A distinct area of jurisdiction, often originally enclosed by a palisade or ditch. Pales existed in medieval times on the edges of English territory—around Calais (until its loss in 1558), in Scotland (in Tudor times), and, most importantly, as a large part of eastern Ireland (from Henry II’s time until the full conquest of Ireland under Elizabeth I); the actual extent of the Irish pale depended on the strength of the English government in Dublin. Catherine II (the Great) in 1792 made a Jewish pale in the lands she had annexed from Poland: Jews had to remain within this area, which ultimately included all of Russian Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia (now Belarus), and much of the Ukraine.