Mayer amschel rothschild biography
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History
Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe is one of three philanthropic trusts established by the British arm of the Rothschild family.
The Rothschilds are a pan-European Jewish family, who take their name from the house of their 16th century ancestors, ‘zum roten Schild’ (at the sign of the red shield), in Frankfurt’s Jewish ghetto.
They went on to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful 19th century dynasties; bankers to monarchs and governments, builders of great houses and collectors of the finest art.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) came from a modest merchant family and established himself as a dealer in antique coins before becoming Court Agent to William, the future Elector of Hesse.
As the business expanded into trading government obligationer and textiles, Mayer Amschel drew his five sons into the business, the “five arrows” of the family crest, who went on to establish the family name in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna
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The founder of Rothschild’s dies in Frankfurt
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was born in the Jewish quarter of Frankfurt am Main in Germany in the 1740s. His ancestors had been in the city for at least two centuries and their surname came from the house where they lived and did business in the ghetto, at the sign of the red shield (zum roten schild). They dealt in cloth and other goods, and later also in money-changing. Mayer Amschel was about 12 when his father died in 1755 and he was sent as an apprentice to a Jewish firm in Hanover.
Returning to Frankfurt in 1764, he started dealing in rare coins and medals, moving on to antiques. This brought him in touch with rich patrons and in the 1790s he turned his operations into a banking business. His most notable patron was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, who made money from hiring out Hessian mercenaries. Mayer Amschel became the Landgrave’s financier and by 1800 he was one of the richest Jews in Frankfurt.
In 1770 Mayer Amschel had
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Amschel Mayer von Rothschild (1773-1855)
Amschel Mayer von Rothschild was the eldest of Mayer Amschel Rothschild's fem sons. He was born in the house of the Hinterpfann in Frankfurt on 12 June 1773. The most pious, cautious and conservative of his brothers, Amschel continued the family firm in Frankfurt after their father's death in 1812. He was fond of quoting the words of their father 'of blessed memory', to reinforce the brotherly ties which bound them tillsammans in business.
Amschel was taken into the family business aged about twelve, and was soon travelling on behalf of his father to other trading centres of Germany. He was in fact the first of the brothers to establish a business centre away from Frankfurt, but his stay in Cassel in 1805 proved only temporary. In 1814 Amschel spent an uncomfortable few months in Berlin, papper subsidy payments to Britain's allies during the Napoleonic wars, and was only too pleased to return to the orthodox surroundings of the Jude