LANG, MATTHÄUS. — Cardinal, born in 1468 at Augsburg, into a fallen patrician family; died on 30 March 1540 at Salzburg. He entered the service of Emperor Federico III as secretary and subsequently became an adviser to Massimiliano.
Appointed bishop of Gurk in Carinthia on 6 October 1501, he came to Italy in 1511 and played a major role in the negotiations that followed the League of Cambrai and the schismatic Council of Pisa. Giulio II, who had created him cardinal in pectore on 10 March 1511, published his appointment on 24 November 1512, after reaching an agreement with the Emperor. Meanwhile, L. had succeeded in obtaining the coadjutorship with the right of succession
to Salzburg (1 October 1512), while retaining Gurk; and on 3 December he had rendered obedience in the name of Massimiliano. Leone X favored him with benefices and consecrated him on 17 December 1513. He returned to Germany in 1514, disliked by the Italians for his arrogance. He became archbishop on 15 June 1519. As the Protestant movement spread throughout Germany, he undertook the implementation of ecclesiastical reforms through the Synod of Mühldorf (1522) and adopted severe measures against Lutheran preachers, measures that led to the peasants’ revolt in the Salzburg region.