Once a part of Bavaria, Salzburg was founded in around 695 on the site of the Roman ruins of Luvavum, re-establishing a bishopric that had been lost during the German migrations of the 5th century. Taking its name and a large income from the salt trade it was soon given missionary duties over a wide area of recently reconquered land. Pope Leo III raised it to an archbishopric and gave it primacy over the other Bavarian bishoprics. The incursion of the Magyars into Pannonia reduced its standing and a succession of bishops were killed either in battle or because they backed the wrong players in the political struggles of Germany or spouted off denunciations of the emperor or papacy at inopportune times.Despite the occasional wrong-footedness Salzburg was raised to Imperial immediacy in 1213 giving it independence from Bavaria. Quarrels with the Austrian Hapsburgs and then the advent of the Black Death led to internal strife which was only overcome in the late 1400s with increasing authoritarianism. This played into the hands of Lutheran reformers and uprisings plagued the entire state. Around the same time the Hapsburg lands to its south and east were reunited, giving it more issues to quarrel with its neighbor about. Although it avoided the military aspect of the early stages of the Fifty Years War the archbishops, trying to ride on the coat-tails of the Emperor's actions attempted to evict the Protestants from the state anyway. This invited chaos and in the final years of the war the archbishops effectively lost control of their lands. The city of Salzburg itself was held by a peasant army from 1662-1665.
After the war the Archbishops grudgingly accepted freedom of religion and were restored. However unlike in neighbouring Austria Catholicism held and indeed it welcomed many Austrians leaving the newly Lutheran territory. It would be much involved in the Austrian Civil War (1717-1735) and in 1728 Salzburg was occupied and a large portion of the city was accidentally burnt. The archbishops would soon fall under alternating periods of Bavarian and Austrian dominance.
The 1895 election of a Brandenburger; Jacob Ernest II, marked a break from the tit-for-tat of the Bavarian and Austrian parties and during his tenure Salzburg's independence was strenuously defended. It also saw a flowering of culture in which the poets, artists and composers drew much material and commissions from a rivalry with the slightly austere Viennese artists.
Although technically ruled by the archbishop's council much of its executive power has been ceded away to the democratically elected Landstag.
The current Head of State is Archbishop Sigismund VI and the Chancellor is Leonard Sittich.