Andreas Fugger

Andreas Fugger (* 1394 in Augsburg ; † 1457 in Augsburg), known as “the rich”, was the eldest son of Hans Fugger († 1408/09) and Elisabeth Gfattermann († 1436). He is considered the progenitor of the Fugger vom Reh .

Together with his brothers Jakob and Michael , he took over his father's cloth-making business after the death of his father. He managed to establish contacts in Venice and there learned double-entry bookkeeping . Through the influence and knowledge he gained in this way, he managed to expand the brothers' cloth making business into a wholesale business. He was a member of the weavers' guild and also a goldsmith. In 1454 he left the family business and left the sole management to his brother Jakob.

In 1431 he married Barbara Stammler vom Ast (1415–1476), a patrician daughter (father: the merchant Ulrich Stammler vom Ast, mother: Magaretha) and founded the line of Fugger vom Reh. Andreas Fugger vom Reh had a total of four sons and five daughters. He was an extremely successful businessman and businessman who rose quickly in the society of the time and came to office and dignity. He sat on the council of the city of Augsburg and had a great influence. His sons Jakob (* 1430), Lukas (* 1439), Matthäus (* 1442) and Hans (* 1443) received the first Fugger coat of arms, a golden jumping deer, from Emperor Friedrich in 1462 due to their father's business ability and good business connections to the ruling house of Habsburg blue background, hence the name Fugger vom Reh.

With Andreas Fugger, the Fuggers went from craftsmen to merchants. Business success quickly set in, and Andreas' power and influence grew steadily. Soon he was called "Andreas the Rich", a title that only Jakob Fugger from the other Fugger line received after him. If Andreas, who died of the plague in 1457 , was still a very successful businessman with a high reputation in Augsburg and far beyond, the decline of the Fugger vom Reh line began in the next generation.

literature

• Martha Schad : The women of the Fugger family. 5th edition. Piper, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-492-23818-2
• Bavarian State Library Munich: The Fuggers in the picture. Self-portrait of a family dynasty of the Renaissance , exhibition catalog; Quaternio Verlag, Lucerne 2010 ISBN 978-3-88008-003-4
• Johannes Burkhardt : Das Ehrenbuch der Fugger , facsimile, transcription and commentary, 2 volumes, Wißner Verlag, Augsburg 2004 ISBN 978-3-89639-445-3
• Marianne Fugger u. Markus Fugger: Genealogy of the house of Fugger vom Reh - family tables and biographical explanations , Wißner Verlag, Augsburg 2007 ISBN 978-3-89639-631-0
• Martin Kluger : The Fugger. The German Medici in and around Augsburg , Context Verlag, Augsburg 2009 ISBN 978-3-939645-13-9