Bauernkriegdenkmal

History: The peasant uprisings
The 16th century was characterised by peasant uprisings. Officially, the peasant uprisings were "religious wars", but in fact the cause of the Upper Austrian peasant uprisings of 1525 and 1595 lay in the catastrophic economic conditions caused by the increase in robots (labour for the landlord) and constantly rising tithes (taxes) to ecclesiastical and secular landlords.
From 1595 to 1597 there were repeated peasant uprisings, which began in St Peter and Niederwaldkirchen.
1597 End of the peasant uprisings (St. Peter had to swear an oath of submission on 18 July 1597).
1626 Start of the actual Peasants' War; the peasants of St. Peter took a particularly strong part in the siege of Linz. The Protestant peasants were forced to convert to the Catholic faith. In the course of the Counter-Reformation, no more Protestants appear in St. Peter from 1682.