The earliest evidence for Christianity in the area of Salzburg is the establishment of a religious community at or near Juvavia by a follower of Severinus of Noricum, a priest named Maximus.

[7] On 20 April 798, at the order of Charlemagne, Pope Leo III named Salzburg a metropolitan archdiocese, with the suffragan diocenses Passau, Ratisbon, Freising, Säben-Brixen, and Neuburg.

[10] On 28 February 1163, Pope Alexander III appointed Archbishop Eberhard of Salzburg his legate for the German kingdom (Legatum in regno Teutonico).

When the archbishop appeared as summoned at the diet of Babenberg on 8 June 1169, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa refused to receive him, and at the beginning of August invaded the territory of Salzburg.

[13] On 28 January 1171, Pope Alexander wrote to the king of Bohemia and to the duke of Austria, urging them to come to the aid of the archbishop, who was being harassed by the schismatics.

A motion to depose the archbishop was presented by Richerius, the bishop-elect of Brixen, and agreed to by all the leaders of the kingdom except Duke Henry of Austria.

[18] Archbishop Adalbert of Bohemia was deprived of the diocese of Salzburg by Pope Alexander III on 9 August 1177, to win the favor of the Emperor.

[23] He was well aware that a number of German bishops were supporters of Frederick II, and that, when their sees fell vacant, it was imperative to supply them with successors loyal to the papacy.

Archbishop Eberhard of Salzburg had been a supporter of Frederick since 1240, and when he died on 1 December 1246,[24] Pope Innocent was prepared to act, but the Chapter had already unanimously elected Philippus, the son of Duke Bernhard von Kärnten and grandson of King Ottokar I of Bohemia, Provost of Vyšehrad.

[27] Unfortunately, Archbishop Burcardus died during his journey from Avignon to Salzburg, at Salmannsweiler im Breisgau, at the end of July or beginning of August 1247.

[29] Philippus von Kärnten, as archbishop-elect, according to the "Salzburg Chronicle",[30] at the mandate of the pope of 6 February 1249, held a provincial synod in Mühldorf that Spring.

The action was contested by Stephen Gutkeled, the Duke of Zagreb (Carinthia) and King Béla IV of Hungary, who promised to support Philippus.