Albert, Archbishop of Magdeburg and Elector of Mainz, was younger son of the Elector of Brandenburg, and was born in 1490. In 1513 he became
Archbishop of Magdeburg, and in the following year Archbishop and Elector of Mainz. Leo X. having granted him permission to sell indulgences, Albert appointed the Dominican Tetzel as his agent, who, by the shameless manner in which he went about his work, first roused the wrath of Luther. A friend of literature, he was not originally unfriendly to reformation; but he ultimately sided strongly against the Reformers. He died in 1545.