Editing Augsburg (section)

===Leading European centre of capitalism of the sixteenth century===
[[File:Seld Joerg Vogelschauplan von Westen Augsburg.jpeg|thumb|left|upright=1.8|A "bird’s-eye view" plan of western Augsburg, 1521]]
Augsburg's economic boom years occurred during the 15th and 16th centuries thanks to the [[bank]] and [[metal]] businesses of the merchant families [[Fugger]], [[Welser]] and [[Hochstetter family|Hochstetter]]. These families held a near total monopoly in important industries. Monopolies were considered criminal in contemporary laws and these families' practices were criticised by [[Martin Luther]] himself, but as [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles V]] needed their financial assistance, he cancelled the charge in the 1530s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Luther |first1=Martin |title=On Commerce and Usury (1524) |date=15 September 2015 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-1-78308-387-9 |page=146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvs1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |access-date=7 August 2022 |language=en |archive-date=15 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315175247/https://books.google.com/books?id=rvs1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=studio |first1=Istituto internazionale di storia economica F. Datini Settimana di |title=Poteri economici e poteri politici secc. XIII-XVIII: atti della "trentesima Settimana di studi," 27 aprile-1 maggio 1998 |date=1999 |publisher=Le Monnier |isbn=978-88-00-72230-8 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UGLAAAAIAAJ |access-date=7 August 2022 |language=en |archive-date=15 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315175314/https://books.google.com/books?id=0UGLAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In the 16th century Augsburg became one of Germany's largest cities. Augsburg was a major [[manufacturing]] centre for [[textile]]s, [[armor]], [[scientific instrument]]s, as well as gold- and silver-smithing. The prolific [[Printing press|printer]]s of Augsburg also made the city the largest producer of German-language [[books]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Like other [[free imperial cities]], Augsburg was an independent entity, and had authority over its [[tax]] policies.<ref>{{cite book |first1=B. Ann |last1=Tlusty |year=2012 |title=Augsburg During the Reformation Era: An Anthology of Sources |pages=xviii |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company |isbn=9781603849203}}</ref>

Augsburg's wealth attracted artists seeking [[patron]]s. The city rapidly became a creative centre for [[sculptor]]s and [[musician]]s. Augsburg became the base of the Holbein family, starting with [[Hans Holbein the Elder]]. The composer [[Leopold Mozart]] was born and educated in Augsburg.<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/leopold-mozart-mn0001498289/biography |publisher=allmusic.com |title=Leopold Mozart: Biography & History |access-date=24 February 2017 |archive-date=9 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709062915/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/leopold-mozart-mn0001498289/biography |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Rococo]] became so prevalent that it became known as "Augsburg style" throughout Germany.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Augsburg benefitted majorly from the establishment and expansion of the [[Kaiserliche Reichspost]] in the late 15th and early 16th century. This postal system, which was the first modern postal service in the world, was created through negotiations and agreements between the Taxis family represented by {{ill|Franz von Taxis|de}} and the early Habsburgs monarches, notably [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], his son [[Philip I, King of Castile|Philip the Handsome]] and grandson Charles V.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Metzig |first1=Gregor |title=Kommunikation und Konfrontation: Diplomatie und Gesandtschaftswesen Kaiser Maximilians I. (1486–1519) |date=21 November 2016 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-045673-8 |pages=98, 99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiyXDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |access-date=7 February 2022 |language=de |archive-date=2 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702124455/https://books.google.com/books?id=MiyXDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Meinel |first1=Christoph |last2=Sack |first2=Harald |title=Digital Communication: Communication, Multimedia, Security |date=2014 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9783642543319 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5O25BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |access-date=20 September 2021 |archive-date=26 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926235052/https://books.google.com/books?id=5O25BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |url-status=live }}</ref> Even when the Habsburg empire began to extend to other parts of Europe, Maximilian's loyalty to Augsburg, where he conducted a lot of his endeavours, meant that the imperial city became "the dominant centre of early capitalism" of the sixteenth century, and "the location of the most important post office within the Holy Roman Empire". From Maximilian's time, as the "terminuses of the first transcontinental post lines" began to shift from [[Innsbruck]] to [[Venice]] and from [[Brussels]] to [[Antwerp]], in these cities, the communication system and the news market started to converge. As the Fuggers as well as other trading companies based their most important branches in these cities, these traders gained access to these systems as well (despite a widely circulated theory which holds that the Fuggers themselves operated their own communication system, in reality they relied upon the imperial posts, presumably from the 1490s onwards, as official members of the court of Maximilian I).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Behringer |first1=Wolfgang |contribution=Core and Periphery: The Holy Roman Empire as a Communication(s) Universe |title=The Holy Roman Empire, 1495-1806 |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199602971 |pages=347–358|url=https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/pnet_derivate_00004689/behringer_core.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/pnet_derivate_00004689/behringer_core.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=7 August 2022}}</ref>