10 Richest People Who Ever Lived

3. Jakob Fugger - £197bn ($297bn)

Jakob Fugger is one of the most successful bankers in history - with the German creating a European-wide trade empire to which he added extensive real estate, merchant fleets and a huge portfolio of grand palaces. So wealthy he was known as "Jakob Fugger the Rich", the German lived in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg between 1459 and 1525. Fugger led a consortium of German and Italian businessmen who loaned Charles V significant funds in order to secure his election as Holy Roman Emperor - and in return the banker received a noble rank and sovereign rights over lands. Charles V was just one of several European leaders to who Fugger lent money - and at extortionate rates too. What other way do you get rich?

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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.