the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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242<br />
THE WORLD OF PRIVAtE BANKING<br />
Emperors Ferdinand III (1637–57) and Leopold I (1658–1705). 21 Dickson thinks<br />
that <strong>the</strong> ‘permission given in 1653 and 1664 for Protestant widows to continue <strong>the</strong><br />
business <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir husbands in Vienna implies that toleration was <strong>of</strong> long standing.’ 22<br />
Protestant foreigners are found on <strong>the</strong> list <strong>of</strong> retailers all through <strong>the</strong> eighteenth<br />
century and on those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> college <strong>of</strong> wholesalers in 1774. The edict creating this<br />
institution in 1774 explicitly provided for <strong>the</strong> access <strong>of</strong> foreigners and Protestants.<br />
Among <strong>the</strong>m Steiner from Winterthur, Labhard, Ochs and Rieger from Basel,<br />
Fries from Mühlhausen, Paldinger from Ödenburg, Wiesenhütter from Frankfurt<br />
am Main and probably Castelmur from Graubünden can be definitely identified as<br />
foreign Protestants. Under Joseph II (1765–1790) and later, <strong>the</strong> Protestants Fries<br />
& Co. as well as Ochs & Geymuller were still <strong>the</strong> leading <strong>banking</strong> firms in Vienna,<br />
toge<strong>the</strong>r with Arnstein & Eskeles and Brentani Cimaroli.<br />
With regard to <strong>the</strong> ‘Wiesenhütter & Co.’ firm, which had been started at Vienna<br />
by Franz Wiesenhütter (1720–86), <strong>the</strong> eldest son <strong>of</strong> Johann Friedrich, a Protestant<br />
banker from Frankfurt am Main, one must underline that its head became a<br />
Catholic in 1743 and was made a Bohemian baron after his marriage with Maria<br />
Elisabeth, <strong>the</strong> daughter <strong>of</strong> Baron Bertenstein. He was prominent as a banker <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
court only for a few years. He rapidly got into an impossible financial situation and<br />
went bankrupt in 1746. 23<br />
The Steiners were known as <strong>the</strong> main merchants in <strong>the</strong> salt trade from Austria<br />
to South Germany and Switzerland in <strong>the</strong> seventeenth century. They were still<br />
known in Vienna throughout <strong>the</strong> early eighteenth century. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m entered in<br />
1768 into <strong>the</strong> group <strong>of</strong> privileged retailers. In <strong>the</strong> same year, he created toge<strong>the</strong>r<br />
with Johann Christian Schuster <strong>the</strong> ‘Melchior Steiner & Co.’ firm. This firm was<br />
not listed among <strong>the</strong> bankers <strong>of</strong> Vienna in 1774, but in 1779 actually raised an<br />
important war loan for <strong>the</strong> Austrian crown in Holland. And his nephew Melchior<br />
in 1816 became a director <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> National Bank. 24<br />
One <strong>of</strong> those who assumed a dominant role in government finance after 1750<br />
was Johann Fries (1719–85). This Swiss Protestant banker from Mühlhausen<br />
remained pre-eminent from his settlement in Vienna until his death. His strength<br />
derived partly from his excellent foreign connections, particularly a close<br />
relationship with bank houses in <strong>the</strong> Austrian Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands as well as with Dutch<br />
and Italian correspondents. Dickson describes <strong>the</strong> ‘Freiherr von Friess & Co.’ as<br />
responsible for a range and scale <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial finance and contracting unknown since<br />
<strong>the</strong> days <strong>of</strong> Samuel Oppenheimer in <strong>the</strong> late seventeenth century. Fries was <strong>the</strong><br />
eldest son <strong>of</strong> Philipp Jakob, who was in 1742–6 <strong>the</strong> town mayor <strong>of</strong> Mühlhausen.<br />
‘In 1744 Johann entered <strong>the</strong> “English commissariat” charged with supplying <strong>the</strong><br />
21<br />
For all details on <strong>the</strong> following developments at Vienna, see P.G.M. Dickson,<br />
Finance and Government under Maria Theresa 1740–1780, 2 vols (Oxford, 1987), for<br />
Toleration Patent, see especially vol. I, pp. 60–65.<br />
22<br />
Dickson, Finance, vol. I, p. 156.<br />
23<br />
Ibid., pp. 171–2.<br />
24<br />
Ibid., pp. 170–71.