Cinque Ports Castle, and whilst this office exists today, it is now a purely honorary title, with an official residence at Walmer Castle. The town of Hastings was the head port of the Cinque Ports in mediaeval times. The towns also had their own system of courts. All Freemen of the ports, termed "portsmen", were deemed in the age of Feudalism to be barons, and thus members of the baronage entitled to attend the king's parliament - a privilege granted in 1322 in recognition of their earlier support of the Despensers, father and son. Termed "Barons of the Cinque Ports", they reflected
Walerand Teutonicus Walerand Teutonicus Walerand Teutonicus was a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports during the thirteenth century. A feature of British maritime history of this period was the appointment, generally by county, of one or more "keepers of the coast", which led in time to the consolidation of the powers of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. The office was not continuous, and such men were more often called upon during a time of war, or when a threat was perceived in the Channel. Thus such records have survived for the reign of Edward III of England preceding the Battle