Founding The founder of the family was Hans Fugger, a weaver at
Graben, near the
Swabian
Free City of
Augsburg. The last name was originally spelled "Fucker" – the first recorded reference to the family comes when Johann's son, also named Johann (or Hans), moved to Augsburg in 1367, with the local
tax register laconically noting
Fucker advenit, "Fugger has arrived". He married Klara Widolf and became an Augsburg citizen. After Klara's death, he married Elizabeth Gattermann. He joined the weaver's guild, and by 1396, he was ranked high in the list of taxpayers. He added the business of a merchant to that of a weaver. after buying land and other properties. The Fugger family itemized and inventoried a large number of Asian rugs, an unusual undertaking at the time. Andreas's son,
Lukas Fugger, was granted arms by the Emperor
Frederick III, a
golden deer on a blue background, and he was soon nicknamed "the Fugger of the Deer". The Fuggers also participated in mining operations in
Silesia, and owned copper mines in
Hungary. Their trade in spices, wool, and silk extended to almost all parts of Europe. The Fuggers' contribution was 543,000 florins. In 1494, the Fuggers established their first public company. Jakob's aim was to establish a copper
monopoly by opening foundries in
Hohenkirchen and
Fuggerau (named for the family, in
Carinthia) and by expanding the sales organization in Europe, especially the
Antwerp agency. Jakob leased the copper mines in
Besztercebánya in the
Kingdom of Hungary (today
Banská Bystrica,
Slovakia) in 1495, eventually making them the greatest mining centre of the time. At the height of his power Jakob Fugger was sharply criticized by his contemporaries, especially by
Ulrich von Hutten and
Martin Luther, for selling
indulgences and
benefices and urging the Pope to rescind or amend the prohibition on the
levying of interest. The imperial fiscal and governmental authorities in
Nuremberg brought action against him and other merchants in an attempt to halt their
monopolistic practices. In 1511, Jakob deposited 15,000 florins as an endowment for some
almshouses. In 1514, he bought up part of Augsburg and in 1516 came to an agreement with the city that he would build and provide a number of almshouses for needy citizens. By 1523, 52 houses had been built, and the
Fuggerei had come into existence. It is still used today. Jakob died in 1525. He is considered to be one of the richest persons of all time, and today he is well known as Jakob Fugger "the rich". At its peak his wealth is estimated to be 2% of Europe's GDP.
Later years Jakob's successor was his nephew
Anton Fugger, son of his elder brother Georg. Anton was born in 1493, married Anna Rehlinger, and died in 1560. The formerly rich yield of the Tirolean and Hungarian mines decreased, but Anton established new trade ties with
Peru and
Chile, and he started mining ventures in
Sweden and
Norway. He was involved in the
slave trade from Africa to America, but he was more successful in the spice trade and the importation of Hungarian cattle. Eventually, he was forced to renounce the
Maestrazgo lease after 1542 and to give up the silver mines of
Guadalcanal. In 1530 and 1531, the Fuggers held exclusive rights to trade through the
strait of Magellan. While European trade with Asia through this route was thought to be possible, the Fuggers never developed this route. Decades later, the
Manila galleon would inaugurate trade with Asia across the Pacific with no Fugger involvement. Adding to the oddity is the fact that Jacob Fugger's loans to Cardinal
Albert of Brandenburg and the
indulgence to repay them were
what triggered Martin Luther's Reformation.
Anselm Maria Fugger von Babenhausen (1766–1821) was created
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1803.
Findings In April 2019, Dutch maritime investigators unearthed a 16th-century
shipwreck during an exploration for container ship
MSC Zoe which lost containers overboard in January 2019. Copper plates with emblem of the Fugger family were found in the ship built around 1540 in the
Netherlands during the reign of
Charles V. == Family members ==