Pale, The
Pale, The. Originally implying a fence, and by inference the area enclosed by it, this was the name given to an area in Ireland in the late Middle Ages similar to the English Pale which developed in the 15th cent. in Calais. Its first recorded usage in Ireland is in a document that dates from 1446–7, when it clearly refers to that part of Ireland to which effective English government had shrunk. While the rest of the island was divided into large semi-autonomous lordships held by Anglo-Irish lords, or remained in the hands of native Irish lords, the Pale was the area surrounding Dublin in which the king's writ ran, and which a determined effort was made to defend. Its exact geographical dimensions, running from Dundalk to Dalkey, and including much of modern counties Louth, Meath, Kildare, and Dublin, were defined by the Irish Parliament in 1488 and at succeeding parliaments, while the famous 1494–5 Parliament held by Sir Edward Poynings passed an Act ordering the construction of a 6-foot bank and ditch around the whole district, parts of which still survive.
Sean Duffy
More From encyclopedia.com
Tourism , For centuries the main reasons for travel to Ireland were religious and political. In the early medieval period students from Britain and continental… Ireland , LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT
TOPOGRAPHY
CLIMATE
FLORA AND FAUNA
ENVIRONMENT
POPULATION
MIGRATION
ETHNIC GROUPS
LANGUAGES
RELIGIONS
TRANSPORTATION
HISTO… Brogue , BROGUE. An informal, non-technical term for an Irish and sometimes a Scottish or West Country ACCENT. In the 18c, the expression to have the brogue o… Easter Rising , BIBLIOGRAPHY
On 24 April 1916 (Easter Monday), a group of men and women seized a number of prominent public buildings in central Dublin and proclaime… Irish Americans , by Brendan A. Rapple
Overview
The island of Ireland lies west of Great Britain across the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel. It is divided into two… Edmund Spenser , Spenser, Edmund
The poet Edmund Spenser (1552/3–1599) was a planter and provincial official in Ireland. Like much else concerning his experience in I…
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
Pale, The