332 



FUGER FUGGER FAMILY. 



Louis XIII., and the minority of his successor, and, 

 in 1 643, sent Fuentes, then at the age of eighty-two, 

 with an army, into Champagne. He laid siege to 

 Rocroy ; but the young and brave duke d'Enghien 

 (afterwards the great Conde) attacked the besiegers, 

 May 19, 1643, with inferior forces, and fell, with his 

 cavalry, upon the Spanish infantry, so renowned 

 from the time of Charles V., and till then considered 

 invincible, and destroyed nearly the whole army. 

 Fuentes, severely afflicted with the gout, caused him- 

 self to be carried, in a chair, into the midst of the 

 fight, and there fell. 



FUGER, FREDERIC HENRY, director of the imperial 

 picture-gallery in Belvidere, at Vienna, court painter, 

 professor, and member of the imperial academy of 

 the fine arts, was born at Heilbronn. in 1751, where 

 his father was a clergyman. He was extremely fond 

 of drawing, even while at school, and, at the age of 

 eleven, he painted miniatures without assistance. The 

 sight of Audran's battle of Alexander, after Lebrun, 

 the lives of great artists, and his passion for historical 

 reading, determined him to paint historical subjects. 

 In 1774, he went to Vienna, and was sent as a pen- 

 sioner to Rome by the empress Maria Theresa. 

 After a diligent study of seven years in that place 

 (from 1775 to 1781), he went, in 1782, to Naples, 

 where the imperial ambassador, count von Lamberg, 

 received him for two years into his house, during 

 which time he had an opportunity of showing to the 

 world his extraordinary talents, by three large fresco 

 paintings in the hall of the German library of the 

 queen, at Caserta (although he had never attempted 

 Uiis style before), and by an excellent likeness of the 

 queen. He was, in 1784, appointed vice-director of 

 the school of painting and sculpture at Vienna. 

 Fuger here painted many portraits (including minia- 

 tures), and historical pieces. He has left, also, twenty 

 beautiful drawings with crayons and Indian ink, upon 

 blue paper. They were finished by the artist during 

 a long protracted illness. The subjects are from 

 Klopstock's Messiah. Some of them have been 

 engraved for the splendid new edition of this poem, 

 at Leipsic. Leybold has copied them on a larger 

 scale for Frauenholas's edition. One of the last and 

 most beautiful of Fuger's works is his John hi the 

 Wilderness, painted tor the imperial chapel, in 1804, 

 for which he received 1000 ducats. Fuger died at 

 Vienna, November 5, 1818. 



FUGGER FAMILY. The founder of this family 

 was John Fugger, a weaver in the village of Graben, 

 or Goggingen, not far from Augsburg. His eldest 

 son, John, likewise a weaver, obtained, by marriage, 

 the rights of a citizen of Augsburg, and carried on a 

 linen trade in that city, then an important commercial 

 place. He was one of the twelve weavers who sat 

 in the council, and was one of the Freischoffe of the 

 Westphalian Fern. He died in 1409. His eldest 

 son, Andrew, acquired such great wealth, that he was 

 called the rich Fugger. His line became extinct in 

 1583. John's second son, James, was the first 

 Fugger who owned a house in Augsburg. He was 

 also a weaver, but carried on a very extensive com- 

 merce. Three of his sons, Ulrich, George, and 

 James, extended their business, and laid the founda- 

 tion for the greatness of their family. They married 

 ladies of noble families, and were raised to the rank 

 of nobles by the emperor Maximilian. 



The Fuggers rendered great services to the house 

 of Austria, and Maximilian, who was often in want 

 of money, always found them ready to assist him. 

 For 70,000 gold florins, he pledged to them the county 

 of Kirchberg and the lordship of Weissenhorn for ten 

 years, and, on eight weeks' notice, they raised 170,000 

 ducats for the pope Julius II., who, in connexion 

 with the kings of France and Spain, was then assist- 



ing the emperor Maximilian to carry on war against 

 Venice. James attended to mining. He farmed the 

 mines of Schwatz in the Tyrol, and became immensely 

 rich. He built the magnificent castle of Fuggerau 

 in the Tyrol, and died in 1503. The emperor Maxi- 

 milian attended his funeral in person. The Fuggers 

 continued to work these mines, and others in Hun- 

 gary, Carniola, and Carinthta, and thus obtained 

 great riches. Their goods were sent to every co intry. 



The family rose to its highest splendour under the 

 emperor Charles V. Ulrich Fugger's sons had died 

 without heirs ; James had left no children, and thus 

 all the wealth and dignities of the whole family had 

 fallen to George, who had two sons, Raimond and 

 Antony. When the emperor Charles V. held the 

 memorable diet of Augsburg (1530), he lived for a 

 year and a day in Antony Fugger's splendid house 

 near the wine market. Antony had free access to 

 the proud Spaniard, since his family often supplied 

 the deficiencies of the imperial coffers, and the empe- 

 ror relied much upon their assistance, particularly at 

 the time of his expedition to Tunis (1535). The 

 emperor raised him and his brother Raimond to the 

 dignity of counts and bannerets. He also invested 

 them with the estates of Kirchberg and Weissenhorn, 

 which had been mortgaged to them, granted them a 

 seat among the counts at the imperial diet, and letters 

 giving them princely privileges. Hardly five years 

 after, he gave them the right of striking gold and 

 silver coins, which they exercised five times (1621, 

 1622, 1623, 1624, and 1694). This Antony left at 

 his death 6,000,000 gold crowns, besides jewels and 

 other valuable property, and possessions in all parts 

 of Europe and both Indies. It was of him that the 

 emperor Charles, when viewing the royal treasure 

 at Paris, exclaimed, " There is at Augsburg a linen 

 weaver, who could pay as much as this with his own 

 gold." 



" This noble family," says the Mirror of Honour, 

 " contained, in five branches (1619), forty-seven 

 counts and countesses, and, including the other mem- 

 bers, young and old, about as many persons as the 

 year lias days.'' Even while counts, they continued 

 their commerce; and their wealth became such, that, 

 in ninety-four years, they bought real estate to the 

 amount of 941,000 florins, and in 1762, owned two 

 counties, six lordships, and fifty-seven other estates, 

 besides their houses and lands in and around Augs- 

 burg. The first and highest places of the empire 

 were held by them, and several princely families 

 thought themselves honoured by their alliance. They 

 had collections of rich treasures of art, and rare books. 

 Painters and musicians were supported, and the arts 

 and sciences were liberally patronised by them. Thei r 

 houses and their gardens exhibited the masterpieces 

 of the architecture and taste of those times, and they 

 entertained their guests with regal magnificence. 

 When Charles V., after his campaign to Tunis, paid 

 a visit to count Antony, the latter kindled a fire ot 

 cinnamon wood, in his hall, with the emperor's bond, 

 given him for an immense sum. While we mention 

 the industry, the prudence, the honours, and the in- 

 fluence of the Fugger family, we must not forget their 

 benevolence, their charity, and their zeal to do good, 

 and to relieve the distressed and needy. We cannot 

 enumerate all the hospitals, schools, and charitable 

 institutions of every kind, which they founded. At the 

 reformation, the family took an active part in favour 

 of the Catholic religion, and contributed much to its 

 support. 



The family was divided into two lines, that ol 

 Raimond and that of Antony. Each one has been 

 subdivided into several branches, but they all style 

 themselves counts Fugger of Kirchberg and Weissenr 

 horn. The Kirchberg-Weissenhorn branch of the 



