ROTHSCHILD FAMILY

most famous of all European banking dynasties, which for some 200 years exerted great influence on the economic and, indirectly, the political history of Europe. The house was founded by Mayer Amschel Rothschild born Feb. 23, 1744, Frankfurt am Main died Sept. 19, 1812, Frankfurt) and his five sons, Amschel Mayer (b. June 12, 1773, Frankfurtd. Dec. 6, 1855, Frankfurt Salomon Mayer (b. Sept. 9, 1774d. July 27, 1855, Vienna), Nathan Mayer (b. Sept. 16, 1777d. July 28, 1836, Frankfurt), Karl Mayer (b. April 24, 1788d. March 10, 1855, Naples), and Jakob, or James (b. May 15, 1792d. Nov. 15, 1868, Paris). Starting out in a Frankfurt banking house, Mayer and his sons became international bankers, establishing branches in London, Paris, Vienna, and Naples by the 1820s. Additional reading Jules Ayer, A Century of Finance: 1804 to 1904 (1905), a brief, official work; Christian W. Berghoeffer, Meyer Amschel Rothschild der Grnder des Rothschildschen Bankhauses (1922), a very good study on the founder of the house; Jean Bouvier, Les Rothschild, new ed. (1967), portrays the Rothschilds' history up to the present time; Egon C. Corti, La Maison Rothschild, 2 vol. (1931), an excellent study of the Rothschilds in the middle of the 19th century; Bertrand Gille, Histoire de la maison Rothschild, 2 vol. (196567), an exhaustive work on the French house that makes use of the firm's records; Frederick Morton, The Rothschilds (1962), a brief, lively history.