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FUGGER

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 288 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FUGGER , the name of a famous See also:

German See also:family of merchants and bankers. The founder of the family was Johann Fugger, a See also:weaver at Graben, near See also:Augsburg, whose son, Johann, settled in Augsburg probably in 1367. The younger Johann added the business of a See also:merchant to that of a weaver, and through his See also:marriage with See also:Clara Widolph became a See also:citizen of Augsburg. After a successful career he died in 1408, leaving two sons, Andreas and See also:Jakob, who greatly extended the business which they inherited from their See also:father. Andreas, called the "See also:rich Fugger," had several sons, among them being Lukas, who was very prominent in the municipal politics of Augsburg and who was very wealthy until he was ruined by the repudiation by the See also:town of See also:Louvain of a See also:great See also:debt owing to him, and Jakob, who was granted the right to See also:bear arms in 1452, and who founded the family of Fugger vom Reh—so called from the first arms of the Fuggers, a See also:roe (Reh) or on a See also:field azure—which became See also:extinct on the See also:death of his great-See also:grandson, See also:Ulrich, in 1583. Johann Fugger's son, Jakob, died in 1469, and three of his seven sons, Ulrich (1441–1510), Georg (1453–1506) and Jakob (1459–1525), men of great resource and See also:industry, inherited the family business and added enormously to the family See also:wealth. In 1473 Ulrich obtained from the See also:emperor See also:Frederick III. the right to bear arms for himself and his See also:brothers, and about the same See also:time he began to See also:act as the banker of the Habsburgs, a connexion destined to bring fame and See also:fortune to his See also:house. Under the See also:lead of Jakob, who had been trained for business in See also:Venice, the Fuggers were interested in See also:silver mines in See also:Tirol and See also:copper mines in See also:Hungary, while their See also:trade in spices, See also:wool and See also:silk extended to almost all parts of See also:Europe. Their wealth enabled them to make large loans to the German See also:king, See also:Maximilian I., who pledged to them the See also:county of Kirchberg, the lordship of Weissenhorn and other lands, and bestowed various privileges upon them. Jakob built the See also:castle of Fuggerau in Tirol, and erected the Fuggerei at Augsburg, a collection of ro6 dwellings, which were let at See also:low rents to poor See also:people and which still exist. Jakob Fugger and his two nephews, Ulrich (d. 1525) and Hieronymus (d.

1536), the sons of Ulrich, died without See also:

direct heirs, and the family was continued by Georg's sons, See also:Raimund (1489–1535) and Anton (1493–1560), under whom the Fuggers attained the See also:summit of their wealth and See also:influence. Jakob Fugger's florins had contributed largely to the See also:election of See also:Charles V. to the imperial See also:throne in 1519, and his nephews and heirs maintained See also:close and friendly relations with the great emperor. In addition to lending him large sums of See also:money, they farmed his valuable quicksilver mines at See also:Almaden, his silver mines at Guadalcanal, the great estates of the military orders which had passed into his hands, and other parts of his See also:revenue as king of See also:Spain; receiving in return several tokens of the emperor's favour. In 1J30 Raimund and Anton were granted the imperial dignity of See also:counts of Kirchberg and Weissenhorn, and obtained full See also:possession of these mortgaged properties; in 1534 they were given the right of coining money; and in 1541 received rights of See also:jurisdiction over their lands. During the See also:diet of Augsburg in 1530 Charles V. was the See also:guest of Anton Fugger at his house in the Weinmarkt, and the See also:story relates how the merchant astonished the emperor by See also:lighting a See also:fire of See also:cinnamon with an imperial See also:bond for money due to him. This incident forms the subject of a picture by Carl See also:Becker which is in the See also:National See also:Gallery at See also:Berlin. Continuing their See also:mercantile career, the Fuggers brought the new See also:world within the See also:sphere of their operations, and also carried on an extensive and lucrative business in farming indulgences. Moreover, both brothers found time to acquire landed See also:property, and were munificent patrons of literature and See also:art. When Anton died he is said to have been See also:worth 6,000,000 florins, besides a vast amount of property in Europe, See also:Asia and See also:America; and before this time the See also:total wealth of the family had been estimated at 63,000,000 florins. The Fuggers were devotedly attached to the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church, which benefited from their liberality. Jakob had been made a See also:count See also:palatine (Pfalzgraf) and had received other marks of favour from See also:Pope See also:Leo X., and several members of the family had entered the church; one, Raimund's son, Sigmund, becoming See also:bishop of See also:Regensburg. In addition to the bishop, three of Raimund Fugger's sons attained some degree of celebrity.

Johann Jakob (1516–1575), was the author of Wahrhafligen Beschreibung See also:

des osterreichischen and habsburgischen Nahmens, which was largely used by S. von Bircken in his Spiegel der Ehren des Erzhauses Osterreich (See also:Nuremberg, r668), and of a Geheim Ernbuch des Fuggerischen Geschlechtes. He was also a See also:patron of art, and a distinguished counsellor of See also:Duke See also:Albert IV. of See also:Bavaria. After the death of his son Konstantin, in 1627, this See also:branch of the family was divided into three lines, which became extinct in 1738, 1795 and 1846 respectively. Another of Raimund's sons was Ulrich (1526–1584), who, after serving Pope See also:Paul III. at See also:Rome, became a See also:Protestant. Hated on this See also:account by the other members of his family, he took See also:refuge in the Rhenish See also:Palatinate; . greatly interested in the See also:Greek See also:classics, he occupied himself in See also:collecting valuable See also:manuscripts, which he bequeathed to the university of See also:Heidelberg. Raimund's other son was Georg (d. 1579), who inherited the countships of Kirchberg and Weissenhorn, and founded a branch of the family which still exists, its See also:present See also:head being Georg, Count Fugger of Kirchberg and Weissenhorn (b. 1850). Anton Fugger See also:left three sons, See also:Marcus (1529–1597), Johann (d. 1598) and Jakob (d. 1598), all of whom left male issue. Marcus was the author of a See also:book on See also:horse-breeding, Wie and wo See also:man ein Gestut von guten edeln Kriegsrossen aufrichten See also:soil (1578), and of a German See also:translation of the Historic ecclesiastics of Nicephorus Callistus.

He founded the Nordendorf branch of the family, which became extinct on the death of his grandson, Nicolaus, in 1676. Another grandson of Marcus was See also:

Franz Fugger (1612–1664), who served under See also:Wallenstein during the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War, and was afterwards See also:governor of See also:Ingolstadt. He was killed at the See also:battle of St Gotthard on the 1st of See also:August 1664. Johann Fugger had three sons, Christoph (d. 1615) and Marcus (d. 1614), who founded the families of Fugger-Glott and Fugger-Kirchheim respectively, and Jakob, bishop of See also:Constance from 1604 until his death in 1626. Christoph's son, See also:Otto Hein-rich (1592–1644), was a soldier of some distinction and a See also:knight of the See also:order of the See also:Golden Fleece. He was one of the most active of the Bavarian generals during the Thirty Years' War, and acted as governor of Augsburg, where his See also:rule aroused much discontent. The family of Kirchheim died out in 1672. That of Glott was divided into several branches by the sons of Otto Heinrich and of his See also:brother Johann See also:Ernst (d. 1628). These lines, however, have gradually become extinct except the eldest See also:line, represented in 1909 by Karl Ernst, Count Fugger of Glott (b.

1859). Anton Fugger's third son Jakob, the founder of the family of Wellenburg, had two sons who left issue, but in 1797 the possessions of this branch of the family were again See also:

united by See also:Anselm See also:Joseph (d. 1793), Count Fugger of Babenhausen. In 1803 Anselm's son, Anselm Maria (d. 1821), was made a See also:prince of the See also:Holy Roman.See also:Empire, the See also:title of Prince Fugger of Babenhausen being See also:borne by his direct descendant Karl (b. 1861). On the fall of the empire in 18o6 the lands of the Fuggers, which were held directly of the empire, were mediatized under Bavaria and See also:Wurttemberg. The heads of the three existing branches of the Fuggers are all hereditary members of the Bavarian Upper House. Augsburg has many interesting mementoes of the Fuggers, including the family See also:burial-See also:chapel in the church of St See also:Anna; the Fugger chapel in the church of St Ulrich and St Afra; the Fuggerhaus, still in the possession of one branch of the family; and a statue of Johann Jakob Fugger. In 1593 a collection of portraits of the Fuggers, engraved by Dominique Custos of See also:Antwerp, was issued at Augsburg. See also:Editions with 127 portraits appeared in 1618 and 1620, the former accompanied by a See also:genealogy in Latin, the latter by one in German. Another edition of this See also:Pinacotheca Fuggerorum, published at See also:Vienna in 1754, includes 139 portraits.

See Chronik der Familie Fugger vom Jahre 1599, edited by C. See also:

Meyer (See also:Munich, 1902) ; A. Geiger, Jakob Fugger, 1459–1525 (Regensburg, 1895) ; A. Schulte, See also:Die Fugger in Rom, 1495–1523 (See also:Leipzig, 1904) ; R. See also:Ehrenberg, Das Zeitalter der Fugger (See also:Jena, 1896); K. Habler, Die Geschichte der Fuggerschen Handlung in Spanien (See also:Weimar, 1897) ; A. Stauber, Das Haus Fugger (Augsburg, 1900) ; and M. See also:Jansen, Die Anfdnge der Fugger (Leipzig, 1907).

End of Article: FUGGER

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