User:Jnestorius/Provinces of Ireland

Cormac Bourke's DIB entry on Saint Patrick suggests that the traditional division of Ireland into four or five provinces may be an invention after an age of Roman British influence on Ireland; Roman Britain was redivided from four provinces to five in AD 368 after the Great Conspiracy (with Valentia as a new one).

Court circuits
Histories of... ...may relate to province rather than defined circuit; may explain official vs unofficial names etc.
 * Munster circuit
 * Connaught circuit

John McCavitt:
 * A circuit system also rapidly evolved. During most of Chichester's deputyship, 1605–16, Ireland was divided into six circuits, equalling the complement in England. There was one each for Connacht and Munster as well as one operating in the north-east and another in the north-west of the country, while there were usually two for the province of Leinster. The Appendix also shows that there were some slight variations in the counties which made up the six circuits, undoubtedly a reflection of the evolutionary nature of the system in Ireland.

NAI Lodge/21/353 19 Aug 1671 Tyrone moved NW to NE and Monaghan NE to NW

Although "gradireland Law" says RoI Circuit Court has seven circuits: "Munster circuit – which in practice can be divided into the Cork circuit and the South Western circuit – Northern circuit, Western circuit, Midlands circuit, Eastern circuit and Dublin circuit" in fact there are eight (per citizensinformation and courts.ie) — gradireland omits south-eastern. Dunno how widespread "Munster circuit" is as an informal designation for those who practice on both Cork and southwestern.