Nightshift – Kurzgesagt after Dark
Nightshift – Kurzgesagt after Dark
Money Couldn't Buy Him Love...
INTRO
High up in the Alps, mercenaries stomp to war, merchants haul copper, silk, and spices, riders race by with letters of credit, and one man’s money is at the heart of it all: Jakob Fugger the Rich. He only wears a beret - but one day he’ll buy a crown.
#Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (Hachette UK, 2021) pp. 95-96.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-wyman/the-verge/9781538701171/
For the beret, see Albrecht Dürer’s portrait of Jakob Fugger from around 1520:
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY BUSINESS
Jakob Fugger is born into a rising family in Augsburg, Germany. The 10th of 11 children, he might have been a priest, but when three of his brothers die, his mum decides he’ll join the family firm. At 14, he’s sent to Venice to learn the latest innovation in trade: double-entry bookkeeping. It's a vital skill for merchants, and Jakob is a maestro. Within 5 years, he’s invaluable to his remaining brothers. They’re smart, but Jakob is in a league of his own - especially when dealing with the most ambitious family in Europe: the Habsburgs.
#Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing wealth and honor in Renaissance Germany, Studies in Early Modern German History (University of Virginia Press, 2012) pg. 29.
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4162/
#Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (Hachette UK, 2021) pp. 106-111, 209.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-wyman/the-verge/9781538701171/
In 1485, Jakob and his brothers offer them a loan to fund their insatiable expansion, to be repaid in silver from Habsburg mines. More loans follow, and in just 10 years, the Fuggers make over $80,000,000 profit in today’s money. Meanwhile, Jakob worms his way into the court of Maximilian von Habsburg, the Holy Roman Emperor. His proximity to power pays off, and the Fuggers become the indispensable bankers at the Habsburg court. From here on, the money keeps on flowing.
#Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (Hachette UK, 2021) pp. 113-116.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-wyman/the-verge/9781538701171/
According to Wyman, the Fuggers made, in an optimistic estimate, about 400,000 Florins in the transaction with the Hapsburgs. Wyman also writes that 1 florin was equal to 4 shillings and 7 pence. The National Archives Currency Converter puts 4 shillings and 7 pence in 1490 at £153.50 in 2017. That means the 400,000 florins was worth about £61,400,000, or €73,066,000, or $84,670,600 in today’s money.
#Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing wealth and honor in Renaissance Germany, Studies in Early Modern German History (University of Virginia Press, 2012) pp. 36-37.
Jakob is making more money than he can spend, but he craves more profit. He strikes upon a new venture - copper. It’s in high demand, but it costs a fortune to process, and it’s sunk more than one ambitious firm. He gambles $200,000,000 in today’s money to build a protoindustrial powerhouse. The risk pays off, and tons of Fugger copper head to market. A cartel of metal merchants invites Jakob to join them, so they can fix prices and share the profits. But ‘share’ isn’t a word Jakob understands. Using another name, he floods the market, undercutting and bankrupting his new partners. Soon 4/5s of Europe’s copper makes the Fuggers money, one way or another. Since rulers need silver and copper to pay soldiers and make guns, war becomes Jacob’s business. And if a ruler can’t afford his prices, he’s always happy to lend them money.
#Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (Hachette UK, 2021) pp. 113-116, 127.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-wyman/the-verge/9781538701171/
#Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing wealth and honor in Renaissance Germany, Studies in Early Modern German History (University of Virginia Press, 2012) pp. 29, 44.
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4162/
#Greg Steinmetz, The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: The Life and Times of Jacob Fugger (Simon and Schuster, 2015) pg. 44.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Richest-Man-Who-Ever-Lived/Greg-Steinmetz/9781451688566
The Fuggers keep rising, but to Jacob, they’re not a family, they’re a business. When he marries at 39, it’s for leverage - who needs love when you can make a deal. When a cousin goes bankrupt, Jakob steps in… to buy him out for pennies. When his last brother dies in 1510, Jakob refuses to share power with his nephews. They work for him now.
#Martha Schad, Die Frauen des Hauses Fugger (Piper, 2015) pg. 21.
#Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing wealth and honor in Renaissance Germany, Studies in Early Modern German History (University of Virginia Press, 2012) pp. 17, 34.
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4162/
#Greg Steinmetz, The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: The Life and Times of Jacob Fugger (Simon and Schuster, 2015) pp. 41-42.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Richest-Man-Who-Ever-Lived/Greg-Steinmetz/9781451688566
AN OFFER HE CAN’T REFUSE
Meanwhile, the Habsburgs’ ambition has made them the first global empire and Jakob’s best customer. In 1519, Maximilian dies and the Holy Roman Emperor's succession is in the hands of the Electors. Maximilian’s grandson, Charles of Spain, is the likeliest candidate, but he’s competing against the kings of France and England. Jakob can’t afford to let the Habsburgs lose, so he loans Charles $113,000,000 in today’s money to bribe the electors. It's his greatest display of power and another profitable investment: it secures his client base for the next generation.
40 years after his first deal with the Habsburgs, this triumph marks Jakob Fugger as the financier to Europe’s ruling class. But the world that made him rich is changing.
#Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing wealth and honor in Renaissance Germany, Studies in Early Modern German History (University of Virginia Press, 2012) pg. 64.
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4162/
#Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (Hachette UK, 2021) pg. 121.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-wyman/the-verge/9781538701171/
MONEY CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
After decades of ruthless business, Jakob has few friends, but many enemies moving against him in courts and parliaments. Fugger mines are running dry, and their workers are on the brink of revolt. His agents sell indulgences to the masses, printed promises of salvation, and with that the kindling for Martin Luther’s Reformation.
#Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing wealth and honor in Renaissance Germany, Studies in Early Modern German History (University of Virginia Press, 2012) pg. 66-69.
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4162/
#Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (Hachette UK, 2021) pg. 125.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-wyman/the-verge/9781538701171/
#Friedrich Blendinger, Britannica Money article on the Fugger Family.
When Jakob the Rich dies on Christmas Eve 1525, he’s alone. His wife is with her lover, and his nephews have better things to do. But Fugger power doesn’t die with him. Jakob didn’t just build a fortune, he built a financial system that shapes Europe for decades to come: financing emperors, funding wars, and calling the shots behind the scenes.
#Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (Hachette UK, 2021) pg. 130.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-wyman/the-verge/9781538701171/