Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Mayer Amschel Rothschild (23 February 1744 – 19 September 1812; also spelled Anschel) was a German-Jewish banker and the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty.[1] Referred to as a "founding father of international finance", Rothschild was ranked seventh on the Forbes magazine list of "The Twenty Most Influential Businessmen of All Time" in 2005.[2]
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
23 February 1744
19 September 1812 (aged 68)
- Schönche Jeannette Rothschild
- Amschel Mayer von Rothschild
- Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
- Nathan Mayer von Rothschild
- Isabella Rothschild
- Babette Rothschild
- Carl Mayer von Rothschild
- Julie Rothschild
- Henriette Rothschild
- James Mayer de Rothschild
- Amschel Moses Rothschild
- Schönche Lechenich
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$_$_$DEEZ_NUTS#0__call_to_action.textDEEZ_NUTS$_$_$Early life[edit]
Mayer[3] Amschel Rothschild was born in 1744 to an Ashkenazi Jewish family, in the Judengasse, the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany), one of eight children of Amschel Moses Rothschild (d. 1755) and his wife, Schönche Rothschild (née Lechnich; d. 1756).[4][5]
The ancestry of the Rothschilds can be traced back to 1569 to Izaak Elchanan Rothschild (Isaac (Isaak) Elchanan Bacharach, zum Hahn), whose name is derived from the German zum rothen Schild (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red shield", in reference to the house where the family lived for many generations (At the time, houses were designated by signs with different symbols or colors, not numbers).[6] His grandchildren and descendants took this name as the family name and kept it when they relocated in 1664 to another house in the Judengasse—Hinterpfann ("[house in] the back of the saucepan")[7] — which became the family's home and place of business through to the early 19th century.
Amschel's father had a business in goods-trading and currency exchange. He was a personal supplier of coins to the Prince of Hesse. The family home above the shop had a front wall 11 feet (3.4 m) wide, where more than 30 people lived at that time.
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Rothschild dynasty[edit]
In 1798, third-born son Nathan Mayer Rothschild was sent to England to further the family interests in textile importing with £20,000 capital (equivalent of £2.7 million in 2023)—the first foreign branch. Nathan became a naturalized citizen in 1804 and established a bank in the City of London. In 1810, Mayer entered into a formal partnership agreement with his three eldest sons, thus founding M. A. Rothschild & Söhne.
In 1811, the Grand Duke of Frankfurt enacted a special law "decreeing that all Jews living in Frankfurt, together with their descendants, should enjoy civil rights and privileges equally with other citizens."[12] In exchange for these newfound liberties the Jews had to pay him 440,000 florins, financed by Mayer Amschel Rothschild (at a substantial profit).[12] A number of Masonic Jews at the time also petitioned the Grand Duke for the "exclusive right to maintain lodges in the city", which was granted.[12]
The youngest son of Mayer Amschel, Jacob, was sent to Paris the same year, in 1811, enhancing the family's ability to operate across Europe. This enabled them to profit from the opportunity of financing Wellington's armies in Portugal, requiring the sourcing of large quantities of gold on behalf of the British government.
Rothschild died on 19 September 1812 in Frankfurt am Main. He was buried at the old Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt, located next to the Judengasse. His grave still exists. A park was named after him, and also a street (Rothschildallee). In 1817, he was posthumously ennobled by the emperor Francis I of Austria.[11]
His descendants furthered the family fortune across Europe—the "five arrows" of banking. Eldest son Amschel Mayer took over the Frankfurt bank and Salomon moved to Vienna. Nathan turned the London branch into one of Europe's most powerful banking institutions (N. M. Rothschild & Sons), Calmann (gentrified to "Carl") set up a branch in Naples and Jacob ("James") opened de Rothschild Frères, becoming a giant of finance in Paris.
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