Kaysersberg, France: Geiler von Kaysersberg Statue

Johan Geiler von Kaysersberg is the man in the photo, and thus begins an interesting story. He wasn't actually born there, as the town already had been named. But he lived there as a child, and thus picked up a little addition to his name.

Considering the size of some of his on-line biographies, he must have been a heck of a preacher and priest. After all, he was born in 1445, and lived until he was 1510. Someone must have thought he was important to write all of this down somewhere. It's fair to say that he was smart enough to seek reforms in the church of the day but wasn't really a bomb-thrower. He was not Martin Luther. Instead, he used language and logic to make his points. The sermons were so good that they were written down, printed (Strasbourg was big on printing back then), and distributed among the masses.

Scholars look to his work for guidance on how people actually lived and thought around 1500. Every places wants to be proud of its own, and Johan qualifies.