Anselm Salomon von Rothschild, baron (29 January 1803 – 27 July 1874) was an Austrian banker, founder of the

Creditanstalt The Creditanstalt (sometimes Credit-Anstalt, abbreviated as CA), full original name k. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe (), was a major Austrian bank, founded in 1855 in Vienna. From its founding until 1931, th ...

, and a member of the Vienna branch of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Fr ...

Family

He was born in the

Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, the son of ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...

Salomon Mayer von Rothschild Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (9 September 1774 – 28 July 1855) was a German-born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Austrian branch of the prominent Mayer Amschel Rothschild family. Family He was born at Frankfurt am Mai ...

(1774–1855), ancestor of the family's Austrian branch, and his wife Caroline Stern (1782–1854). He had a younger sister Betty (1805–1874), who married her French uncle

James Mayer de Rothschild James Mayer de Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild (born Jakob Mayer Rothschild; 15 May 1792 – 15 November 1868) was a German-French banker and the founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family. Early life James de Rothschild was born ...

. According to the testament left by progenitor

Mayer Amschel Rothschild Mayer Amschel Rothschild (23 February 1744 – 19 September 1812; also spelled ''Anschel'') was a German-Jewish banker and the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty. Referred to as a "founding father of international finance", Rothschild ...

, the children of the Rothschild family were obliged to enter into matrimony with their first and second cousins. Anselm Salomon did so in 1826 by marrying Charlotte Nathan Rothschild (1807–1859), daughter of his uncle

Nathan Mayer Rothschild Nathan Mayer Rothschild (16 September 1777 – 28 July 1836) was an English-German banker, businessman and financier. Born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, he was the third of the five sons of Gutle (Schnapper) and Mayer Amschel Rothschild, a ...

(1777–1836) from the British branch of the family; together they had eight children: * Mayer Anselm Leon (1827–1828) * Caroline Julie Anselm (1830–1907), "Julie", married Adolph Carl von Rothschild (1823–1900), son of

Carl Mayer von Rothschild Carl Mayer ''Freiherr'' von Rothschild (24 April 1788 – 10 March 1855) was a German-born banker in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the founder of the Rothschild banking family of Naples. Biography Born Kalman Mayer Rothschild in Frankfu ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, lived at Rothschild Castle in

Pregny-Chambésy Pregny-Chambésy is a commune in the canton of Geneva in Switzerland. It is located directly north of the city of Geneva, on the south-western shore of Lake Geneva. A number of foreign permanent missions are located in Pregny-Chambésy due to i ...

near

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

Mathilde Hannah von Rothschild Hannah Mathilde von Rothschild (5 March 1832 – 8 March 1924) was a German-Jewish baroness, composer and patron. Life and career Mathilde von Rothschild was born in Frankfurt, the second oldest daughter of Charlotte and Anselm von Rothschild, a ...

(1832–1924), married ''Freiherr''

Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild Baron Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild (Hebrew: שמעון וואלף רוטשילט; May 16, 1828 – 25 January 1901) was a banker and financier of the Frankfurt House of Rothschild. Life and career Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild was the son of Baro ...

(1828–1901), banker at Frankfurt * Sarah Luisa (1834–1924), married Baron

Raimondo Franchetti Baron Raimondo Franchetti has been the name of more than one Italian Baron, of the noble Franchetti family. The Franchettis were an Italian Jewish family who, from the 18th century onwards, were one of the wealthiest families in the Mediterranean. ...

(1829–1905), lived at

Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti is a palace in Venice, Italy, not far from the Ponte dell'Accademia and next to the Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal of Venice. Since 1999 it has been the seat of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti and ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

* Nathaniel Anselm (1836–1905), maecenas at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

* Ferdinand James (1839–1898), moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, had

Waddesdon Manor Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation ...

built from 1874 * Albert Salomon (1844–1911), took over the running of the family's Viennese bank * Alice Charlotte (1847–1922), lived at

Eythrope Eythrope (previously Ethorp) is a hamlet and country house in the parish of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located to the south east of the main village of Waddesdon. It was bought in the 1870s by a branch of the Rothschild fa ...

, UK, near her brother Ferdinand, from whom she inherited Waddeson Manor, and later moved to

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the c ...

, France.

Life

In 1820 Anselm Salomon's father Salomon Mayer had established a bank company at Vienna, financing the building of the Austrian

Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway The Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway (german: Kaiser Ferdinands-Nordbahn; cs, Severní dráha císaře Ferdinanda; pl, Kolej Północna Cesarza Ferdynanda) was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austrian Empire. Its m ...

in the 1830s. He had been a confidant of Chancellor Prince

Klemens von Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...

and also a discreet lender of the

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

and Hungarian nobility. Upon his death in 1855, his son and heir Anselm created the '' k.k. privilegierte Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe'', which evolved to the largest bank of the

Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Anselm himself gradually retired from the banking business in the 1860s and participated in the

Austrian Southern Railway The Austrian Southern Railway (german: link=no, Österreichische Südbahn) is a long double track railway, which linked the capital Vienna with Trieste, former main seaport of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, by railway for the first time. It no ...

company. He rejected the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

of 1866 and refused to accommodate any side with money. As a philanthropist, he founded the Vienna Rothschild Hospital in 1869. He was also a prominent art collector,

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

, and an appointed member of the Austrian

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

from 1861. He died in Vienna. He began the art collection that his son Ferdinand bequeathed in 1898 to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

as the Waddesdon Bequest, collecting mostly metalwork, especially of the Northern Renaissance. The Holy Thorn Reliquary was one of his purchases. His collection was catalogued and partly photographed by the art historian Franz Schestag in 1866 and 1872.F. Schestag, ''Katalog der Kunstsammlung des Freiherrn Anselm von Rothschild in Wien'' (Vienna, 1866 & 1872) Waddesdon Manor, acc. no. 167 Retrieved 11 January 2016
/ref>

References

Sources

* ''The Rothschilds; a Family Portrait'' by

Frederic Morton Frederic Morton (October 5, 1924 – April 20, 2015) was an Austrian-born American writer. Life Born Fritz Mandelbaum in Vienna, Morton was the son of a blacksmith who specialized in forging (manufacturing) imperial medals. In the wake of the ...

Atheneum Publishers Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since its acquisition of Macmillan in 1994 and it created Athen ...

(1962) (1998 reprint) * ''The Rothschilds, a Family of Fortune'' by

Virginia Cowles (Harriet) Virginia Spencer Cowles OBE (August 24, 1910 – September 17, 1983) was an American journalist, biographer, and travel writer. During her long career, Cowles went from covering fashion, to covering the Spanish Civil War, the turbule ...

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

(1973) * ''Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty'' by Derek Wilson. Scribner, London (1988) * ''House of Rothschild : Money's Prophets: 1798-1848'' by

Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

(1998) * ''The House of Rothschild (vol. 2) : The World's Banker: 1849-1999'' by Niall Ferguson. Diane Publishing Co. (1999) * Thornton, Dora (2015), ''A Rothschild Renaissance: The Waddesdon Bequest'', 2015, British Museum Press,

External links

*
The Rothschild Archive
- an international center in London for research into the history of the

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Anselm von 1803 births 1874 deaths 19th-century Austrian businesspeople Austrian bankers Philanthropists from Vienna Jewish philanthropists Austrian Jews Anselm Austrian art collectors