Jakob Fugger also known as Jakob II or Jakob Fugger the Rich was a major merchant, banker and entrepreneur of Europe. He was elevated through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg and within a few decades he expanded the family firm to a business operating in all of Europe.
Background
During Fugger’s birth on March 6, 1459, his family was already one of the most prominent in Augsburg, Bavaria’s leading city before its eclipse by Munich.
Around 1367, Fugger’s grandfather Hans had relocated from Swabia. He married well and rose to prominence in the city’s weavers’ guild. He established connections in Venice and his textile and import business grew in profit. Fugger and his brother Markus were expected to enter the priesthood, but when the former was 10 the death of their father altered his destiny in 1469. This unexpected situation led his mother to take over the business until the three other sons came of age. In 1473, one of the trio died and Fugger was told to abandon his plans for the priesthood and join the family firm.
Education
Fugger studied book keeping in Venice a period when the practice of double entry book keeping had recently been systematized.
Career
Fugger laid the foundation of his mining business in Salzburg. He provided loans to silver mine owners who were in constant need for capital in Salzburg State Alps. He did not demand official documents acknowledging department; instead, he demanded some shares in the mines. Instead of intermediary traders, he ended up forcing more mine operators in the area of Gastein and Schladming to sell their silver directly to the Fugger family instead of intermediary traders. In Augsburg, Tyrol, Venice and Rome, Fugger was responsible for the family business. The family also founded manufactories in Innsbruck around 1485.
He first came into contact with Archduke Sigismund who was a member of Habsburg family through a small loan. The Archduke had handed permissions for mining operations to private investors and in return pay a share of their profits to Sigismund. He did this as the sole owner of the tyrol property rights. Fugger was constantly short of money due to his lavish lifestyle, his extensive construction and several illegitimate children. In 1517 the Fugger family financed more than half of Tyrol’s public budget.
At the insistence of Fugger, the company became one of the first open trading companies in 1494 in Europe. It was then renamed into Ulrich Fugger of Augsburg and brothers. This was to show the equality of the brothers even though the central contracts of the Hungarian trade were all signed by him. At this development the greatly increased influence of Jakob within the company can be observed. Since 1480s Fugger dominated the company’s policies.
Harnessed by Fugger, the enormous growth potential in the mining and ore trade was very profitable in the following years. After the death of Pope Alexander VI in August 1503 Fugger intensified his contacts to the Vatican in Rome and this made the Fugger family to be the first German trading house to be in direct business relationship with the Roman Curia. Fugger opened a manufactory in Lisbon in 1503 after the discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gama and the establishment of the Portuguese spice monopoly.
Fugger’s firm that imported raw cotton from Mediterranean ports and carried it to Augsburg and other northern weaving centers by mule still existed. The firm however expanded to include silks, rare foods, herbs and jewels. The firm also controlled much of Europe’s pepper market for decades. The firm ventured into copper mining in Hungary and acquired a fleet of ships that sent their wares to Antwerp and ports in the Netherlands under Fugger’s savvy management. When the troubled Archduke Sigismund gave his dukedom over to another Hapsburg; the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, Fugger’s fortune increased. The emperor was also a poor manager of money and soon turned to Fugger for help. The emperor borrowed the first loan to repay an army he had hired to fight one of the battles in his protracted conflict with France and Italy. Fugger controlled vast stores of copper and the firm also enjoyed a lucrative monopoly on the metal for several years. In its day, Fugger’s enterprise was the world’s largest mining operation.
Fugger died on 30 December 1525. The inventory performed by his heirs revealed assets totaling 3,000,058 guilders and liabilities amounting to 867,797 guilders resulting in a surplus of 2,132,261 guilders.
Jakob Fugger was a Roman Catholic. On behalf of his deceased brother Georg, Jakob Fugger together with his brother Ulrich founded the Fugger Chapel in the Carmelite monastery’s St. Anna church located in Augsburg. This also became the burial place for the three brothers.
He also advocated for an improved sermon in the church of his parish St. Moritz in 1515. Pope Leo X issued a papal bull granting Fugger and his heirs the patronage to the church and being able to choose the priest. This foundation still exists and Fugger family still recommends the priest.
Politics
Fugger supported any ruling regime politically so that he could get favors on expanding his business further. His firm lent Archduke 23000 florins and added him more money. After Archduke Sigismund gave his dukedom over to another Hapsburg; the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, Fugger also gave him a loan. Maximilian came to view Fugger’s wealth as his own personal treasury. He was granted landholdings, a title of nobility in return. In order to ensure the succession of Charles as Holy Roman Emperor, a deal was struck and Fugger had to bribe several electors - the princely rulers of various parts of the empire.
Personality
Fugger was of firm, decisive personality and had a businesslike attitude.
Quotes from others about the person
“Die Luft der Freiheit weht (The wind of freedom stirs). Since 1906, that obscure German phrase has encircled the Stanford Tree in the school emblem.” ― Greg Steinmetz, The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: The Life and Times of Jacob Fugger
Connections
Fugger married Sybille Arzt at the age of 40 in 1498. This marriage opened up the opportunity for Fugger to elevate to Grand Burgher of Augsburg and finally giving him the long awaited aspiration of a seat on the city council. The couple had no children.