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Jakob Fugger

Type Figure Region Holy Roman Empire Time 1459–1525 Also known as Fugger the Rich、Fugger the Great

Jakob Fugger was the wealthiest banker and merchant in Renaissance Germany, known as 'Fugger the Great'.…

Timeline

  1. 1459–1500Augsburg · BavariaBorn into an Augsburg textile and trading family, he learned bookkeeping and long-distance trade operations in the family counting house from childhood. From the 1480s he ran the business jointly with his brothers, gradually expanding from cloth trade into silver mine financing and court lending, accumulating capital and connections for the expansion after 1501.
  2. 1501–1510Augsburg · BavariaIn this phase he became deeply bound to the Habsburg dynasty, providing election and war loans to Maximilian I and later Charles V. In 1503 he obtained mining rights to Tyrolean silver and mercury mines, and between 1505 and 1510 established agency offices in Antwerp, Venice, and elsewhere, rapidly propelling the family's wealth to the forefront of Europe.
  3. 1511–1525Augsburg · BavariaFrom 1511 he handled the financial business of papal indulgences in the German lands, closely tied to church finances on the eve of the Reformation. He also invested in Flemish trade, Hungarian copper mines, and Viennese real estate, and in 1519 financed Charles V's election as Holy Roman Emperor. In his later years he donated funds to charitable projects such as the Fuggerei, and died in Augsburg in 1525.

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