**Kaspar Stockalper dedicated his life to making money. He believed that this was his divine mission. Illustration by Marco Heer**

Making money till the end

Kaspar Stockalper built up a conglomerate in Valais that shrewdly exploited the crises of the 17th century. To him, amassing wealth was a religious mission and a ticket to eternal salvation. But that didn't save him from a political conspiracy through which his rivals brought about his downfall.

Helmut Stalder

Helmut Stalder is a historian, publicist and book author specialising in economic, transport and technical history.

Kaspar Stockalper drew on his political expertise, entrepreneurial astuteness, energy and rigour to build up an intricate conglomerate in Brig that spanned the whole of Europe over several decades. After securing a transport monopoly over the Simplon pass, he gradually extended his empire, with operations in mining, in the production and trade of agricultural products, in the mercenary trade, and with a salt monopoly. Meanwhile, he bolstered his political standing in Valais, eventually reaching the office of Landeshauptmann (provincial governor). He utilised his trump cards internationally – the Simplon pass, mercenaries and salt – in order to have multiple streams of income. All this merged to form a system in which economic clout and political power combined into a powerful synergy.

**Sign of power: the Stockalper Tower in Gondo on a print dated 1821.** Swiss National Library

While Stockalper was prepared to take risks in his business affairs and everything was geared towards maximising profit and accumulating capital through monopoly rents, trading profits, interest rates and the rapid circulation of money, his investment policy was highly conservative. His motto was: “Nothing is as enduring as the ground”. He bought up property where he could: pastures, vineyards, orchards, alpine meadows, building plots, houses and palazzi. He often acquired plots of land through estate partitions or seized them from debt-ridden farmers as collateral. He was so acquisitive that he even caused property prices in Valais to rise and had to switch to Ossola Valley. In the end he owned so many houses that he could travel from Milan to Lyon without spending a night in a property that wasn’t his own.

The land provided him with a huge capital buffer and allowed him to hedge massive sums without cash. And thanks to the hard cash brought in by his companies of mercenaries and the salt trade, he was always solvent, despite there being a chronic shortage of coins at the time. This is how his conglomerate expanded to become a trading and lending bank with private money creation. His financial capacity soon exceeded that of all the noble families in Valais and the Landeskasse (state treasury) many times over, which meant that he was an individual controlling the money in circulation and could act like a central bank.

**The Valaisan earned a fortune through mercenaries – here, soldiers in French service.** The Library Am Guisanplatz

All this came together in the palace building in Brig, which was nearing completion in 1676. In the pretentious Baroque style, Stockalper conveyed his view of the world via allegorical code. The old ancestral seat served as a residence and was connected to the new palace via a private chapel and a two-storey covered arcade. The new palace took the form of a castle church with four floors and a stair turret. The courtyard was surrounded by elegant arcades that didn’t provide access to any rooms, only enclosing an empty space, and merely serving as a display of splendour. The three towers weren’t fortified, but only symbolised his claim to power with their gilded domes.

Stockalper’s ‘House and chapel of the Three Kings’ was therefore a sign of financial solidity that could be seen for miles around, and an imperial gesture. The 48-metre-high main tower, which was named after the oldest of the Three Kings ‘Kaspar’ bears the symbol of the sun, around which everything rotates. This egocentric tower is the centre of his universe and a direct link to God. The architecture therefore conveys that an individual, by virtue of his economic power, has risen to absolutist sovereignty – to the uncrowned Sun King by the grace of God.

**Sketch of the Stockalper Palace by Roland Anheisser, Bern 1906–1910.** Swiss National Museum

As it happens, Stockalper was very religious, but this was not at odds with his capitalist practices. Instead, he was convinced that the earthly pursuit of profit and the attainment of heavenly salvation were closely linked – and found their purest embodiment in him. He summarised this in a Latin motto: ‘SOSPES LUCRA CARPAT’ – ‘God’s favourite shall take the profits’. The sentence encapsulates his economic and spiritual attitude to life in just three words, reconciles all contradictions, is a justification and mission and – is an anagram of his name. CASPARUS STOCALPER is one of God’s favourites and when he accumulates profits by all means possible, God rewards him with wealth in this life, and salvation in the next. This motto, which comprised both his name and his purpose, was written in his account books and on the wall of his counting house in Brig – guiding him in his earthly endeavours and securing him a place in the kingdom of heaven on Judgement Day.

**God’s favourite shall take the profits... This motto is written in Kaspar Stockalper’s account books.** Stockalperarchiv, HRSt VIII, fol. 129v

**Stockalper can still be seen in Brig today – in the mayor’s office.** Stockalper Castle, Photo: Thomas Andenmatten

But Stockalper’s empire didn’t last. In 1678 the patrician families had had enough. Most members of the cantonal parliament were indebted to him, were at his mercy, and faced losing their social status. Even the tithings in central and upper Valais, the bishop, and countless inhabitants owed him money. Previously, Stockalper’s patronage system had produced many profiteers, loyal allies, supporters, loyal assistants and dependent parties. But now there was a prospect for his rivals to break up his dominance, cast off debts and grab a slice of the pie for themselves. Leaders in the lower tithings Sitten, Siders, Leuk and Visp conspired to take him down in a surprise political attack. When he was re-elected to the cantonal parliament as Landeshauptmann, they presented a list of charges against him, including abuse of the salt monopoly and embezzlement of mercenaries’ pensions. In addition, they accused him of committing crimes against the state, for which he faced the death penalty.

The pent-up resentment of the disregarded ruling class was unleashed. Stockalper was imprisoned for weeks, lost all his offices and monopolies, and officials made an inventory of his property. He had to pay heavy financial penalties to the tithings. At the same time, civil proceedings were under way, during which creditors, debtors, rivals, enviers, former friends and relatives feasted on his estate. In 1679, he was again accused of committing crimes against the state and an order for his arrest was issued. Facing death threats, Stockalper set off for Domodossola, where he owned a palazzo and had brought his valuables to safety. For five years he remained in exile, where as a large landowner and patron, he enjoyed the protection of the Duchy of Milan. He didn’t have to starve, and neither did his family left behind in Brig, who were left his sizeable assets and palace. After five years he was allowed to return, after the government in Valais changed and he promised to stay out of politics. He lived for another six years back in his palace and died in 1691 at the age of 82.

**Kaspar Stockalper’s power began in Simplon and ended there when he travelled via the pass to exile in Domodossola. Print from the early 19th century showing the pass road.** Swiss National Museum

**Kaspar Stockalper resided in the Palazzo Silva in Domodossola after he fled.** Wikimedia

At the time, Kaspar Stockalper was unique in Valais. He recognised that Switzerland as a small country at the heart of the continent owed its existence and prosperity to the Alpine passes and opportunistic dealings with its powerful neighbours. By means of a policy of neutrality before the concept even existed, Stockalper exploited the opportunities of his time more systematically than anyone before or after him – until his power was stripped back to a socially acceptable level.

The King of Brig

In a three-part series, historian and author Helmut Stalder charts the rise and fall of Kaspar Stockalper, the “King of Brig”:

Part 1: The geopolitician from Brig

Part 2: Neutrality as a business model

Part 3: Making money till the end