Carl Mayer von Rothschild
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
banker in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the founder of the Rothschild banking family of Naples
Rothschild banking family of Naples
The Rothschild banking family of Naples was founded by Calmann Mayer von Rothschild who was sent to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1821 by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild...
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Born Kalman Mayer Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main, he was the fourth of the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was the founder of the Rothschild family international banking dynasty that became the most successful business family in history. In 2005, he was ranked 7th on the Forbes magazine list of "The Twenty Most Influential Businessmen Of All Time"...
(1743-1812) and Gutlé Schnapper (1753-1849). He would become known as "Carl" by the family except for his English relatives
Rothschild banking family of England
The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer von Rothschild who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London. Nathan was sent there from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild...
who translated it as "Charles". Raised in an increasingly prosperous family, he was trained in his father's banking business and lived at home until age twenty-nine when he acquired a modest residence at 33 Neue Mainzer Strasse in Frankfurt am Main in preparation for his marriage on September 16, 1818 to Adelheid Herz (1800-1853). They would have the following children:
- CharlotteCharlotte von RothschildCharlotte von Rothschild was a German-born British socialite. She was a member of the Rothschild banking family of Naples, but was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany....
(1819-1884) married Lionel de RothschildLionel de RothschildBaron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild was a British banker and politician.-Biography:The son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Hanna Barent Cohen, he was a member of the prominent Rothschild family.... - Mayer Carl (1820-1886)
- Adolf Carl (1823-1900)
- Wilhelm Carl (1828-1901)
- Anselm Alexander Carl (1835-1854)
Wanting to expand the family business across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the eldest Rothschild son Amschel remained in Frankfurt, while each of the other sons were sent to different European cities to establish a banking branch. The 1821 occupation of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
by the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n army provided the opportunity for the Rothschilds to set up business in the Kingdom. As such, Carl Rothschild was sent to Naples where he established C M de Rothschild & Figli to operate as a satellite office to the Rothschild banking family of Germany headquarters in Frankfurt am Main.
Carl Rothschild has sometimes been seen as the least gifted of the five brothers. However, he proved himself in Naples as a strong financial manager and someone very capable at developing all-important business connections. He established a good working relationship with Luigi de' Medici
Luigi de' Medici
Luigi de' Medici was an Italian jurist, politician and prime minister of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies....
, the "Direttore della Segreteria di Azienda del Regno di Napoli" (Finance Minister), and his operation became the dominant banking house in Naples. As a result of Carl's success, the Rothschilds had a substantial banking presence in England and three other major European capitals, giving the family considerable influence and an advantage over their competitors.
In 1822, Carl Rothschild and his four brothers were each granted the title of baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
, or Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
, by Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
's Francis I
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
. During the winter of 1826, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg
Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
, future King of the Belgians was a guest of Carl von Rothschild at his villa in Naples. In 1829, Carl was appointed consul-general of Sicily at Frankfurt and in January 1832 the Jewish banker was given a ribbon and star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George is a Roman Catholic order of chivalry. It was fictively established by Constantine the Great, though in reality it was founded between 1520 and 1545 by two brothers of the Angeli Comneni family. Members of the Angeli Comneni family remained...
at a ceremony with the new Roman Catholic Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846...
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Carl von Rothschild maintained homes in Frankfurt am Main and in Naples. In 1837 he built the Villa Günthersburg on a large country property outside Frankfurt am Main owned by his father at what is now Günthersburg Park. In 1841, he bought the Villa Pignatelli
Villa Pignatelli
The Villa Pignatelli is a museum in Naples in southern Italy.The villa is perhaps the most striking building along the Riviera di Chiaia, the road bounding the north side of the Villa Comunale on the sea front between Mergellina and Piazza Vittoria. It was built at the behest of Ferdinand Acton in...
at San Giorgio a Cremano
San Giorgio a Cremano
San Giorgio a Cremano is a primarily residential town and comune in the province of Naples, in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is located on the foothills of Mount Vesuvius to the west of the volcano, and is six kilometres to the south east of the centre of Naples...
with a spectacular view of Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting...
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Two years after his wife Adelheid died in 1853 and one year after their son Anselm Alexander Carl died at the age of eighteen, Carl von Rothschild died in Naples. One seventh of his estate went to his daughter Charlotte with the rest divided equally between his three surviving sons. Adolf Carl took over the business in Naples from his father and Mayer Carl and Wilhelm Carl succeeded their childless uncle Amschel in Frankfurt.