A474 
its development. The provinces, subject to one suppression,* and some 
interchange of adjacent territories,} represent a very ancient native par- 
tition, which, in the twelfth century, was adopted for ecclesiastical pur- 
poses. The counties and baronies, though principally based on groupings 
of native lordships, are of Anglo-Norman origin, and range in the date 
of their creation from the reign of King John to that of James I. The 
parochial division is entirely borrowed from the Church, under which 
it was matured, probably about the middle of the twelfth century ; 
while the townlands, the infima species, may reasonably be considered, 
at least in part, the earliest allotment in the scale. ; 
According to Irish authorities{ of respectable age, the progressive 
subdivisions under the Cogeadh, or Province, were: the Zricha-ced,§ 
or “ Thirty-hundreds,”’ sometimes simply, Zricha, ‘ Thirty ;”’ the Bazle- 
biataich, or “ Victuallers-town,”’ sometimes simply Bazle, or ‘“Town;” 
and the Setsreach, or ‘‘Plowland.”’? Each Tricha-ced contained 30 
Bailebiatachs, each Bailebiatach 12 Seisreachs, and each Seisreach six- 
score acres of native measure.|| They represent the contents of the five 
provinces under these heads, as follows :— 
Tricha- Baile- Seis- 
ceds. biataichs. reachs. 
Meath, . . . 18 540 6480 
Connaught,. . 30 900 10800 
Ulster jie kan s 6 1080 12960 
Leinster, . . 81 930 11160 
Munster, . . 70 2100 25200 
185 9550 66600 
The total amount of which, at 120 acres to the sheshragh, would be 
7,992,000 acres for all Ireland. But this, though considerably less than 
half the actual extent of the country, is exclusive of wood, moor, and 
* That of Meath, the limits of which were adopted for, and are still retained as, the 
boundary of the diocese of the same name. : 
+ Louth formerly belonged to Ulster, and Clare to Connaught. Elyocarroll, which 
is now represented by two baronies in King’s County, in the provitice of Leinster, was 
originally included in Munster. 
t Keating does not inform us of the source whence he derived his third chapter, 
which treats of the divisions of Ireland. An Irish poem on the subject, ascribed to Fin- 
tan, the antediluvian, is.printed with a translation in Mr. Curry’s*Battle of Magh-Leana, 
pp. 106-109. Ware cites,-as his authority, the manuscript which contains the so-called 
Annals of Multifernan, written in1274; and the Registry of Duisk. (Works, vol. ii. p. 30.) 
Dr. Lynch, in his Cambrensis Eversus, takes the poem of Fintanus Orfear as his au- 
thority, (p. 306). 
§ Tricha is latinized “ Treuca” by O’Sullivan and O’Flaherty. Céed is rendered 
“ centuria” by the latter. Ogyg., p. 24. In the Annals of the Four Masters, An. 1176, 
is recorded the grant of a baile-biataigh, namely the baile of Tuaim-achadh. See 
O’Donovan’s note; and Hardiman’s note on the statute of Kilkenny (Tracts of the Irish 
Archeological Society), p. 5. 
|| One trichaced = 30 ballybetaghs = 360 sheshraghs = 43,200 acres. 
