The headteacher of the Jakob Fugger Gymnasium in Augsburg, Mrs. Angelika Felber, handed over an archive work of Sarah Schmid B.A. and Dr. Stefan Birkle from the Fürstlich und Gräflich Fuggersches Familien- und Stiftungsarchiv in Dillingen to the mayor of Almadén Ms. Dª. Raquel Mª Jurado Merchán. The first and second pages of the five-page Fugger Maestrazgo lease agreement for the years 1525-42, archive number FA 2.5.1 A, from the archive.
This lease agreement was concluded on February 28, 1524, in Vitoria, Spain, between Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain, and two representatives of the Fugger family. This agreement concerns not only the mine in Almadén, but above all the agricultural lease income from the estates of the Maestrazgos, the Spanish orders of knights, to which the Fugger family had access through this agreement. The contract was triggered by Jakob Fugger’s letter to Charles V dated April 25, 1523, in which Jakob Fugger demanded repayment of outstanding debts.
