Kaufleute, Höflinge und Humanisten. Die Augsburger Welser-Gesellschaft und die Eliten des Habsburgerreiches in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts

Abstract

Merchants – Courtiers – Humanists. The Welser Company of Augsburg and the Elites of the Habsburg Empire in the First Half of the 16th Century

The article explores the links between business, diplomacy and humanistic culture in the first half of the 16th century by reconstructing the connections that one of the largest merchant houses of the age, the Welser Company of Augsburg, maintained with councillors, courtiers and envoys at the Spanish court of Emperor Charles V. On the evidence of recently edited fragmentary business papers of the Welser Company, the paper shows that a number of influential men in the emperor’s entourage drew on the credit and financial services of the German merchant house, while gifts, favours and outright bribes helped to stabilize these relationships. Apart from financial rewards, individual members of the Welser firm also received royal privileges. The article argues that the business relationships described here were sustained by a social strategy of networking and by the culture of humanism, which provided a common language of conversation and negotiation between urban elites, diplomats and noble courtiers.