The Fuggerau was a mining and ore-smelting facility near Arnoldstein in Carinthia, Austria. It was probably set up by the Fugger family, though the name 'Fugger' was already in evidence in the area before 1495 without any links to that family. [1]
The Fuggerau was a mining and ore-smelting facility near Arnoldstein in Carinthia, Austria. It was probably set up by the Fugger family, though the name 'Fugger' was already in evidence in the area before 1495 without any links to that family. [1]
It was set up by the brothers Ulrich, Georg and Jakob in 1495 on lands that they had acquired from Arnoldstein Abbey. [1] [2] This was done with the express permission of the Bishopric of Bamberg, in which the Abbey fell and with whom the Fuggers already had business dealings thanks to their presence in Franconia. The family was granted water rights, landowner rights, fortification rights, all the pledge-service that the abbey owed to the Bishopric, the right to cut down trees at will and to hunt and fish within certain limits, in return for the Abbey being compensated for its pledge-service. These rights were extended in 1496. [1] The Fuggers were also allowed to exercise lower-court rights at the Schloss Rosenheim, though high-court rights remained with the 'vicedom' of Carinthia. [1]
The complex was a combination of separating-works, hammer mill and cannon foundry, turning out 261 cannon in 1504 as well as the heavy guns used to arm the complex's own fortress. [3] Metal smelting occurred within the walls of the fortress and brass hammering in the valley, since it needed water power, probably from the River Gailitz. [1] The Fuggerau was in the right place to work not only locally-mined ore but also ores from Upper Hungary for the Venetian market. According to Pölnitz [1] the gold worked there came from the Klieming (a misspelling of Kliening). Copper worked there was mainly meant for Venice - between 1495 and 1504, 50,000 Venetian hundredweight of copper and 22,000 Viennese silver-marks were spent in Venice. [1] [4] Between 1527 and 1546 thirty-three lead pipes were made at the Fuggerau as well as at Bleiberg, where the Fuggers were also involved. The lead supply from Schwaz also went to the Fuggerau for processing. [1]
The first 'factor' employed by the Fuggers was Hans Fugger vom Reh, a cousin of Jacob the Rich. Hans died at the Fuggerau in 1503 and was followed by Georg Fugger's son in law Christoph Hering and then by Jobst Zeller, who was dismissed after being blamed for the Venetian seizure of guns from the Fuggerau during the War of the League of Cambrai. In 1537 Gastel Fugger vom Reh became factor. [1]
Brass was only hammered at the complex under 1530 [1] and from 1547 onwards the family began to retreat from the Hungarian mining industry and to concentrate on domestically-mined ores, which left the Fuggerau with less and less importance. The brothers Marx and Hans Fugger sold the Fuggerau, all its properties and rights and even its equipment and furniture back to the Abbey in 1570 for 2500 guilders during the abbacy of Petrus von Arnoldstein. The buildings fell into ruin and the local population forgot the name 'Fuggerau' - in 1688 the ruins are shown in a view by Valvasor. [1] The Schrotturm Gailitz was built on the ruins in 1814, before being replaced by another tower of the same name in 1830, which operated until 1974 and still survives today. [5] [6] [7]
The House of Fugger is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. Alongside the Welser family, the Fugger family controlled much of the European economy in the sixteenth century and accumulated enormous wealth. The Fuggers held a near monopoly on the European copper market.
Nickel silver, maillechort, German silver, argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, or alpacca is a copper alloy with nickel, and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver does not contain the element silver. It is named for its silvery appearance, which can make it attractive as a cheaper and more durable substitute. It is also well suited for being plated with silver.
Jakob Fuggerof the Lily, also known as Jakob Fuggerthe Rich or sometimes Jakob II, was a major German merchant, mining entrepreneur, and banker. He was a descendant of the Fugger merchant family located in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg. He was born and later also elevated through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg. Within a few decades, he expanded the family firm to a business operating in all of Europe. He began his education at the age of 14 in Venice, which also remained his main residence until 1487. At the same time, he was a cleric and held several prebends. Even though he lived in a monastery, Jakob found time to study the history of investment in early Asian markets. American journalist Greg Steinmetz has estimated his overall wealth to be around $400 billion in today's money, equivalent to 2% of the GDP of Europe at that time.
Bezirk Villach-Land is a district of the state of Carinthia in Austria.
Arnoldstein is a market town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
Bad Bleiberg is a market town in the district of Villach-Land, in Carinthia, Austria. Originally a mining area, especially for lead, Bad Bleiberg today due to its hot springs is a spa town.
Leonhard von Keutschach was Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1495 until his death, the last to rule in the feudal style.
Nic[c]olò Stoppio was an art dealer, who worked for Albert V, Duke of Bavaria in the highly competitive search for Italian works of art and Roman antiquities to add to the ducal collection. The activities of Niccolo Stoppio, his rival Jacopo Strada, and Philipp Hainhofer were characteristic of a new type of intermediary dealer in the most innovative art markets that surfaced in the second half of the 16th century: courtiers who supplied their patrons with news and art gossip, paintings and curiosities, antiquities and the latest books. Stoppio's correspondence with the immensely rich connoisseur of art, also advisor to Albrecht and the source of some of his earliest purchases of antiquities, Hans Jakob Fugger, survives. His rival was Jacopo Strada, whose competence in matters of art connoisseurship he lost no opportunity to belittle. In furnishing Albert's Antiquarium in the Munich Residenz, Stoppio was largely responsible for purchases on the Venetian market of copies of Roman sculptures and of modern works, whereas Strada was the agent through whom Venetian collections of Roman sculptures passed to Albert. Stoppio also passed on nuggets of high gossip:
Orlando is here [in Venice], and he is well, happy, and a good friend to everybody; he will leave here in eight days for Ferrara with a set of madrigals that he had printed and dedicated to that duke. We shall see how generous [the duke] will be
Jakob Fugger was a German master weaver, town councillor and merchant, as well as the founder of the Fugger dynasty. He was later known as Jakob Fugger the Elder to distinguish him from his son Jakob Fugger, who took over his father's company and oversaw its rise to be the largest and richest trading house in Europe.
Ulrich Fuggervon der Lilie (1441–1510) was a German businessman of the Fugger family. He formally headed the family firm from his father's death in 1469 until his own death in 1510 after an operation to remove a bladder stone, though his business skills never matched those of his younger brother Jakob Fugger.
Georg Fuggervon der Lilie (1453–1506) was a German merchant of the Fugger dynasty.
Raymund or Raimund Fugger was a German businessman, Imperial Count and art collector of the 'of the Lily' branch of the Fugger family.
Sigmund Friedrich Fugger von Kirchberg und Weißenhorn was a German cleric of the Fugger family, most notable as bishop of Regensburg from 2 July 1598 to 1600.
Andreas Fugger, known as "der Reiche", was a German businessman. He was the oldest son of Hans Fugger and Elisabeth Gfattermann, making him the elder brother of Jakob Fugger the Elder. He was the founder of the Fugger vom Reh branch of the Fugger family. His wife was Barbara Stammler vom Ast (1415/20–1476), a daughter of a rich salesman from Augsburg. Andreas was a very successful and able businessman, so he was called "Andreas der Reiche". He was the first member of the Fugger family who became a businessman. All the other family members were craftsmen at this time. Andreas Fugger and his wife had four sons, Jakob, Lukas the Elder (1439–1512), Matthäus (1442–1489/92) and Hans the Elder (1443–1501). They were the founders of the four main lines of the "Fugger vom Reh".
Lukas I. Fugger vom Reh was a German businessman and member of the Fugger family.
Hans Fuggervon der Lilie, full name Hans, Freiherr Fugger, Herr zu Kirchheim, Glött, Mickhausen, Stettenfels und Schmiechen, was a German arts patron, businessman and politician of the Fugger family.
The Carinthian Peasant Revolt took place in the Duchy of Carinthia in 1478. It was the first of several larger peasant revolts in the area of Inner Austria. After several Ottoman raids from 1473 onwards, the rural population established a peasants' association that was an effort to take the defence of the farmers' homes into their own hands and was also aimed against the ruling nobility that had failed to protect the farmers from attacks by marauding Turkish akinji cavalry. The revolt was eventually suppressed.
Untersulmetingen Castle is a small castle-like renaissance structure in the village of Untersulmetingen, now part of the municipality of Laupheim, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Schloss Hundshaupten is a quadrangular castle in the village of Hundshaupten in the municipality of Egloffstein in the German county of Forchheim.
Arnoldstein Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Arnoldstein in Carinthia, Austria. Its church was dedicated to St George and first mentioned in historical records in 1316 - its choir, tower, west door and a few buttresses can still be seen. The monastery buildings from the Gothic and 17th century eras were arranged around the church in an oval.