Editing Dunkirk (section)

===Corsair base===
{{Main|Dunkirkers}}
[[File:Beschieting van Duinkerken door een gecombineerd Nederlands-Engelse vloot (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The Bombardment of Dunkirk by a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, 1695]]
[[File:Map of Dunkerque.tif|thumb|Map of Dunkirk (around 1700)]]
{{Quote box |width=17em |align=top |bgcolor=#B0C4DE
|title=Historical affiliations
|fontsize=80% |quote=
[[File:Flag of the Low Countries.svg|15px]] [[Burgundian Netherlands]] 1384–1482 <br />
[[File:Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg|15px]] [[Habsburg Netherlands]] 1482–1556 <br />
[[File:Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg|15px]] [[Spanish Netherlands]] 1556–1577 <br />
[[File:Statenvlag.svg|15px]] [[Dutch Republic|Dunkirk Rebels]] 1577–1583 <br />
[[File:Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg|15px]] [[Spanish Netherlands]] 1583–1646 <br />
[[File:Royal Standard of the King of France.svg|15px]] [[Kingdom of France|France]] 1646–1652 <br />
[[File:Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg|15px]] [[Spanish Netherlands]] 1652–1658 <br />
[[File:Flag of England.svg|15px|border]][[File:Royal Standard of the King of France.svg|15px]] [[Commonwealth of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of France|France]] 1658–1659 <br />
[[File:Flag of England.svg|15px|border]] [[Kingdom of England|England]] 1659–1662 <br />
[[File:Royal Standard of the King of France.svg|15px]][[File:Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg|15px]] France 1662–1870 <br />
[[File:Flag of the German Empire.svg|15px|border]] [[Franco-Prussian War|Prussian occupation]] 1870–1873 <br />
[[File:Flag of France.svg|15px|border]] [[French Third Republic|France]] 1873–1940 <br />
[[File:Flag of Germany (1935–1945).svg|15px]] [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|German occupation]] 1940–1945 <br />
[[File:Flag of France.svg|15px|border]] France 1945–present
}}
[[File:Dunkerque Jean Bart2.JPG|thumb|Statue of [[Jean Bart]] in Dunkirk, the most famous [[French corsairs|corsair]] of the city]]

The area remained much disputed between [[Kingdom of Spain|Spain]], the [[Dutch Republic|Netherlands]], [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of France|France]]. At the beginning of the [[Eighty Years' War]], Dunkirk was briefly in the hands of the Dutch rebels, from 1577. Spanish forces under Duke [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma|Alexander Farnese]] of [[Duchy of Parma|Parma]] re-established Spanish rule in 1583 and it became a base for the notorious ''Dunkirkers''. The Dunkirkers briefly lost their home port when the city was conquered by the French in 1646 but Spanish forces recaptured the city in 1652. In 1658, as a result of the [[Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659)|long war]] between France and Spain, it was [[Siege of Dunkirk (1658)|captured]] after a siege by Franco-English forces following the [[Battle of the Dunes (1658)|battle of the Dunes]]. The city along with [[Fort-Mardyck]] was awarded to England in [[Treaty of the Pyrenees|the peace the following year]] as agreed in the Franco-English alliance against Spain. The English governors were [[William Lockhart of Lee|Sir William Lockhart]] (1658–60), [[Edward Harley (Parliamentarian)|Sir Edward Harley]] (1660–61) and [[Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot|Lord Rutherford]] (1661–62).

On 17 October 1662, Dunkirk was [[Sale of Dunkirk|sold to France]] by [[Charles II of England]] for £320,000.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2006 |title=Correspondence and papers of the first Duke of Ormonde, chiefly on Irish and English public affairs: ref. MS. Carte 218, fol(s). 5 – date: 26 December 1662 |url=http://www.a2a.org.uk/search/records.asp?cat=161-msscarte_15&cid=2-3 |access-date=17 October 2007 |publisher=Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts: Carte Papers |format=Description of contents of carte papers }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The French government developed the town as a fortified port. The town's existing defences were adapted to create ten bastions. The port was expanded in the 1670s by the construction of a basin that could hold up to thirty warships with a double lock system to maintain water levels at low tide. The basin was linked to the sea by a channel dug through coastal sandbanks secured by two jetties. This work was completed by 1678. The jetties were defended a few years later by the construction of five forts, Château d'Espérance, Château Vert, Grand Risban, Château Gaillard, and Fort de Revers. An additional fort was built in 1701 called Fort Blanc.

During the reign of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], a large number of [[commerce raider]]s and [[pirate]]s once again made their base at Dunkirk, the most famous of whom was [[Jean Bart]]. The main character (and possible real prisoner) in the famous novel [[Man in the Iron Mask]] by [[Alexandre Dumas]] was arrested at Dunkirk. The eighteenth-century Swedish privateers and pirates [[Lars Gathenhielm]] and his wife [[Ingela Gathenhielm|Ingela Hammar]] are known to have sold their gains in Dunkirk.

As France and Great Britain became commercial and military rivals, the British grew concerned about Dunkirk being used as an invasion base to cross the English Channel. The jetties, their forts, and the port facilities were demolished in 1713 under the terms of the [[Treaty of Utrecht]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dunkirk |url=http://www.fortified-places.com/dunkirk/ |access-date=2013-03-26 |website=Fortified Places |archive-date=2013-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615080118/http://www.fortified-places.com/dunkirk/ }}</ref> The [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] of 1763, which concluded the [[Seven Years' War]], included a clause restricting French rights to fortify Dunkirk. This clause was overturned in the subsequent [[Treaty of Versailles (1783)|Treaty of Versailles]] of 1783.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ward |first=Sir Adolphus William |year=1922 |title=1783–1815 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TzULAAAAYAAJ&q=1783+dunkirk+fortifications&pg=PA50}}</ref>