Once upon a time: there was a catholic that thought that he could make a little money by creating a refuge for catholics as a throwback to feudal times giving him absolute authority over the land anyone "owned" and authority over them aswell: they owned 6,000 acres.

The place was colonial Maryland, and this greedy guy was only outdone in my knowledge by Joseph Smith. It was Lord Baltimore the Second.

It was like the first version of the Matrix talked about by Agent Smith in the Matrix movie: people wouldn't accept the program, "crops" were lost; where crop in this case refers to the actual belief that something, or anything should be a "palatine lord."