the reign of
Edward IV. The ancestors of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was born at
Budleigh, had long held considerable estates in the county.

Devonshire had an independent sheriff, the appointment being at first
hereditary, but afterwards held for one year only. In 1320 complaint was
made that all the hundreds of Devonshire were in the hands of the great
lords, who did not appoint a sufficiency of bailiffs for their proper
government. The miners of Devon had independent courts, known as
stannary courts, for the regulation of mining affairs, the four stannary
towns being Tavistock, Ashburton, Chagford, and Plympton. The ancient
miners' parliament was held in the open air at Crockern's Tor.

The castles of Exeter and Plympton were held against Stephen by Baldwin
de Redvers, and in the 14th and 15th centuries the French made frequent
attacks on the Devonshire coast, being repulsed in 1404 by the people of
Dartmouth. In the Wars of the Roses the county was much divided, and
frequent skirmishes took place between the earl of Devon and Lord
Bonville, the respective champions of the Lancastrian and Yorkist
parties. Great disturbances in the county followed the Reformation of
the 16th century and in 1549 a priest was compelled to say mass at
Sampford Courtney. On the outbreak of the Civil War the county as a
whole favoured the parliament, but the prevailing desire was for peace,
and in 1643 a treaty for the cessation of hostilities in Devonshire and
Cornwall was agreed upon. Skirmishes, however, continued until the
capture of Dartmouth and Exeter in 1646 put an end to the struggle. In
1688 the prince of Orange landed at Torbay and was entertained for
several days at Ford and at Exeter.

The tin mines of Devon have been worked from time immemorial, and in the
14th century mines of tin, copper, lead, gold and silver are mentioned.
Agriculturally the county was always poor, and before the
disafforestation rendered especially so through the ravages committed by
the herds of wild deer. At the time of the Domesday Survey the salt
industry was important, and there were ninety-nine mills in the county
and thirteen fisheries. From an early period the chief manufacture was
that of woollen cloth, and a statute 4 Ed. IV. permitted the manufacture
of cloths of a distinct make in certain parts of Devonshire. About 1505
Anthony Bonvis, an Italian, introduced an improved method of spinning
into the county, and cider-making is mentioned in the 1