Ep. 194 – The Fuggers of Augsburg
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 194 – The Fuggers of Augsburg, which is also episode 10 of Season 10 “The Empire in the 15th Century”
Jakob Fugger had been dubbed the Richest Man Who Ever Lived, but there are many more contenders, my favorite being an African, Mansa Musa, the ninth Mansa of the Mali empire whose generous gifts during a visit to Mecca in 1324 triggered a currency crisis.
That is something Jakob Fugger would never have done. He never was a flamboyant banker who impressed his contemporaries with lavish displays of wealth. He was actually fairly dull. If anyone in the firm of Fugger was flamboyant, it was the chief accountant.
So if Jakob is a bit of a pale shadow, the story of what happened in the world of European Finance between 1480 and 1520 is anything but boring. Within just 40 years the heart of the banking industry moved from Florence and Venice where it had held sway since it was invented and moved north, into a medium sized Swabian city, Augsburg.
That is as if JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley closed their doors and in their stead some local players from Scandinavia or Mexico took over the financing of the Global economy.
I am not kidding, something like that really happened back in the late 15th century.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, Episode 194, the Fuggers of Augsburg, |
| 0:10.5 | which is also episode 10 of season 10, the empire in the 15th century. |
| 0:17.1 | Jakob Fugger has been dubbed the richest man who ever lived, but there are many more contenders. |
| 0:23.5 | My favorite being an African, Manza Musa, the ninth Manza of the Mali Empire, whose generous |
| 0:29.3 | gifts during the visit to Mecca in 1324 triggered a currency crisis. |
| 0:34.9 | That is something Jacob Fugger would never have done. |
| 0:42.3 | He never was a flamboyant banker who impressed his contemporaries with lavished his place of wealth. |
| 0:44.6 | He was actually fairly dull. |
| 0:49.8 | If anyone in the firm of Fugge was flamboyant, it was the chief accountant. |
| 0:56.5 | So if Jacob is a bit of a pale shadow, the story of what happened in the world of European finance between 1480 and 1520 is anything but boring. |
| 1:02.8 | Within just 40 years, the heart of the banking industry moved from Florence and Venice, |
| 1:07.3 | where it had held sway since it was invented and moved north into a medium-sized |
| 1:12.4 | Swabian city, Augsburg. That is as if J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley closed |
| 1:19.5 | their doors and in their stead some local player from Scandinavia or Mexico took over the financing |
| 1:26.2 | of the global economy. I'm not kidding, something like that really happened back in the late 15th century. |
| 1:33.3 | Before we start, I would like to thank SA, James L, Arlene A, John F, Nikolai, J.M., Nick R., and LinderVDP, who have signed up on History of the Germans.com |
| 1:49.1 | slash support and whose generous contributions keep this show on the road and advertising free. |
| 1:55.7 | If you want to join them, you know where to find them. And thanks to all of you. |
| 2:01.6 | With that, back to the show. |
| 2:05.6 | Last week we talked about the Grosse Ravensburga Handels'Geseltzschelchert, the largest trading |
| 2:10.4 | company north of the Alps before the emergence of the Fugger and Welsa of Augsburg. |
| 2:15.6 | This company had its heyday in the 1450s, but by the end of |
... |
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