CHARLES V (1500–1558). L.S. “Carolus,” Valladolid, July 14, 1523, to the administrators of the Bank of the Office of San Giorgio; countersigned by G. Argellensis; 1 folio-sized page, address on the reverse with a paper-covered seal bearing the coat of arms (small hole that does not affect the text); in Latin. Protest against the practices of the Bank of Genoa. [Founded in 1407, the Office of St. George, intended to support Genoa’s maritime enterprises, became one of Europe’s major banks, notably lending large sums to Charles V. To secure its loans, the Office demanded a mortgage on territories, which it did not hesitate to seize thereafter.] The Emperor warned the administrators that, if they cared about their reputation, they should not defend their bank’s interests to the point of condoning the unjust dispossession of private individuals: “If you wish to preserve your ancient reputation, you must not concern yourselves so much with the profits of your bank as to condone the wrongs done to private individuals.” He took Jacques, Conrad, and Nicolas Spinola under his protection, along with their mother Cornelia, the guardian of these minors. He demands that these dispossessed wards be fully restored to their rights, whereas their father Lucas had been forcibly dispossessed by Octaviano Fulgosio of the town known as Pieve, which Octaviano subsequently annexed to the bank to consolidate his illegitimate actions: “We have taken into our care Iacobus, Conradus, and Nicolinus Spinola, together with Cornelia, the mother and guardian of the wards. We request that, since Lucas, their father, was de facto dispossessed by Octaviano Fulgosio of the town known as Pieve, and since Octaviano Fulgosio has attached that very town to your mountain to more firmly sanction his unjust acts, the deprived wards be fully restored to their former state under the freedom established here.” Once restitution has been made, it will still be possible to bring a case in accordance with the laws, statutes, and customs. The Emperor considers this request to be most just and a matter of equity, and he urges the administrators to preserve their reputation and not to allow a precedent to be set that would permit anyone, out of sheer caprice, to dispossess anyone of their property: “We urge you to heed your own judgment and not to allow this practice to take root, lest anyone, on a whim, be deprived of your property in the aforementioned case. For if this were permitted with your approval, there would be nothing here that could be said to belong to anyone.”