 Tetzel was born in Pirna, Saxony, and studied theology and philosophy at Leipzig University.He entered the Dominican order in 1489, achieved some success as a preacher, and was in 1502 commissioned by Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, later Pope Leo X, to preach the Jubilee indulgence, which he did throughout his life.In 1509 he was made an inquisitor of Poland and, in January 1517 was made commissioner of indulgences for Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg in the dioceses of Magdeburg and Halberstadt.