| Jacob Fugger | |
|---|---|
Jacob Fugger by Albrecht Dürer |
|
| Born | March 6, 1459 Augsburg |
| Died | December 30, 1525 (aged 66) |
| Parents | Jakob Fugger the Elder |
| Relatives | Anton Fugger, nephew |
Jacob Fugger (German: Jakob Fugger) (6 March 1459 – 30 December 1525), sometimes known as Jacob Fugger the Rich, was a German banker and a member of the Fugger family.
Contents |
Fugger was born on 6 March 1459 in the Swabian town of Augsburg in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the son of Jakob Fugger the Elder, a weaver and councilman in Augsburg. A trader like his brothers, he learned double-entry bookkeeping in Venice. Inheriting his father's business of trading, Fugger expanded the family enterprise to the Adriatic Sea via the port of Venice. He married Sibylla Artzt in 1498, but they had no children.
He was elevated to the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire in May 1511, and in 1519, led a consortium of German and Italian businessmen that loaned Charles V 850,000 florins (about 95,625 troy ounces, or almost 3 tonnes, of gold) to procure his election as Holy Roman Emperor over Francis I of France[1]. The Fugger's contribution was 543,000 florins.
At his death on 30 December 1525 Jacob Fugger bequeathed to his nephew Anton Fugger company assets totaling 2,032,652 guilders.[2] He is considered to be one of the richest persons of all time,[3] and today he is well known as Jakob Fugger 'the rich'.
Fugger was well-known throughout Europe, and used his eventual fortune to lend money to its rulers. Fugger often provided mercenary armies with monetary resources so they could wage war against one another.
Fugger was known to citizens of his home city, Augsburg, as a benefactor. He created and endowed the Fuggerei, a Roman Catholic social housing complex within the walls of the Renaissance city founded in 1514 and built during the nine-year period 1514-1523. The Fuggerei became famous throughout Europe for its relatively benevolent operations and clean public spaces, an almost unimaginable improvement from the squalor in which poor people and urban peasants had been forced to live in previous generations.
The Fuggerei remains in operation to this day, albeit with many changes enacted to the rules laid down in the sixteenth century. Rebuilding was necessary after World War II. The rent due from tenants has been translated from a nominal 1.0 Rheinischer Gulden per year - a single silver coin - to an equally nominal 0.88 Euro/year. There is a lengthy waiting-list.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||