sioner of oyer and terminer for the counties of Somerset, Devon, and Dorset. When Henry removed the baronial sheriffs in July 1261, Plessis was given charge of Leicestershire, and on 10 Aug. was also made warden of Devizes Castle, a post which he held till 15 June 1262. He died on 26 Feb. 1263, and was buried at Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire.
By his first wife, Christiana, daughter of Hugh de Sanford, he had a son Hugh (1237-1291), who married his father's ward, Isabella, daughter of John de Biset. Hugh de Plessis had a son Hugh (1266-1301), who was summoned to parliament in 1299, and left a son Hugh, who died before 1356 without male issue (Hoare, Hist. Wiltshire, Cawden, p. 12; cf. Palgrave, Parl. Writs, iv. 1297).
John de Plessis was succeeded as Earl of Warwick by his second wife's nephew, William Mauduit. A nephew called Hugh de Plessetis was ancestor of the family of Wroth of Wrotham, Kent (Archæologia Cantiana, xii. 314).
There was a family of the name of Plessis or de Plessetis settled at Plessy in the township of Blyth, Northumberland. Alan de Plessis and John de Plessis were concerned in a forest dispute in Northumberland in 1241. The latter was a person of some note in the county, and was no doubt the warden of Northumberland in 1258, though Dugdale and others have erroneously assigned this office to the Earl of Warwick (Hodgson, Hist. of Northumberland, II. ii. 292-6; Bain, Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, i. 276, 2141,2611).
[Matthew Paris; Annales Monastici (both in Rolls Ser.); Cal. of Close Rolls; Excerpta e Rot. Finium; Rôles Gascons (Documents Inédits sur l'Hist. de France); Dugdale's Baronage, i. 772-3, and Hist. of Warwickshire, pp. 383-5; Doyle's Official Baronage, iii. 575-6; G-. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage, vi. 254; Foss's Judges of England, ii. 442-4; Archæologia, xxxix. 428; other authorities quoted.]
PLESSIS, JOSEPH OCTAVE (1762–1825), Roman catholic archbishop of Quebec, the son of a blacksmith, was born near Montreal on 3 March 1762. He received a classical education at Montreal College, and for a short time followed his father's trade; but, in 1780, he returned to his studies, entered the Petit Séminaire at Quebec, and became a teacher at Montreal College. Later, becoming secretary to Bishop Briaud, he was ordained a priest on 11 March 1786, and was appointed secretary of Bishop Hubert at Quebec. In 1792 he was made curé of Quebec and professor of ‘humanities’ at the college of St. Raphael, and in 1797 grand vicar and coadjutor to Bishop Denault. His growing power and influence were employed against the English predominance, and the English party, led by Herman Witsius Ryland [q. v.], made vain efforts to hinder his promotion. Consecrated as bishop-coadjutor on 25 Jan. 1801, he became bishop of Quebec in 1806, on the death of Denault, during the height of the discussion about the jesuit estates. An unsuccessful effort was made by Ryland and the protestant party to prevent his taking the oath of allegiance.
Plessis's position was now established. In 1810 he came into collision with the governor, Sir James Henry Craig [q. v.] But in 1812, when war with the United States broke out, he won the goodwill of the government by his efforts to rouse the loyalty of the French Canadians. In 1814 he was accordingly granted a pension of one thousand louis and a seat in the legislative council, where he proved himself an ardent champion of the rights of the Roman catholic population. In 1818 he was made archbishop of Quebec. He set himself vigorously to organise the Roman catholic church, and established mission settlements along the St. Lawrence and in the Red River territory. He was active in furthering education, but insisted on maintaining the integrity of the French tongue in Lower Canada. In 1822 he opposed the union of Lower with Upper Canada in order to avoid the possibility of amalgamating the French and English. He took a great part in the discussions on the education law of 1824. Practical work in the same direction was not neglected. He educated many young men at his own expense, and the colleges of Nicolet and Ste. Hyacinthe were the outcome of his enthusiastic appeals. He died at Quebec on 4 Dec. 1825.
[Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography; Roger's History of Canada, vol. i.]
PLESYNGTON, Sir ROBERT de (d. 1393), chief baron of the exchequer, was no doubt a member of the Lancashire family which derived its name from Pleasington, near Blackburn, and was perhaps a cousin of the first of that name, who owned Dimples in Garstang, Lancashire, where the family survived until the rebellion of 1715 (Chetham Soc. Publ. lxxxi. 61, xcv. 75, cv. 232). Sir Robert himself would appear to have acquired lands in Rutland, though he had charge of certain property at Lancaster in 1376. In early life he probably held office in
