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Emperor Maximilian I in Verona 1509-1516
Verona was created on a ford over the Adige at the exit of the Brenner route into the Po Valley. Emperors and kings had coins minted in Verona as early as the Middle Ages. Emperor Maximilian initiated the last coinage from Verona. Venice ruled Verona before and after him, but did not have coins minted there.
Venice had prevented Maximilian from traveling to Rome for his coronation as emperor in 1508, so that he was exclaimed "chosen emperor" in Trent. When the international league of Cambrai instigated by Pope Julius II turned against Venice, Maximilian was of the party. He wanted to renew the eroded claims under imperial law in northern Italy. After the Venetian defeat in the Battle of Agnadello, French and German troops occupied Verona in early June 1509. Maximilian planned to build Verona into the center of his new possessions, which is supported by establishing a mint and the issue of coins with the inscription VERONA CIVITAS METROPOLIS. The imperial rule brought Verona no metropolitan boom. The city suffered rather from the occupation. There were attacks and looting. Sometimes more soldiers than residents lived in Verona. In addition, plague epidemics spread in 1511 and 1512.
The city had to survive several sieges.
The peace treaties of Noyon and Brussels between the later Charles V and Francis I ultimately decided the fate of Verona: On December 14, 1516 Maximilian formally handed over the fortress to his grandson, King Charles of Spain. He was supposed to hand over the city to the French and they to the Venetians. Jörg von Frundsberg took care of the handover. His soldiers were allowed to take the guns and all property with them. With this, the city finally got its peace. On January 14, 1517, the Venetian Provveditore and later Doge Andrea Gritti moved into Verona, accompanied by fireworks and by residents screaming "Marco, Marco".


Teston 1516, Verona (1/3 guldiner).    Ø 27 mm, 9,05 g.   CNI VI p.279 n.3; Egg 4 (p.180)
Obv.:   MAXIMILIANVS·CAESAR   -   Crowned bust in armor, under the shoulder 1516.
Rev.:  VERONA▴CIVITAS▴METROPOLIS
Crowned and nimbed double eagle with heart shield Austria.
The lower die of the obverse has been preserved in the Tyrolean State Museum Innsbruck. [Egg, p.85]


Mezza lira n. d., Verona (1/2 testone).     Ø 24 mm, 3,80 g.   CNI VI p.281 n.13; Egg 6.
Specimen in the Coin Cabinet, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
Obv.:   MAXIMILIANVS▴CAESAR  -  Crowned bust to the left, in armor. Below flower with stem.
Rev.:  ▴Sanctus▴ZENO▴PROTECtor▴ - VERONAE
The standing saint Zeno from the front in bishop's robe with miter but without nimbus raises the right to the blessing. In the left hand crook and rod with a fish on the hook.


Mezza lira n. d., Verona (1/2 testone).     Ø 24 mm, 3,76 g.   CNI VI p.281 n.14; Egg 7.
Obv.:   MAXIMILIANVS▴CAESAR   -   Laurel bust to the left, in dress.
Rev.:  ▴Sanctus▴ZENO▴PROTECtor▴ - VERONAE
The standing Saint Zeno as before.
In der Linken Krummstab und Angel mit einem Fisch am Haken.
Zeno of Verona, the city's patron saint, is said to have been a fisherman on the Adige River
before becoming Bishop of Verona.


Sesino n. d., Verona (6 denari).     Base alloy, Ø 16 mm, c.1,2 g.   CNI VI p.281 n.18; Egg 12.
Obv.:   MAXIMILIANVS▴CAESAR   -   Crowned bust to the left.
Rev:   S ZENO▴PROTEC▴VERONAE   -   St. Zeno, sitting to the right, wears miter and nimbus and bless with the right hand. In the background a crook and a rod with a fish on the hook.

Smaller nominals carry the image of St. Zeno and the Austrian coat of arms.


Bagattino 1516, Verona (denaro)    copper, Ø 16 mm, 2,53 g.   CNI VI 279/5; Egg 15.
Obv.:  ·S·ZENO·PROTeC·VERONAE·  -  Bust of St. Zeno, with miter, nimbus and date, without circle.
Rev.:   DVX AVSTRIAE  -  Crowned double-headed eagle with Austrian arms.


Bagattino n. d., Verona (denaro)    copper, Ø 16 mm.   CNI VI 281/20-24; Egg 21.
Obv.:   ▴S▴ZENO▴PROTEC▴VERONAE  -  Bust of St. Zeno, with miter, without nimbus, inside a circle.
Rev.:   DVX AVSTRIAE  -  Crowned double-headed eagle with Austrian arms.

More coins and medals with Maximilian's portrait:
  - from his ancestral lands
  - Schilling 1497 of the pledged imperial mint in Nördlingen
  - "grandson-thaler" 1518, Sankt Veit, a showpiece with his two grandchildren on the reverse
  - Schauguldiner n. d. (1506), Hall, on the wedding with Bianca Maria Sforza
  - Double Schauguldiner 1509, Hall, with several arms of pretension.

Ref.:
• Corpus Nummorum Italicorum (CNI), vol. VI - CNI-Indici vol.VI
• Erich Egg: Die kaiserliche Münzstätte in Verona in: Die Münzen Kaiser Maximilians I. Innsbruck (1971),
    p.84-86. excerpt: PDF
• Hermann Wiesflecker: Kaiser Maximilian I., Band IV: Gründung des habsburgischen Weltreiches.
    Lebensabend und Tod 1508-1519. München 1981
• Schels, Johann Baptist: Bd.7: Zeitraum von dem Regierungsantritte des Königs Albrechts II im Jahre 1437,
    bis zum Tode des Kaisers Maximilian I. im Jahre 1519 (1825), online bei Google
• Stefan Schweizer: Zwischen Repräsentation und Funktion: die Stadttore der Renaissance in Italien.
    Göttingen 2002, bei Google, siehe S.236f

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