This is the story of a man named Jakob Fugger of the Lily also known as Jakob Fugger the Rich or sometimes Jakob II(1459-1525), who started out to be a priest, ended becoming the greatest millionaire of the sixteenth century, first important industrialist promoter of the modern world and banker of emperors and popes.
His was no rags to riches story. At the time of his birth on March 6, 1459 his family was one of the most prominent families in Augsburg, Germany. Fugger’s grandfather Hans, relocated from Swabla around 1367, married well and rose to prominence in the city’s weavers’ guild.
Hans’s two sons, Andreas and Jakob I continued his textile and import business until disagreements forced dissolution of the partnership in 1454. Andreas’s branch of the family quickly declined and filed for bankruptcy in 1499, while Jakob I, Fugger’s father, a cautious businessman grew in his business.This branch was....
