A cardinal, an imperial chancellor, and one of the most powerful men in the Holy Roman Empire before he ever became Archbishop of Salzburg. Matthäus Lang served as chief secretary and chancellor to Emperor Maximilian I, making him a key figure in European politics and diplomacy. A humanist and patron of Renaissance culture, he brought a worldliness to the archbishopric that few of his predecessors could match.
His most dramatic moment came during the Peasants' War of 1525, one of the largest popular uprisings in European history. Rebel forces, led in part by Michael Gaismair, besieged Lang inside Hohensalzburg Fortress for months. The fortress held. Lang survived, though politically weakened.
His archiepiscopate (1519-1540) bridged the medieval and early modern eras of Salzburg, connecting the world of Leonhard von Keutschach to the explosive baroque ambitions that would follow with Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau.
