In 1907 about 2,250,000 German peasants had from 5 to 250 acres apiece, most of them less than 50.
The son of a German peasant, he entered the priesthood hoping to be a missionary.
This played a major part in the rejection of his teachings by many German peasants, particularly in the south.
Additionally, even German peasants who had recently come to the area as colonists joined his uprising for economic reasons.
German peasants, who cleared the large forest areas and created many new villages, were brought into the country in the course of the Ostsiedlung.
He was followed to Milltown by hundreds of German peasants who gave the town its early character.
It played an important part in the German Peasants' War of the early 15th and 16th centuries.
His opportunity came with the outbreak of the German Peasants' War.
It was laid waste in the German Peasants' War of 1525.
Land redistribution to German peasants was however not possible because of the limited quantity of potential settlers.