Fresh pilgrim resorts now began to spring up, and medieval shrines, which had fallen on evil days, to emerge from their obscurity. In the 16th century we must mention the pilgrimages to the “Holy Mount” at Gorz on the Austrian coast, and to Montserrat in the Spanish province of Barcelona: in the 17th century, those to Luxemburg, Kevelaer (Gelderland), Notre Dame de Fourviere in Lyons, Heiligenberg in Bohemia, Roermond in the Netherlands, &c. The 18th century, which witnessed the religious Aufklarung, vsas not favourable to the pilgrimage. Enlightened bishops and princes prohibited it altogether: so, for instance, Joseph II. of Austria. Archbishop Clement Wenceslaus of Trier forbade, in 1777, the much-frequented, medieval “leaping-procession” of Echternach (duchy of Luxemburg). The progressive theologians and clergy, moreover, assumed a hostile attitude, and, in 1800, even the Curia omitted the Year of Jub1lee. The 10th century, on the other hand, led to an extraordinary revival of the pilgrimage. Not only did new resorts spring into existence—e.g. La Salette in Dauphine (1846), and more particularly Lourdes (1858) in the department of Hautes Pyrenees—but the numbers once more attained a height which enables them to compete with the medieval figures. It is computed that 60,000 pilgrims were present in La Salette on the 29th of September 1847, the first anniversary of the appearance of Mary which gave rise to the shrine. The dedication of the church of Lourdes, 1n 1876, took place in the presence of 30 bishops, 3000 priests and 100,000 pilgrims. In 1877 the number rose to 250,000, and similar statistics are given of the German and Austrian devotional resorts. The sanctuaries of Aix-la-Chapelle are said to have been visited by 65,000 pilgrims on the 15th of July 1860; and on the following Sunday by 52,000. From 25,000 to 30,000 persons take part each year in the resuscitated “leaping-procession” at Echternach; and the annual visitants to the “Holy Mount” at Gorz are estimated at 50,000. No new motives for the pilgrimage emerged in the 19th century, unless the ever-increasing cultus of the Virgin Mary may be classed as such, all of the new devotional s1tes being dedicated to the Virgin. For the rest, the desire of acquiring indulgences maintains its influence: but doubting voices are no more heard within the pale of the Roman Catholic Church.
Bibliography.—Itinera hierosolymitana saec. IV.-VIII., rec. P. Geyer (Vienna, 1898), Itin. hierosol. et descr. terrace sanctae, ed. T. Toller and A. Molimer (Geneva, 1879–1885); H. Michelant and G. Raynaud, Itinéraires à Jérusalem rédigés en français au XIᵉ, XIIᵉ, XIIIᵉ siècles (Geneva, 1882); R. Rohricht and H. Meisner, Deutsche Pilgerreisen nach dem heiligen Land (Berlin, 1882, new ed., Innsbruck, 1900), L. Conradi, Vier rheinische Palastina-Pilgerschriften des XIV., XV., XVI. Jahrhunderts (Wiesbaden, 1882); G. B. de Rossi, Roma sotterranea, i. 128 sqq (Rome, 1864); J. Marx, Das Wallfahrten in der katholischen Kirche (Trier, 1842); W. E. Scudamore, Dict. of Christ. Antiquities, vol. ii. (London, 1880) (A. H.*)
PILIBHIT, a town and district of British India, in the Bareilly division of the United Provinces. The town-pop. (1901),
35,490-contains the mosque of Hafiz Rahmat Khan, the
Rohilla chieftain, built in the second half of the 18th century.
Trade is mainly in agricultural produce, and in the products of
the neighbouring Himalayan territory and Nepal.
The District ot Pilibhit has an area of 1350 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 470,339, showing a decrease of 3% in the decade. Though so near the Himalayas it is entirely a plain. In its midst IS the Mala swamp. The east is forest-clad, poor and unhealthy; on the other side of the Mala the land becomes more fertile. The chief river is the Sarda, and the Gumti rises in the east. The principal crops are rice, pulses, wheat and sugar-cane. Sugar-refining is carried on, and sugar, wheat, rice and hemp are exported. The Lucknow-Bareilly section of the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway runs through the district, a portion of which is watered by the Rohilkhand canals.
PILLAR (O. Fr. piler, Mod. pilier, Late Lat. pilare, from pila, column), an isolated upright structure, of narrow width in relation to its height, which is either employed as a support for a
superincumbent load of some sort or is set up for commemorative or ornamental purposes. In the first sense the word has many common applications, as to columns supporting the girders of a warehouse floor or the deck beams of a ship, to the single central support or pedestal of a table, machine-tool, &c, and to the masses
of coal which the miner leaves in certain methods of working
as supports to the roof (see Coal), it is also used figuratively of
persons in such phrases as a “pillar of the state.” In architecture
it has strictly the second sense. The column erected
in honour of Diocletian at Alexandria is known as Pompey’s
pillar, and the so-called columns of Trajan and Antoninus are
in reality pillars, performing no structural function beyond that
of carrying a statue. In India the only example is the iron
pillar at Delhi, which is an extraordinary specimen of the iron worker’s
art considering the remote date at which it was made.
Up to the middle of the 10th century the term “pillar” was
employed to designate the masses of masonry in a church, which
carry the arcades, but now the term “pier” is invariably adopted
in preference.
PILLAU, a seaport and watering-place of Germany, in the Prussian province of East Prussia, on the spit of sand (Nehrung)
which separates the Frische Haff from the Baltic, on the north
of the entrance channel, and 29 m. by rail from Konigsberg.
Pop. (1905), 7374. It is fortified and has a harbour, which serves
as the outer port of Konigsberg, and to some extent also of Elbing
and Braunsberg. A new navigable channel was in 1900–1901
constructed across the Frische Haff from Pillau to Konigsberg.
Pillau has a school of navigation, and is a well-known pilot
station. Ship-building, sail-making, fishing and the working
of amber are carried on.
Pillau is memorable as the place where Gustavus Adolphus of
Sweden landed in 1626. It did not obtain civic privileges until
1725, but was fortified shortly after that date. In 1807 it offered
a stout resistance to the French. By a treaty of the 24th of
February 1812 it was ceded to Napoleon, but on the 6th of
February in the following year it was restored to Prussia.
PILLION, a light saddle without pommel or bow, especially
a pad fastened to the back of an ordinary saddle, as a seat for
another person, generally a woman. Pillions were also used to
support baggage. They were in common use from the 16th to
the 18th centuries. The word appears to have been adapted
into English from the Irish pillin, cushion, formed from Lat.
pellis, skin. In the sense of a hat worn by a priest or doctor of
divinity, “pillon” or “pylion” occurs in the 15th and 16th
centuries. This is probably from Lat. pileus, a conical felt hat
or cap, Gr. πῖλος.
PILLNITZ, a village in the kingdom of Saxony, situated on the right bank of the Elbe, 5 m. above Dresden. Pop. (1905), 770. The new palace of the king of Saxony was built in 1818 on the site of a building which was destroyed by fire. The place became a residence of the electors of Saxony about 1700, and the different parts of the palace were erected at various times during the 18th century. By the convention of Pillnitz in August 1791 the emperor Leopold II. and Frederick William II., king of Prussia, agreed to take common action against any attack on the
part of France; this compact may be regarded as the basis of
the first coalition against that country.
See A. von Minchwitz, Geschichte von Pillnitz (Dresden, 1893).
PILLORY (O. Fr. pilori, Prov. espitlori, from Lat. speculatorium, a place of observation or “peep-hole”), an instrument of punishment which consisted of a wooden post and frame fixed on a platform raised several feet from the ground, behind which the culprit stood, his head and his hands being thrust through holes in the frame (as are the feet in the stocks) so as to be held fast, exposed in front of it. This frame in the more complicated forms of the instrument consisted of a perforated iron circle, which secured the heads and hands of several persons at the same time, but it was commonly capable of holding only one. In the statutes of Edward I. it is enacted that every pillory or “stretch-neck” should be made of convenient strength so that execution might be done on offenders without peril of their bodies. It was customary to shave the heads wholly or partially, and the beards of men, and to cut off the hair and even in extreme cases to shave the heads of female culprits. Some of the offences punished in England by the pillory will be found enumerated in
