Pilsen, League of.
A confederation of Hussites in 1422, sworn to resist Sigismund, and to oppose any sovereign who would not permit communion in both kinds.
Pindaris.
A body of freebooters, or soldiers of fortune, in India, originally formed as a body of irregular horse, with licence to plunder, by the last Mohammedan dynasty of the Deccan. At the beginning of the nineteenth century they were in the service of the Mahratta Confederacy, and after the breaking up of this they continued to give great trouble to the British by their predatory raids. They were finally dispersed, and ceased to exist as an organized force in 1818.
Pine Tree State.
The state of Maine is so called, from the wide extent of its pine forests.
Pisa, Council of.
A Council, summoned during the schism in 1409, which deposed Gregory XII and Benedict XIII, and elected Alexander V as Pope. The two first named declined to recognize the authority of the Council, with the result that there were now three Popes.
Pitaux, Insurrection of the.
A peasant rising in Saintonge and Poitou in 1548, to obtain redress of grievances in connection with the Gabelle, or salt-tax. The insurgents held Bordeaux for some time, but were eventually overpowered, and their leaders executed. The rising, however, led to a reduction in the Gabelle.