1459-1525
Defender of Capitalism
In 1508 Emperor Maximilian I attempted to force his bankers to invest in bonds to support another of his wars. Fugger was furious at this, and wrote a letter back to the Emperor. Steinmetz explains:Fugger started with what he said was obvious. Companies like his benefitted every level of society, producing jobs and wealth for all. Business could only work its magic if the government left it alone. If politicians threw up roadblocks and killed the profit motive, business had no chance. Merchants and bankers were good citizens, he argued. They treated each other and their customers fairly. Sure, self-interest propelled them. But they knew better than to cheat customers. Reputation was everything and the need for credibility checked the urge to lie, gouge and steal. Hinting at the allure of tax havens (the Swiss border was only sixty miles away), he declared that other countries show businessmen more respect. He blasted those who condemned commerce and enterprise. They failed to understand that "it is for the common good that honourable, brave and honest companies are in the realm. For it is not disreputable but rather it is wonderful jewel that such companies are in the kingdom."It is no surprise that when the German Peasants' War broke out in 1524, that wealthy men like Jakob Fugger were accused by the people of corruption and stealing from the poor. At one point during that year Jakob had to flee his home in Augsburg because of the threats from protestors. Fugger did all that he could to support the nobles trying to put down the revolt, which would only end after 100,000 people were dead.
When Jakob Fugger died on 30 December 1525, he bequeathed the company to his nephews, leaving them with the assets worth 2,032,652 guilders - a study done in 2016 estimates that the current value of that fortune would be around $400 billion US, or 350 billion euros. The Fugger family has carried on, with several branches still existing - some are nobility, others own business, and a few castles are still under their ownership.5 Things to Know about the Richest Person in History | December 2, 2018 | by Medievalists.net -- Where the Middle Ages Begin
"The Richest Man Who Ever Lived," a new book by veteran journalist Greg Steinmetz, shows that it's hard to overstate the effect Jacob Fugger had on the world, both during his time and in the centuries since.
Born to merchants, not royalty, Fugger could be seen as the world's first true capitalist, as his pursuit of wealth solely for wealth's sake -- as opposed to desire to rule, or to fulfill perceived religious destiny, or to simply escape from poverty -- was, according to Steinmetz, virtually unheard of at the time.
Fugger created a fortune that, by his death in 1525, equaled "just under 2 percent of European economic output." No other man, no Vanderbilt or Gates, has controlled that pivotal a fortune.
He was the first documented millionaire, and the first businessman to compile a comprehensive financial statement for his business. He also created the world's first news service, as a way to ensure he had important information before his rivals, a half-century before the advent of the newspaper.
He funded the appointments of kings and popes then backed their wars, and took the Habsburg family from royalty's second tier to a dynasty that would lord over Europe for hundreds of years.
His loan to Albrecht directly led to the creation of Protestantism, and, according to Steinmetz, he "most likely funded Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe."
Such was Fugger's power that, in a letter seeking repayment of money he had loaned to King Charles V -- the Holy Roman emperor, king of Spain, Naples and Jerusalem and "lord of Asia and Africa" -- he had no qualms about reminding the all-powerful king, in an era when kings put people to death with a wave of a hand, that, "without me your majesty might not have acquired the imperial crown" and demanding payment "without further delay."Meet the world's richest man who changed Christianity | Larry Getlen | New York Post | July 26, 2015
“If politicians threw up roadblocks and killed the profit motive, business had no chance.”
Some things never change.
Fascinating and an abuse of history by omitting the Templars, who invented the check book and banking as we know and the moral bankruptcy of the Catholic Church under edict from Pope Clement IV and that Hobbit Philip IV king of France both of whom were in debt to not only to the Templars but, many other nations and prominent peoples of then europe.
“Fugger created a fortune that, by his death in 1525, equaled “just under 2 percent of European economic output.” No other man, no Vanderbilt or Gates, has controlled that pivotal a fortune.”
I’ll wait for the movie, working title “Meet the Fuggers” LOL
That appears to fit with my suspicion that banking was connected to or even arose from the Medieval trading houses.
Medieval ideas of usury IIRC come from Plato who wrote that money is “sterile” and therefore interest is impossible. Lots of neo-Platonism in the Medieval Catholic intellectual world.
Calvin was largely responsible for legalizing the payment of interest in the Protestant Reformation, pointing out that the Biblical prohibitions against interest were talking specifically about loans given to the very poor.
I think it was one of Terry Jones’ documentaries where I saw the etymology of the the term bankrupt.
Early money-men would have a stone bench (banca) in the market square where they would ply their trade. If they were found to be guilty of malfeasance or other failure of their trade, officials would smash (rupture) their their work place -
“Banca rupta”
1459-1525