At the time of the Spanish Armada the castle was most strongly fortified. The works were placed in charge of an Italian called Giambelli. He it was who devised the bastioned enceinte around the castle. The shape is an irregular pentagon, faced with stone and defended by a ditch. The men of the island contributed £400 to the money given by the Government, and voluntary labour was freely offered. That the work was not unnecessary was shown by the appearance of the Spanish Fleet at the back of the island. It had been looked for for many a year; as early as 1583 the island had been provided with a train of artillery, every parish giving a piece of brass ordnance, and each part of the coast had been put in charge of a "centoneer," who had watchers under him. Beacons were to be lighted to give the alarm, and the names of these show the districts: Brook, Mottistone, Swanston, Kingston, Nunwell, Yaverland, Bembridge, Stenbury, and Wolverton. At this time Sir George Carey, Lord Hunsdon, cousin to the Queen, was the Governor of the island. When, therefore, the fleet did come, hundreds of the island folk gathered on the high cliffs to watch with nervous excitement for developments. The great galleons, lying heavily on the water, looked formidable enough, but they could not move easily, while the smaller English craft could be towed about by their long-boats. Lord Howard of Effingham himself came up, and Captain Hawkins actually took a galleon, while Sir Martin Frobisher was so sorely set upon by several at once that other ships--the _White Bear_ and _Elizabeth Jones_--had to go to his assistance. The English would probably have won, but that the powder fell short, having been blazed merrily away; and the Spanish ships, being in the same plight, at length sailed off. Among the entries in the register of Carisbrooke church, written in faint, discoloured ink, is the record: "1588. The very year that the great and huge fleete of the Spanyard came to the ile of Wight was at Maudlinestide, in the yeere of our Lord God, 1588, the which God defended us, our Queene and Realm this day and for evermore, and send us truthe and quietnes within ourselves, anno 1588." At the beginning of the Civil War it was held by Colonel Brett, and with him in the castle was the Countess of Portland, wife of the Governor of the island, and her five children. Gallantly was the castle held till there were but three days' provisions left, and the besieging hordes, fighting for the Parliament, were around the walls. Then it seemed that surrender must be made, but the Countess herself appeared on the walls with dauntless courage, and, telling the roaring mob that unless they granted honourable terms, including the lives and freedom of the garrison, she would herself put the match to the first cannon and fight till the walls crumbled, so impressed them that her conditions were granted.