Johann Paul Freiherr von Hocher

There, the local Hofkammer-president Johann Michael von Schmauß took care of him and brought him to the famous lawyer Johann Baptist Drächsel at Bozen (Bolzano), where Hocher acquired a reputation as a lawyer, although he soon fell out with Drächsel.

In December 1660 he gave up his position as Vice-Chancellor to become the Court Chancellor (Hofkanzler) (1660-1663) to the Prince Bishop of Brixen.

On the death of Archduke Sigismund Francis and the subsequent union of Tyrol with the other Habsburg dominions under Leopold I, the emperor appointed him Vice Chancellor of Upper Austria on 1 October 1665.

In view of his origins as a commoner, Hocher declined the position of court chancellor (Obersten Hofkanzler) but accepted this honour upon his elevation to the hereditary peerage (8 March 1667).

He was buried in the family vault in Kuefstein'schen, Greillenstein (Horn District, Lower Austria).