The Fugger Newsletters

The merchant family of the Fuggers lived in Augsburg and were one of the riches families in Europe in the 16th century. They had representatives and associates all over Europe. From these they would receive letters describing local conditions and events--anything the correspondent thought might be of relevance to the family's mercantile interests.

These were collected in Augsburg. Over the years, other odd documents also found their way into the collection, so that while it's known as "the Fugger newsletters" in fact it's a somewhat eclectic collection. It's a huge collection, thousands of manuscripts, even though the earliest one is 1568 and the latest is 1604, and has never been published in its entirety.

The family fell on hard times in the 17th century and sold the entire collection to Emperor Ferdinand III in 1655. They were first edited in 1735. A goodly collection was published in English in 1926, translated by L.S.R. Byrne. A smaller, more modern version was edited by George T. Matthews in 1959 and it is from this edition that these examples are drawn. The student intrigued by these sources is encouraged to read either the Byrne or the Matthews collection.