The Pale in 1450

The Pale (An Pháil in Irish) or the English Pale (An Pháil Sasanach) comprised a region on Ireland's east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk^[1] north of Drogheda. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Dalkey ( is a village located in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Dundalk (Dún Dealgan is the County town of County Louth in Ireland, situated close to the border with Northern Ireland. Drogheda (ˈdrɒhədə ˈdrɔːdə ( Droichead Átha in Irish, meaning "Bridge of the Ford" is an industrial and port town in County Louth on The inland boundary went to Leixlip around the Earldom of Kildare, towards Trim and north towards Kells. Leixlip (/'likslɪp/ Léim an Bhradáin in Irish) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland, east of the midlands of Ireland Earl of Kildare is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. John FitzThomas FitzGerald the eldest son of Thomas Lord Offaly, was created Earl of Kildare In this district, many townlands have English, and even French names.

History

From the thirteenth century onwards, the Hiberno-Norman invasion in the rest of Ireland at first faltered then waned. The term Hiberno-Norman is used of those Norman lords who settled in Ireland, admitting little if any real Fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers Across most of Ireland, the Norman knights, and their servants who were mostly from Wales and Cornwall assimilated to Ireland. Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar A series of alliances with their neighbouring autonomous Gaelic chieftains developed. The Norman lords in the provinces behaved as kings in their own right in their own areas, as the Gaelic chieftains had previously.

This left a section of territory that did not have any independent ruler overlord, which came directly under control of the English crown. The power of the crown itself was greatly weakened by the Hundred Years War, and Wars of the Roses. The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485 were a series of dynastic Civil wars fought in England between supporters of the Houses of Lancaster and York A parliament was created, which mostly sat in Drogheda, until the Tudors took direct interest in Irish affairs and moved it back to Dublin. The Pale generally consisted of fertile lowlands, which were easier for the garrison to defend from ambush, than hilly or wooded ground. For reasons of trade and administration, a version of English became the official and common language, whose closest modern derivative would be the accent used by natives of Fingal. The County of Fingal ( is a county in Ireland. It was formed from part of the historic County Dublin.

In 1366, in order for the English Crown to assert its authority over the settlers, a parliament was assembled in Kilkenny and the Statute of Kilkenny was established. TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A  parliament is a Legislature, especially in those Kilkenny, ( is a city and county town of County Kilkenny in Ireland. The Statutes of Kilkenny were a series of thirty-five acts passed at Kilkenny in 1366, aimed at curbing the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship The statute decreed that inter-marriage between English settlers and Irish natives were forbidden. It also forbade the settlers using the Irish language and adopting Irish modes of dress or other customs. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. This however was never implemented successfully, even in the Pale itself, as the first expansion of Dublin was to an area known as Irishtown. Irishtown may refer to Irishtown Dublin, Ireland Irishtown Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Irishtown Nova Scotia

In the 15th century the Pale became the only real piece of Ireland that took any notice of the English king, with most of the island paying only token recognition of the overlordship of the English crown. Until the Tudor conquest of the Earldom of Kildare, the Pale itself was tenuous foothold for the English on the island of Ireland.

Origin of the name

The word pale derives ultimately from the Latin word palus, meaning stake. (Palisade is derived from the same root. palisade is a steel or wooden Fence or wall of variable height usually used as a defensive structure ) From this came the figurative meaning of "boundary", and eventually the phrase "beyond the pale". Also derived from the "boundary" concept was the idea of a pale as an area within which local laws were valid. A pale is a territory or Jurisdiction (possibly non-territorial under a given authority or the limits of such a jurisdiction As well as the Pale in Ireland, the term was applied to various other English colonial settlements, and the Pale of Settlement, the area in the west of Imperial Russia where Jews were permitted to reside. The Pale of Settlement (Черта́ осе́длости cherta osedlosti) was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, along its western border in which The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya

Fortification

Modern plaque near Ballymore Eustace marks the end of the Pale

The Pale boundary essentially consisted of a fortified ditch and rampart built around parts of the medieval counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin and Kildare, actually leaving half of Meath, most of Kildare, and south west Dublin on the other side. Ballymore Eustace ( Baile Mór na nIústasach in Irish) is a town in County Kildare in Ireland, which was within a part of County Dublin County Louth (Contae Lú is a County on the East coast of Ireland, on the border with Northern Ireland. County Kildare (Contae Chill Dara is an Irish County located to the southwest of Dublin in the province of Leinster. The pale border line cut off an area south of the modern day M50 in Dublin. The M50 motorway is a Motorway and National Primary Route ( N50) in Ireland running in a C-shaped ring around the north-eastern northern

The following description is from The parish of Taney: a history of Dundrum, near Dublin, and its neighbourhood (1895):^[2]

In the period immediately after the Norman Settlement was constructed the barrier, known as the "Pale," separating the lands occupied by the settlers from those remaining in the hands of the Irish. This barrier consisted of a ditch, raised some ten or twelve feet from the ground, with a hedge of thorn on the outer side. It was constructed, not so much to keep out the Irish, as to form an obstacle in their way in their raids on the cattle of the settlers, and thus give time for a rescue. The Pale began at Dalkey, and followed a southwesterly direction towards Kilternan ; then turning northwards passed Kilgobbin, where a castle still stands, and crossed the Parish of Taney to the south of that part of the lands of Balally now called Moreen, and thence in a westerly direction to Tallaght, and on to Naas in the County of Kildare. In the wall bounding Moreen is still to be seen a small watch-tower and the remains of a guard-house adjoining it. From this point a beacon-fire would raise the alarm as far as Tallaght, where an important castle stood. A portion of the Pale is still to be seen in Kildare between Clane and Clongowes Wood College at Sallins.

Within the confines of the Pale the leading gentry and merchants lived lives not too different from that of their counterparts in England, except that they lived under the constant fear of attack from the Gaelic Irish.

End of The Pale

Eventually, after the 16th and 17th centuries, and especially after the Anglican Reformation and the Plantation of Ulster, the English settlers were gradually assimilated into the Irish nation, in large part due to their relative reluctance to give up Roman Catholicism (those who became Protestants were rewarded with a higher status). The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope The Plantation of Ulster (Irish Plandáil Uladh) was a planned process of Colonisation which took place in the northern Irish province of Ulster Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. They kept their version of the English language, which had Cornish influences, for the most part. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States They were in fact joined by other English Catholics fleeing persecution under Queen Elizabeth I and subsequent monarchs. (Even in the 19th century, Leinster had few Irish-speakers. Leinster (ˈlɛnstər Irish: Laighin, lainʲ one of the Provinces of Ireland, lies in the east of Ireland and comprises the counties of Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. ) This large body of middle- and lower-class English speakers, combined with their rejection by the ascendant Protestant upper class, provided much of the impetus for the displacement of the Irish language from Ireland's population. This is also why the English spoken in the Dublin area sounds more like early Modern English and is quite different from the Hiberno-English in the formerly-Gaelic-speaking parts of Ireland, such as County Cork (which has the stereotypical sing-song accent which replaces /θ/ with /t^h/). Hiberno-English also known as Anglo-Irish and Irish English is English as spoken in Ireland, partly the result of the interaction of the English County Cork (Contae Chorcaí is the most southerly and the largest of the modern counties of Ireland. The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic The voiceless dental plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

See also

• Greater Dublin Area
• Pale of Settlement in Imperial Russia

References

1. ^ BBC - Northern Ireland - A Short History
2. ^ The Parish of Taney (Ball & Hamilton)

External links

• A map of the Pale (late 1400s)
• Origin of the word 'pale'