The precise role of Devon's militia during summer 1588 has, until recently, been shrouded by the recurrent tendency of historians to misinterpret the primary function of the militias in the southern maritime counties. The basic idea put forward has been that their main role during the Armada crisis was to march in-step with the Spanish and English navies, shadowing them as they progressed eastward along the Channel. Lindsay Boynton seems to have been the earliest proponent of this idea, writing in 1967 that:

"...there were mobile forces, of indeterminate number, which remained in the maritime counties to shadow the Armada ... as the Armada made its way up the Channel, they moved with it to cover as far as possible the landing-places along the coast."

This premise has been largely supported by...