Coastal experience helps explain why English militias varied in quality. Southern ports had faced Barbary raiding and the threat of inhabitants being taken into slavery. Henry VIII's break with Rome had also produced a chain of coastal fortifications. Those dangers and investments encouraged local communities to maintain organized, trained forces that could support the response to a Spanish landing.
Notable Point · 36:28-36:57
Raiding and Henrician forts sharpen southern coastal readiness
Experience of Barbary raids and the forts built after Henry VIII's break with Rome gave southern ports practical reasons to maintain organized local defence.