In the mid 8th century, the Slavic principality of Carantania had been incorporated by the German stem duchy of Bavaria, which itself became part of the Frankish Carolingian Empire in 788.

The East Tyrolean area down to the Drava river was Christianised by missionaries from the Archdiocese of Salzburg in the north, its sphere of influence confirmed by Emperor Charlemagne in 811.

Though Matrei received market rights, it remained isolated from the neighbouring Tyrolean territories and was not easily reachable from the adjacent Salzburg Pinzgau region across the passes of Hohe Tauern range.

Trading was poorly developed and the situation of the rural population was miserable, culminating in several revolts against the episcopal rule from the German Peasants' War in 1525 until the 18th century.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the last Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Hieronymus von Colloredo fled to Vienna in 1800, the archbishopric was secularised in 1803 and fell to the Austrian Empire upon the 1805 Peace of Pressburg.