LANG, MATTHÄUS. - Cardinal, born in 1468 at Augsburg, from a decayed patrician family, died 30 March 1540 at Salzburg. He entered service as secretary to Emperor Frederick III and later became counsellor to Maximilian.
Appointed bishop of Gurk in Carinthia on 6 October 1501, he came to Italy in 1511 and played a major part in the negotiations that followed the League of Cambrai and the schismatic Council of Pisa. Julius II, who had created him cardinal in pectore on 10 March 1511, published the appointment on 24 November 1512, after reaching agreement with the emperor. Meanwhile Lang had succeeded in obtaining the coadjutorship with right of succession to Salzburg (10 October 1512), retaining Gurk, and on 3 December he rendered obedience in the name of Maximilian. Leo X favoured him with benefices and consecrated him on 17 December 1513. He returned to Germany in 1514, disliked by Italians for his arrogance. He became archbishop on 15 June 1519. As the Protestant movement spread in Germany, he promoted Church reform through the Synod of Mühldorf (1522) and took severe measures against Lutheran preachers, actions that provoked the Peasants' Revolt in the Salzburg region.