Fugger, a remarkable Swabian family, which rising by industry and commerce founded lines of counts and even princes. The ancestor of the family was John Fugger, master-weaver, born in 1348 at Graben, near Augsburg. His eldest son, John Fugger, acquired by marriage, in 1370, the freedom of Angsburg; he died in 1409. But the real founder of the house was John's second son, Jacob Fugger, who died in 1469, and was the first of the Fuggers that had a house in Augsburg, and carried on an already extensive commerce. Of his seven sons, three, Ulrich, George, and Jacob II., by means of industry, ability, and integrity, extended their business to an extraordinary degree, and laid the foundation for the palmy days of the family. They married into the noblest houses, and were raised by the Emperor Maximilian to the rank of nobles. The emperor mortgaged to them, for 10,000 gold guildens, the county of Kirchberg and the lordship of Weissenhorn. Ulrich Fugger (1441-1510) devoted himself specially to commerce with Austria. Jacob Fugger (1459-1525) farmed the mines in Tyrol, accumulating immense wealth; he lent enormous sums to various potentates, and built the magnificent castle of Fuggerau, in Tyrol.
But it was under Charles V. that the house attained its greatest splendour. Jacob having died childless, and the family of Ulrich being also extinct, the fortunes and splendour of the house rested on the sons of George Fugger, who died in 1506. His two younger sons, Raimund and Antony, carried on the business, and became the founders of the two chief and still flourishing lines of the house of Fugger. The two brothers were zealous Catholics, and with their wealth supported Eck in his opposition to Luther. During the diet held by Charles V. at Augsburg in 1530 the emperor lived in Antony Fugger's splendid house in the Wine Market. On this occasion he raised both brothers to the rank of counts, and invested them with the still mortgaged properties of Kirchberg and Weissenhorn; and a letter under the imperial seal conferred on them the rights of princes. The Emperor Ferdinand II. raised the splendour of the house of Fugger still higher by conferring great additional privileges on the two oldest of the family, Counts John and Jerome. The Fuggers continued still as nobles to carry on their commerce, and further increased their immense wealth. They attained the highest posts in the empire, and several princely houses prided themselves on their alliance with the house of Fugger. They possessed the most extensive libraries and art collections, maintained painters and musicians, and liberally encouraged art and science. Their houses and gardens were masterpieces of the architecture and taste of the times. While thus indulging in splendour, they were not less bent on doing good. Jacob (the second of the name) bought houses in one of the suburbs of Augsburg, pulled them down, and built 108 smaller houses (called the 'Fuggerei'), which he let to poor citizens at a low rent. The race is still continued in the two principal lines of Raimund and Antony, besides collateral branches. The domains are chiefly in Bavaria. See Kleinschmidt, Augsburg, Nürnberg, und ihre Handelsfürsten (1881).