Financial History Issue 114 (Summer 2015) | Page 25

© Leemage/Corbis

Fugger began his career as a
Maximilian I and Charles
commoner, the lowest rung in
V, second to none in the
the European caste system. If
acquisition of extraordihe failed to bow before a baron
nary wealth, in liberality,
or clear the way for a knight
in purity of life, and in the
on a busy street, he risked getgreatness of soul, as he
ting skewered with a sword.
was comparable to none in
But his mean origins posed
life, so after death is not
no obstacle; all businesspeople
to be numbered among the
were commoners and the Fugmortal.
ger family was rich enough to
Today Fugger is more known
buy him every advantage. The
for philanthropic works, notaFuggers had a knack for textile
bly the Fuggerei public houstrading and records show they
ing project in Augsburg, than
were among the biggest taxfor being “second to none in
payers in town.
the acquisition of extraordinary
There were nevertheless
wealth.” The Fuggerei remains in
challenges. Fugger’s father died
operation and attracts thousands
when he was 10. If not for a
of foreign visitors a year thanks
strong and resourceful mother,
to investments Fugger made
he might have gotten nowhere.
five centuries ago. But Fugger’s
Another handicap was his
legacy is even more enduring.
place in the birth order. He
His deeds changed history more
was the seventh of seven boys,
than those of most monarchs,
a spot in the lineup that should
revolutionaries, prophets and
have landed him in a monaspoets ever did, and his methods
tery rather than in business. He
blazed the path for five centuries
had character flaws like anyone
of capitalists.
else. He was headstrong, selfWe can easily see in Fugger
ish, deceitful and sometimes
a modern figure. He was at his
cruel. He once sent the family
core an aggressive businessman
16th century watercolor of the German financier Jacob Fugger in his
of a top lieutenant to the poor
trying to make as much money
golden writing room with his accountant, Matthaus Schwarz.
house after the aide died and he
as possible and doing whatever
refused to forgive a loan. But
it took to achieve his ends. He
he turned at least one of those
chased the biggest opportuniflaws — a tendency to trumpet
ties. He won favors from politihis own achievements — into an asset. His
He had few friends, only business associates.
cians. He used his money to rewrite the
boasts were good advertising; by letting
His only child was illegitimate. His nephrules to his advantage. He surrounded
visitors know what he paid for a diamond
ews, to whom he relinquished his empire,
himself with lawyers and accountants. He
or how much money he could conjure for
disappointed him. While on his deathbed,
fed on information. These days, billiona loan, he broadcast his ability to do more
with no one at his side other than paid assisaires with the same voracious instincts as
for clients than other bankers.
tants, his wife was with her lover. But he
Fugger fill the pages of the financial press.
The downside of notoriety was resentsucceeded on his own terms. His objective
But Fugger blazed the trail. He was the
ment. Enemies pursued Fugger most of
was neither comfort nor happiness. It was
first modern businessman in that he was
his working life, and his career unfolded
to stack up money until the end. Before he
the first to pursue wealth for its own sake
like a video game. They attacked him
died, he composed his own epitaph. It was
and without fear of damnation. To underboth head-on and from surprising angles,
an unabashed statement of ego that would
stand our financial system and how we got
throwing him progressively more difficult
have been impossible a generation earlier,
it, it pays to understand him. 
challenges as he rose in wealth and power.
before the Renaissance philosophy of indiLuther wanted to bankrupt him and his
vidualism swept Germany, when even a
Greg Steinmetz spent 15 years as a journalfamily, declaring he wanted to “put a bit
self-portrait — a form of art Dürer created
ist for publications including New York
in the mouths of the Fuggers.” Ulrich
during Fugger’s lifetime — would have been
Newsday and The Wall Street Journal,
von Hutten, a knight who was the most
regarded as hopelessly egotistical and conand he currently works as a securities anafamous German writer of his time, wanted
trary to social norms.
lyst for a money management firm in New
to kill him. But he survived every assault
York. He is the author of The Richest Man
and accumulated more points in the form
TO GOD, ALL-POWERFUL AND
Who Ever Lived: The Life and Times of
of money and power.
GOOD! Jacob Fugger, of Augsburg,
Jacob Fugger (Simon & Schuster, 2015),
Did success make Fugger happy? Probornament to his class and to his
from which this article has been adapted.
ably not, at least not by conventional terms.
country, Imperial Councilor under
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