Note 688 — Chapter IV · KING JOHN 1206–1210

This assertion, adopted by many modern writers, seems to have been first definitely made by Sir John Davies, in his Discoverie of the true causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued, etc. (1612), p. 121: “King John made xii. shires in Leinster and Mounster; namely, Dublin, Kildare, Meth, Uriel, Catherlogh, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Corke, Limeric, Kerrie, and Tipperary.”