Welser

This article is about the merchant family of Augsburg. For other persons with the name, see Welser (surname).

Bartholomeus Welser, engraving by Georg Christoph Eimmart

Welser is the surname of an important German banking and merchant family, originally from Augsburg. Along with the Fugger family, the Welser family controlled various sectors of the European economy, and accumulated enormous wealth through trade and the German colonization of the Americas.

Lineage

The history of the family can he traced back to the 13th century. Later its members became widely known as prominent merchants. In the 15th and 16th centuries, branches of the family settled at Nuremberg and in Austria, respectively.

Members

Philippine Welser, portrait at Castle Ambras

Bartholomäus Welser lent the Emperor Charles V a great sum of money for which in 1528 he received as security the Province of Venezuela, but in consequence of their rapacious acts the Welsers were deprived of their rule before the Emperor's reign was over. Bartholomäus's niece, Philippine (1527-80), daughter of Franz Welser, renowned for her learning and beauty, secretly married the Archduke Ferdinand, second son of the Emperor Ferdinand I. Her children were debarred from inheriting their father's rank, but one of them became a cardinal and the other distinguished himself as a soldier and was created Margrave of Burgau. Another member of the Welser family, Markus (1558-1614), became famous for his learning.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Welser". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 

http://countrystudies.us/venezuela/2.htm