stylistic:style_transfer
Election of Charles V in 1519

Emperor Maximilian died in January 1519 and bequeathed to his grandson Charles the hereditary lands of House Habsburg with adjoining Burgundian lands as well as a disputed claim to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. To secure his essential investments into House Habsburg Jakob Fugger decided to support the election of the 19-year-old claimant to the throne. In addition to Charles, the English king Henry VIII, the French king Francis I and Frederick III, Elector of Saxony announced their candidacy. Francis I had already secured the votes of the Archdiocese of Trier and the Electorate of the Palatinate as well as offering a sum of 300,000 guilders of election money. The prince-electors consisted of the three archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier in addition to the King of Bohemia, the Elector of the Palatinate, the Margrave of Brandenburg and the Duke of Saxony.

This was a difficult situation for Charles who now relied on the riches of Jakob Fugger to sway the election in his favor. Fugger transferred the enormous sum of more than 850,000 guilders to the prince-electors which ultimately resulted in the unanimous election of Charles Holy Roman Emperor on 28 July 1519. Out of this 850,000 guilders Fugger himself funded around 550,000 while another merchant house of Augsburg, the Welser family, contributed about 150,000 and three Italian bankers providing the rest. What today would be seen as bribery was common practice in the election of the Emperor. Exceptional however were the immense sums involved, mainly due to the keen competition among the princely candidates.

A few days later the Pope granted Charles the right to name himself Elected Emperor. It was only in 1530 that Charles V was crowned Emperor by the Pope in Bologna. He was the last Emperor to receive a papal coronation. Charles V, since his election reigning over a realm where the sun never set, was now deeply indebted to Jakob Fugger. In 1521 the debts amounted to more than 600,000 guilders. The Emperor amortized 415,000 of this sum and in return granted the Fugger company the silver and copper mining operations of Tyrol. During the Imperial Diet of 1523 in Nuremberg it was debated whether to restrict trade capital and the number of trade establishments companies were allowed to maintain. Jakob Fugger intervened and reminded the Emperor that "It is known that your imperial majesty could not have claimed the Roman crown without my help,..." (German: „Es ist auch wissentlich und liegt am Tage, dass Eure Kaiserliche Majestät die römische Krone ohne mein Zutun nicht hätte erlangen können,…") The added demand of repayment of all debts eventually led to all discussions of trade restrictions and limits to monopolies being dropped. In addition to this Jakob Fugger was granted a concession to mine quicksilver and cinnabar in Almadén. The Fugger company was involved in the Spanish mining business up to the year 1645.