The Salzburger Emigrants were a group of German-speaking Protestant refugees from the Catholic Archbishopric of Salzburg (now in present-day Austria) that immigrated to the Georgia Colony in 1734 to escape religious persecution. This group was expelled from their homeland by Count Leopold Anton von Firmian (1679–1744), Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. On October 31, 1731, he issued an Edict of Expulsion demanding from the Salzburg Protestants to recant their faith.[1] Pastor Samuel Urlsperger, the leader of the Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge, called upon King George II of Great Britain for help. The King offered them refuge in his Georgia colony, which later became the town of Ebenezer.