FUGGER FAMILY

a distinguished German family, early admitted among the hereditary nobility, and now represented by two main iines of descendants and several minor branches. The founder of this family was Johann Fugger, a master weaver who settled in Augsburg in 1368 and acquired much property. His descendants became leading bankers, merchants, and mine-owners; were liberal and public-spirited men, patrons of art, and several of them became distinguished soldiers and statesmen. Among the most eminent of the family was Jakob Fugger (1459-1525), who carried on great commercial operations, advanced money to the Emperors Maximilian and Charles V, and by the former was raised to the rank of nobleman, being also imperial councillor under both. Charles V raised Jakob’s two nephews, Raimund and Anton Fugger, to the dignity of counts. He also invested them with the estates of Kirchberg and We is sen horn, which had been mortgaged to them, granted them a seat at the Imperial Diet, and letters giving them princely privileges. Afterwards the highest places of the empire were held by the Fuggers, and lines of counts and princes still represent the family.—Cf. A. Stauber, Das Haus Fugger.