Articoli Finance, Industry and Globalisation in the Early Modern Period: the Example of the Metallic Business of the House of Fugger JEANNETTE GRAULAU In the early XX th century the German economic historian Richard Ehrenberg wrote a monumental history of the Fugger family of Augsburg and what he called «the age of the Fugger» 1 . Other stud- ies appeared to shed light on the Fugger banking activities with the Spanish and Portuguese empires, the role of the Fugger in the spice trade of Lisbon and Antwerp, and their importance in the history of banking in Europe 2 . This literature establishes a connection between 1 jRICHARD EHRENBERG, Capital & Finance in the Age of the Fugger. A Study of the Fugger and their Connections, New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1923. It is still today the most influential work in the English language about the Fugger. Ehrenberg’s work draws upon primary and secondary sources and in- cludes the works of GÖTZ FREIHERR VON PÖLTNIZ, Jakob Fugger, Vol. I Kaiser, Kirche, und Kapital im oberdeutschen Renaissance, Vol. II Quellen und Er- läuterungen, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1949 & 1952. Von Pölnitz wrote other im- portant books about the Fugger: ID., Anton Fugger, Vol. I 1453-1535, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1958, and Fugger und Hanse: Ein hundertjähriges Ringen um Ost- see und Nordsee, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1953); ID., Die Fugger, Frankfurt am Main, Heinrich Scheffler, 1960. For a general introduction to the life of Jacob Fug- ger, see JACOB STRIEDER, Jacob Fugger The Rich Merchant and Banker of Augs- burg, 1459-1525, Archon Books, 1966. Works on the life of Jacob Fugger in the English language also include the following: JOHN T. FLYNN, Men of Wealth: The Story of Twelve Significant Fortunes From the Renaissance to the Present Day, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1941; and FRANZ HERRE, The Age of the Fugger, Augsburg, 1985. 2 jCARLOS ÁLVAREZ NOGAL, Los Banqueros de Felipe IV y los Metales Preciosos Americanos, Madrid, Imprenta del Banco de España, 1997; ANTONIO DOMÍNGUEZ ORTÍZ, Política y Hacienda de Felipe IV, Madrid, Editorial de Derecho Financiero, 1960; RAMÓN CARANDE, Carlos V y sus Banqueros, Madrid, Revista de Occidente, 1945; HERMAN KELLENBENZ, Los Fugger en España y Portugal hasta 1560, Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 2000; “The Gold Mining 554 RSPI - N° 300, 4/2008