PLUNKET, NICHOLAS (fl. 1641), compiler, is known only as author of a contemporary account of affairs in Ireland in 1641, which Carte frequently cites in his 'Life of Ormonde.' 'It,' wrote Carte, 'would make a very large volume in folio, and is a collection of a vast number of relations of passages that happened in the Irish wars, made by a society of gentlemen who lived in that time, and were eye-witnesses of many of those passages.' In 1741, the compiler's grandson, Henry Plunket, co. Meath, issued proposals for printing by subscription 'A faithful History of the Rebellion and Civil War in Ireland from its beginning, in the year 1641, to its conclusion, written by Nicholas Plunket, esq., and communicated to Mr. Dryden, who revised, corrected, and approved it.' The subscription was one guinea per copy. The book, it was stated, would 'contain about 130 sheets, printed in a neat letter.' In Harris's work on the 'Writers of Ireland,' issued in 1746, Plunket's book was mentioned as still unpublished. No more was long heard of it, and portions of the manuscript appear to have been subsequently lost or destroyed. About 1830 a fragment of the manuscript came, with some of the Plunket estates, into the possession of General Francis Plunket Dunne, M.P. for the King's County. An account of this fragment by the present writer was printed in the description of the Plunket manuscript in the second report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Carte seems to have somewhat over-estimated the value and impartiality of the manuscript.
[Carte's Life of Ormonde, 1736, vol. i.; Harris's Writers of Ireland, 1746; Rep. of Royal Comm. on Hist. MSS. 1871.]
PLUNKET, OLIVER (1629–1681), Roman catholic archbishop of Armagh and titular primate of Ireland, was born at Loughcrew in Meath. His father's name is nowhere mentioned, but he was nearly related on that side to Christopher Plunket, second earl of Fingall [q. v.], and on his mother's to the Dillons, earls of Roscommon. He was also connected with his namesake, the sixth Lord Louth, and with Richard Talbot [q. v.] and his brother Peter [q. v.] He was educated from infancy to his sixteenth year by Lord Fingall's brother, Patrick Plunket, titular abbot of St. Mary's, Dublin, and afterwards bishop of Ardagh and Meath successively. In 1645 he accompanied Father Scarampi to Rome, narrowly escaping capture by pirates, or perhaps parliamentary cruisers, in the English Channel. In Flanders they fell among thieves, but an unnamed samaritan provided a ransom. On his arrival at Rome Plunket studied rhetoric for about a year under Professor Dandoni, and afterwards entered the Irish or Ludovisian College, then under jesuit control. There he remained eight years, becoming a proficient in mathematics, theology, and philosophy. It was a rule of the foundation that priests on completing their course should return to Ireland, but in July 1654 Plunket begged leave of Nickel, the general of the jesuits, to continue his studies among the oratorians at San Girolamo della Carità. This was granted on the understanding that he was to go to Ireland at any moment when ordered by the general, or others his superiors. From 1657 to 1669 Plunket filled the chair of theology at the Propaganda College, and his learning was utilised by the congregation of the Index. Among his friends were Scarampi, the oratorian, who befriended Plunket until October 1656, when he died of the plague, and Cardinal Pallavicini, the historian of the council of Trent from a point of view opposite to Sarpi's.
At the end of 1668 there were but two Roman catholic bishops resident in Ireland, of whom Patrick Plunket of Ardagh was one, his old pupil Oliver being his agent at Rome. In January 1669 Peter Talbot was appointed to Dublin, the sees of Cashel, Tuam, and Ossory being filled at the same time. All the new prelates agreed that Plunket should represent them at Rome, and he thus became a sort of general solicitor for Irish causes. He showed much zeal against Peter Walsh [q. v.] and his party, and was on friendly terms with his cousin, Archbishop Talbot, but was not one of those whom the latter recommended for the see of Armagh. Wood (Life, ii. 182) tells an unlikely story about an intrigue in Plunket's favour. There were objections to all the candidates named, and Clement IX cut the controversy short by saying, ‘Why discuss the uncertain, when the certain is before us? Here we have a man of approved virtue, consummate doctrine, and long experience, conspicuous for his qualifications in the full light of Rome. I make Oliver Plunket archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland, by my apostolic authority.’ The formal nomination was on 9 July 1669, the brief dated 3 Aug., and on 30 Nov. Plunket was consecrated at Ghent by the bishop of that see, one of whose assistants was Nicholas French [q. v.] of Ferns. Plunket reached London in November, and remained there till his departure for Ireland in the early spring of 1670. The pallium, which was granted on 28 July of that year, followed
