Editing Rothschild family (section)

==Overview==
[[File:Mayer Amschel Rothschild.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mayer Amschel Rothschild]], founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty.]]
The first member of the family who was known to use the name "Rothschild" was Isaak Elchanan Rothschild, born in 1577. The name is derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "at the red shield", in reference to the house where the family lived for many generations (in those days, houses were designated not by numbers, but by signs displaying different symbols or colours). A red shield can still be seen at the centre of the Rothschild coat of arms. The family's ascent to international prominence began in 1744, with the birth of [[Mayer Amschel Rothschild]] in [[Frankfurt am Main]], Germany. He was the son of [[Amschel Moses Rothschild]] (born circa 1710),<ref>{{NDB|22|131|133|Rothschild, Mayer Amschel|Pohl, Manfred}}</ref> a [[money changer]] who had traded with the [[House of Hesse|Prince of Hesse]]. Born in the "[[Frankfurter Judengasse|Judengasse]]", the [[ghetto]] of [[Frankfurt]], Mayer developed a finance house and spread his empire by installing each of his five sons in the five main European financial centres to conduct business. The Rothschild coat of arms contains a clenched fist with five arrows symbolising the five dynasties established by the five sons of Mayer Rothschild, in a reference to [[Psalms|Psalm]] 127: "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth." The family motto appears below the shield: ''Concordia, Integritas, Industria'' (Unity, Integrity, Industry).<ref>{{cite web
  | url         = http://www.lcf-rothschild.com/en/groupe/rothschild/concordia.asp
  | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071024114837/http://www.lcf-rothschild.com/en/groupe/rothschild/concordia.asp
  | archive-date = 24 October 2007
| title       = Concordia, Integritas, Industria – The Rothschilds – LCF Rothschild Group
  | publisher   = Lcf-rothschild.com
  | access-date  = 8 July 2010
}}</ref>

[[File:Haus der Rotschilds in der frankfurter Judengasse.jpg|thumb|House of the Rothschild family, Judengasse, Frankfurt]]
[[File:GuentherZ 0028 Wien04 Palais Freiherr Albert von Rothschild Heugasse26 Gartenseite.jpg|thumb|[[Palais Albert Rothschild|Palace of Baron Albert von Rothschild]] (photo 1884)]]

[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]] writes "[T]he Rothschilds are elusive. There is no book about them that is both revealing and accurate. Libraries of nonsense have been written about them... A woman who planned to write a book entitled ''Lies about the Rothschilds'' abandoned it, saying: 'It was relatively easy to spot the lies, but it proved impossible to find out the truth.'" Johnson writes that, unlike the [[court Jew|court factor]]s of earlier centuries, who had financed and managed European noble houses, but often lost their wealth through violence or expropriation, the new kind of international bank created by the Rothschilds was impervious to local attacks. Their assets were held in financial instruments, circulating through the world as stocks, bonds and debts. Changes made by the Rothschilds allowed them to insulate their property from local violence: "Henceforth their real wealth was beyond the reach of the mob, almost beyond the reach of greedy monarchs."<ref>Paul Johnson, ''A History of the Jews'', p.317.</ref> Johnson argued that their fortune was generated to the greatest extent by [[Nathan Mayer Rothschild]] in London; however, more recent research by [[Niall Ferguson]] indicates that greater and equal profits also were realised by the other Rothschild dynasties, including [[James Mayer de Rothschild]] in Paris, [[Carl Mayer von Rothschild]] in Naples and [[Amschel Mayer Rothschild]] in Frankfurt.<ref>''The House of Rothschild (Vol. 2): The World's Banker: 1849–1999'', Niall Ferguson (2000)</ref>

Another essential part of Mayer Rothschild's strategy for success was to keep control of their banks in family hands, allowing them to maintain full secrecy about the size of their fortunes. In about 1906, the [[Jewish Encyclopedia]] noted: "The practice initiated by the Rothschilds of having several brothers of a firm establish branches in the different financial centres was followed by other Jewish financiers, like the [[Bischoffsheim family|Bischoffsheims]], [[Péreire brothers|Pereires]], [[Joseph Seligman|Seligmans]], [[Lazard]]s and others, and these financiers by their integrity and financial skill obtained credit not alone with their Jewish confrères, but with the banking fraternity in general. By this means, Jewish financiers obtained an increasing share of international finance during the middle and last quarter of the 19th century. The head of the whole group was the Rothschild family..." It also says: "Of more recent years, non-Jewish financiers have learned the same cosmopolitan method, and, on the whole, the control is now rather less than more in Jewish hands than formerly."<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia'' c. 1906 [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=F&search=Finance Finance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628183430/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=F&search=Finance |date=28 June 2011 }}</ref>
Mayer Rothschild successfully kept the fortune in the family with carefully [[arranged marriage]]s, often between first- or second-[[cousin marriage|cousins]] (similar to [[royal intermarriage]]). By the late 19th century, however, almost all Rothschilds had started to marry outside the family, usually into the aristocracy or other financial dynasties.<ref name="Go Ahead, Kiss Your Cousin">[http://discovermagazine.com/2003/aug/featkiss Go Ahead, Kiss Your Cousin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215173304/http://discovermagazine.com/2003/aug/featkiss |date=15 December 2017 }} by Richard Conniff, From the August 2003 issue, published online 1 August 2003</ref>
His sons were:
* [[Amschel Mayer Rothschild]] (1773–1855): [[Frankfurt]], died childless so his fortune passed to the sons of Salomon and Kalman
* [[Salomon Mayer von Rothschild|Salomon Mayer Rothschild]] (1774–1855): [[Vienna]]
* [[Nathan Mayer Rothschild]] (1777–1836): London
* [[Carl Mayer von Rothschild|Kalman Mayer Rothschild]] (1788–1855): [[Naples]]
* [[James Mayer de Rothschild|Jakob Mayer Rothschild]] (1792–1868): Paris

The German family name "Rothschild" is pronounced {{IPA|de|ˈʁoːt.ʃɪlt|}} in German, unlike {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɒ|θ|(|s|)|tʃ|aɪ|l|d}} in English. The surname "Rothschild" is rare in Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/rothschild.html |title=''Rothschild'' |publisher=Verwandt.de |access-date=29 April 2019 |archive-date=6 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506032543/http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/rothschild.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

'''Families by country:'''
* [[Rothschild banking family of Austria]]
* [[Rothschild banking family of England]]
* [[Rothschild banking family of Naples]]
* [[Rothschild banking family of France]]

The five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild were elevated to the [[Austrian nobility]] by Emperor [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis I of Austria]], and they were all granted the Austrian hereditary title of ''[[Freiherr]]'' ([[baron]]) on 29 September 1822.<ref name="Wurzbach1874" /> The [[Rothschild banking family of England|British branch of the family]] was elevated by [[Queen Victoria]], who granted the hereditary title of [[baronet]] (1847)<ref>''The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage and Baronetage'', By Edmund Lodge, Hurst and Blackett, 1859, page 808</ref> and later the [[hereditary peer]]age title of [[Baron Rothschild]] (1885).<ref name="ReferenceB">{{London Gazette |issue=25486 |date=3 July 1885 |page=3060}}</ref>