]] gathered his forces in Portsmouth for an invasion of France in 1415, it was while staying at Portchester Castle that the Southampton plot was uncovered. This campaign would culminate with victory at the battle of Agincourt.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/portchester-castle/history-and-stories/history/ | title=History of Portchester Castle }}</ref> He also built Portsmouth's first permanent [[fortifications of Portsmouth|fortifications]]. In 1416, a number of French ships blockaded the town (which housed ships which were set to invade Normandy); Henry gathered a fleet at Southampton, and invaded the Norman coast in August that year.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=49}} Recognising the town's growing importance, he ordered a wooden [[Round Tower (Portsmouth)|Round Tower]] to be built at the mouth of the harbour; it was completed in 1426.{{sfn|Hewitt|2013|p=27}} [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] rebuilt the fortifications with stone, assisted Robert Brygandine and Sir [[Reginald Bray]] in the construction of the world's first [[dry dock]],{{sfn|Hewitt|2013|p=33}} and raised the [[Square Tower]] in 1494.{{sfn|Hewitt|2013|p=27}} He made Portsmouth a Royal Dockyard, England's only dockyard considered "national".{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=53}} Although [[Alfred the Great|King Alfred]] may have used Portsmouth to build ships as early as the ninth century, the first warship recorded as constructed in the town was the [[Sweepstake (warship)|''Sweepstake'']] (built in 1497).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24836582 |title=Portsmouth's long shipbuilding history comes to an end |access-date=9 November 2013 |publisher=BBC |date=6 November 2013}}</ref>

[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] built Southsea Castle, financed by the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], in 1539 in anticipation of a French invasion.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=143}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00792h2/Coast_Shorts_Cuttlefish_and_Pompey/ |title=Two Programmes – Coast, Shorts, Cuttlefish and Pompey |publisher=BBC |access-date=9 August 2011 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He also invested heavily in the town's dockyard, expanding it to {{convert|8|acres}}.{{sfn|Hewitt|2013|p=23}} Around this time, a Tudor [[Boom (navigational barrier)|defensive boom]] stretched from the Round Tower to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport to protect Portsmouth Harbour.<ref name="boom">{{cite web|url=http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/1090.html |title=Portsmouth's Coat of Arms |publisher=Portsmouth City Council |date=29 May 2007 |access-date=7 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707023533/http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/1090.html |archive-date=7 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

From Southsea Castle, Henry witnessed his flagship ''Mary Rose'' sink in action against the French fleet in the 1545 [[Battle of the Solent]] with the loss of about 500 lives.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.southseacastle.co.uk/tudor-castle/about-the-castle |title=Southsea Castle History |publisher=Portsmouth Museums |date=2015 |access-date=26 March 2015 |archive-date=9 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009152010/http://southseacastle.co.uk/tudor-castle/about-the-castle |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some historians believe that the ''Mary Rose'' turned too quickly and submerged her open gun ports; according to others, it sank due to poor design.{{sfn|Hewitt|2013|p=37}} Portsmouth's fortifications were improved by successive monarchs. The town experienced an outbreak of [[plague (disease)|plague]] in 1563, which killed about 300 of its 2,000 inhabitants.<ref name="history2"/>