The arrival of Hans Fugger (1348-1409) in Augsburg in 1367 marked the beginning of a dynasty that financed kings and emperors and owned many industries 150 years later. Fugger was a wealthy weaver from the small village of Graben in Lechfeld, south of Augsburg, known for the battle of Otto the Great (912-973) against the Hungarians in 955.
The dynasty split into the branches “Fuggers of the Deer”, named after the coat of arms (a leaping golden bear on blue background) received from Frederic III (1415-1493) and the “ Fuggers of the Lily”, a lily in gold and blue as coat of arms, given by Maximilian I (1459-1519).
The former branch sank into oblivion, the latter grew to become the biggest multinational of its time. The Fuggers became magnates of (copper) mining, trade and financing. Jakob Fugger, or Jakob the Rich (1459-1525), should lead this family business to the top during a period of major changes, including the rise of humanism and capitalism, the discovery of new overseas territories, technological innovation, and religious unrest, including the Reformation.
The key to Jakob Fugger’s success was his relationship with Maximilian I. Fugger provided loans and received mining rights, trade advantages, land, and other economic benefits and social privileges. Maximilian borrowed ever more money and granted ever more to Fugger and raised Jakob to the nobility as Count in 1514.
The Fuggers also went global, investing in the New World, particularly in East India. Augsburg, the city of the Fugger dynasty and the famous Fugger House, also became one of Maximilian’s favourite cities, whom he visited there rather often (the city was under direct imperial control).
As the Habsburg Empire grew, so did the Fugger company. The Augsburg firm became a multinational with many businesses, including mining, metal refining, and trading in wine, salt, spices, and precious metals (the Fuggers had a monopoly in copper mining and trade).
The finest hour of Jakob Fugger
The finest hour of Jakob Fugger came in 1519, when the succession of the deceased Maximilian had to be resolved. The king of France, Francis I (1494-1547), was a serious pretender to the Holy Roman imperial crown because he was supported by (reformed) German princes and, above all, by the Pope, who felt threatened by the Habsburgs and by the emperor, who was chosen by these (seven) princes.
The seven Prince-electors weren´t so much influenced by their religious convictions as by the financial resources and gifts of Jakob Fugger, who was able to outbid the French king. Jakob supported the candidacy of Charles I of Spain (1500-1558), the grandson of Maximilian I and sun of Philip the Handsome (1478-1506) and Joanna of Castile (1479-1555) and on June 28th 1519, in Frankfurt, the seven Prince-Electors unanimously elected the Habsburger to be Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
The Jakob had become an emperor maker, and he had changed the course of European History. Imagine a French king as Holy Roman Emperor! The Fugger imperium was not immune to the Reformation and the subsequent European religious wars, nor to the threats posed by Turkish armies, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The Fuggers disappeared as merchants and bankers to Europe´s rulers, but the dynasty continued as landowners, bishops, imperial nobility, and politicians.
Source: F. Herre, The Life and Times of the Fuggers, Augsburg 2009)