Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T18:47:04.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Schwarzenberg Bank: A Forgotten Contributor to Austrian Economic Development, 1788–1830

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Herman Freudenberger
Herman Freudenberger
Affiliation:
Professor Emeritus of Economics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118–5698.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The supposedly authoritativeÖsterreichisches Staatswörterbuch (1905 edition) states unequivocally that the only joint-stock bank that existed before 1850 was a land bank founded in 1841 by the Galician estates. März, who has written the definitive work on the Credit-Anstalt, also found no place in his otherwise excellent study for the Schwarzenberg Bank, asserting that the Credit-Anstalt was founded simply on the model of the Crédit Mobilier of contemporary France. The only publication that concerned itself with the Schwarzenberg Bank, formally known as the Wiener oktroyirte Commerzial-, Leih- und Wechselbank (Chartered Commercial, Loan, and Exchange Bank of Vienna) in some detail was written in 1918, with the observation that it strongly resembled the Crédit Mobilier type of bank. This work was obviously ignored both in Austria and elsewhere where the history of banking and banks has been discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 27 , January 1996 , pp. 41 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Mischler, Ernst and Ulbrich, Josef, Österreichisches Staatswörterbuch, 4 vols. (Vienna, 1905), 1:391ffGoogle Scholar; März, Eduard, Österreichische Industrie- und Bankpolitik in der Zeit Franz Josephs I (Vienna, 1968), 27Google Scholar; Rager, Fritz, Die Wiener Commerzial-, Leih- und Wechselbank (1787–1830) (Vienna, 1918)Google Scholar; see also Steiner, Fritz G., Die Entwicklung des Mobilbankwesens in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1913)Google Scholar.

2 Cameron, Rondo E., France and the Economic Development of Europe, 1800–1914 (Princeton, 1961), 118–19Google Scholar; see also Cameron, Rondo, “Multinational Banking in the Nineteenth Century,” in Transnational Investment from the Nineteenth Century to the Present, ed. Pohl, Hans (Stuttgart, 1994), 81–101Google Scholar.

3 Thornton to McConnel and Kennedy, Mar. 21,1802, McConnel and Kennedy Papers, John Rylands Library (Manchester).

4 Sylla, Richard and Toniolo, Gianni, “Introduction: Patterns of European Industrialization during the Nineteenth Century,” in Patterns of European Industrialization, ed. Sylla, Richard and Toniolo, Gianni (London, 1991), 5Google Scholar.

5 Freudenberger, Herman, “Progressive Bohemian and Moravian Aristocrats,” in Intellectual and Social Developments in the Habsburg Empire from Maria Theresia to World War I, ed. Winters, S. B. and Held, J. (New York, 1975), 115–30Google Scholar; Freudenberger, Herman and Mensch, Gerhard, Von der Provinzstadt zur Industrieregion (Briinn-Studie) (Göttingen, 1975), 59–62Google Scholar.

6 Rudolph, Richard, Banking and Industrialization in Austria-Hungary (Cambridge, 1976), 93CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gerschenkron, Alexander, An Economic Spurt That Failed (Princeton, 1977)Google Scholar.

7 Slokar, Johann, Geschichte der österreichischen Industrie und ihrer Förderung unter Kaiser Franz I (Vienna, 1914), 13–67Google Scholar; Fischer, Erich, “Der Staatsbankerott von 1816 und die Sanierung der österreichischen Finanzen nach den Napoleonischen Kriegen,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, n.s. 4 (1924): 252–317Google Scholar; Hofmann, Viktor, Die Devalvierung des österreichischen Papiergeldes im jahre 1811 (Munich, 1923)Google Scholar; Raudnitz, Josef, Das österreichische Staatspapiergeld und die priviligierte Nationalbank (Vienna, 1917)Google Scholar; Zempleni, Emerich, “Wirtschafts- und Finanzgeschichtliches zur Bankozettelperiode in Ungarn,” Ungarische Jahrbücher 8 (1928): 87–113Google Scholar.

8 Leuchs, Johann Michael, System des Handels, (1804Google Scholar; reprint, Stuttgart, 1933), 309–11, 347–50.

9 Cameron, Rondo, “Theoretical Bases of a Comparative Study of the Role of Financial Institutions in the Early Stages of Industrialization,” in Financing Industrialization, ed. Cameron, Rondo, 2 vols. (Aldershot, 1992), 1:570–71Google Scholar; Tilly, Richard H., “German Banking, 1850–1914: Development Assistance for the Strong,” Journal of European Economic History 15 (1986): 116ffGoogle Scholar.

10 Gerschenkron, Alexander, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), 44–45Google Scholar; Postlethwayt, Malachy, The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, 4th ed., 2 vols. (London, 1774)Google Scholar, s.v. “Banking.”

11 Státní oblastní archiv v Třeboni, branch Česky Krumlov (hereafter cited as CK), Schwarzenberg Bank, fasc. 261.

12 CK, Aktienbuch … 1802 anfangend.

13 Pribram, Alfred Francis, ed., Geschichte der Preise und Löhne in Österreich (Vienna, 1938), 76ffGoogle Scholar.

14 Chylík, Jindřich, “Prvni obchodní banka u nás” (The first commercial bank with us), Časopis Matice Moravsté 69 (1950): 261–82Google Scholar; Freudenberger, Herman, The Industrialization of a Central European City (Edington, 1977), 52–70(esp. 56, 62)Google Scholar; Hönig, Fritz, “Schröders Bankprojekt,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, n.s. 2 (1893): 520ffGoogle Scholar.

15 Hönig, “Bankprojekt,” 520ff; J. G. van Dillen, “The Bank of Amsterdam,” and Richards, R. D., “The First Fifty Years of the Bank of England (1694–1744),” both in History of the Principal Public Banks, ed. Dillen, J. G. van (The Hague, 1934), 79–123, 201Google Scholar; Dickson, P. G. D., The Financial Revolution in England (London, 1967), 56Google Scholar.

16 Hofkammerachiv (hereafter cited as HKA), red no. 118, fol. 256.

17 Büsching, Anton F., Magazin für die neue Historie und Geographie, 23 vols. (n.p., 1767–1793), 429–39Google Scholar; Bidermann, H. J., “Die Wiener Stadtbank,” Archiv für österreichische Geschichte 20 (1859): 367, 376–77Google Scholar; North, Douglass C. and Weingast, Barry R., “Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England,” journal of Economic History 49 (1989): 803–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 HKA, red no. 145, fol. 58ff. For Bargum's connection with the Danish Trading Company of Guinea, see Halm, Hans, Habsburgischer Osthandel im 18. Jahrhundert (Munich, 1954), 115nGoogle Scholar; for Boulton's connection, see Birmingham Central Library, Boulton and Watt Papers, Letter Book, 1766–68.

19 HKA, red no. 145, fol. 73ff; Halm, Osthandel, 115n.

20 Dickson, P. G. D., Finance and Government under Maria Theresia, 1740–1780, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1987), 1:154Google Scholar; Srbik, Heinrich von, Der staatliche Exporthandel Österreichs (Vienna, 1907), 77Google Scholar.

21 Chapman, S. D., “The International Houses: The Continental Contribution to British Commerce, 1800–1860,” Journal of European Economic History 6 (1977): 5–48Google Scholar.

22 Chapman, Stanley, The Rise of Merchant Banking (London, 1984)Google Scholar; Chapman, “Houses,” 5–48; Dickson, Finance, l:172ff; Freudenberger, Herman, “Introduction,” in State and Society in Early Modern Austria, ed. Ingrao, Charles (West Lafayette, Ind., 1994), 147–48Google Scholar; Matis, Herbert, “Die Grafen von Fries,” Tradition 5 (1965–1967): 484Google Scholar.

23 Mikoletzky, Hanns Leo, “Schweizer Händler und Bankiers in Österreich (vom 17. bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts),” in Österreich und Europa (Graz, 1965), 163Google Scholar; Brusatti, Alois, “Unternehmensfinanzierung und Privatkredit im österreichischen Vormärz,” Mitteilungen des österreichischen Staatsarchivs 13 (1960): 331–79Google Scholar; Slokar, Industrie, 305, 465, 578; Oesterreichische National-Encyklopädie, 6 vols. (Vienna, 1838), 1:128Google Scholar; Myška, Milan, Založení a počátky vítkovických železáren (The founding and early beginnings of the Witkowitz iron works) (Ostrava, 1960), 7Google Scholar; Barker, Richard J., “The Perier Bank during the Restoration (1815–1830),” Journal of European Economic History 2 (1973): 641–56Google Scholar.

24 Steiner, Die Entwicklung des Mobilbankwesens, 71; see also Slokar, Industrie, 525, 587.

25 Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Kolbielski Nachlass (hereafter cited as KN), carton 10, Nov. 25, 1799.

26 Brusatti, “Unternehmensfinanzierung und Privatkredit im österreichischen Vormärz,” 337, 373.

27 Berger, Adolph, “Das Fürstenhaus Schwarzenberg,” Oesterreichische Revue 4 (1866): 12Google Scholar. Heft, 36; see also Blaschko, Franz, “Die Ahnenreihe,” Schwarzenbergisches Jahrbuch 19 (1950), 25Google Scholar.

28 Berger, “Fürstenhaus,” 11. Heft, 142–13;Lorn, František, “Snahy o zlepšení hospdářských soustav na panstvích Schwarzenberskych koncem 18. stol.” (Efforts at improving the economic system on the Schwarzenberg estates toward the end of the eighteenth century), Časopis pro dějeny venkova (1938): 143–56Google Scholar; Medinger, Wilhelm, Wirtschaftsgeschkhte der Domäne Lobositz (Vienna, 1903), 63ff., especially 73–74Google Scholar.

29 Berger, “Fürstenhaus,” 11. Heft, 142–43; Vaterländische Blätter, 1818, 305ff.

30 Brodschild, Fritz, “Der Eisenbergbau auf der Herrschaft Murau,” Schwarzenbergischer Almanach 34 (1968): 35–152Google Scholar; Stekl, Hannes, Österreichische Aristokratie im Vormärz (Vienna, 1973), 17, 22ffGoogle Scholar.

31 Schwarzenberg, Fürst Karl zu, Ceschichte des reichsständigen Hauses Schwarzenberg (Neustadt an der Aisch, 1963), 243Google Scholar.

32 HKA, red no. 118, fols. 255–64; CK, Conferenz Protocoll, Apr. 11, 1788; HKA, red no. 1159, fol. 81.

33 CK, Actien-Protocoll Pro Anno 1794.

34 Ibid.

35 CK, Conferenz Protocoll, fol. 199, Jan. 26, 1794; CK, Conferenz Protocoll von 1. Jenner 1802 bis Ende Dezember 1805, Section 13, Aug. 31, 1802.

36 Berger, “Fürstenhaus,” 12. Heft, 98ff, lOlff, 127–28.

37 Landes, David, “Vieille banque et banque nouvelle: La révolution financière du dixneuvième siècle,” Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine 3 (1956): 211Google Scholar; Oesterreichische National Encyklopädie, 1:124; Redl, Anton, Handlungs Gremien und Fabricken Addressen Buch des Oesterreichischen Kaiserthumes für das Jahr 1818 (Vienna, 1818), 7–8Google Scholar; Raudnitz, Staatspapiergeld, 146ff; März, Ed-ward, “Die historischen Voraussetzungen des Crédit-Mobilier-Bankwesens,” Schmollers Jahrbuch 79 (1959): 71Google Scholar.

38 HKA, red no. 118, fols. 258–64.

39 Ibid., fols. 255–57.

40 Rager, Wechselbank, 65, 81 (see n. 3).

41 HKA, red no. 1159, fols. 76–89.

42 Oesterreichische National-Encyklopädie, 2:516; Archiv der Stadt Wien, Merkantil- und Wechselgericht, 1760–1850, P 399, June 4, 1824.

43 Pribram, Alfred Francis and Fischer, Erich, Ein politischer Abenteurer (Vienna, 1937)Google Scholar; KN, carton 10, Jan. 18, 1799.

44 KN, carton 22, Jan. 20, 1808; KN, carton 22, Mar. 1805. For further details, see a forthcoming article by the author: “Die Pottendorfer Garn Manufaktur,” Mitteilungen des österreichischen Staatsarchivs.

45 HKA, red no. 176, fols. 211–14, 232–44.

46 KN, carton 10, May 12, 1801.

47 KN, carton 22, ad 234, May 13, 1801.

48 CK, fasc. 261; CK, Conferenz Protocoll 1802–1805, Aug. 31, 1802.

49 CK, Conferenz Protocoll, 1802–1805, Apr. 13, 1803; CK, fasc. 261, part 3.

50 CK, fasc. 261, part 2.

51 KN, carton 10, no. 172, no. 192–93.

52 CK, fasc. 1959, May 22, 1795; CK, fasc. 1959, Mar. 29, 1795; CK, Conferenz Protocoll von 1. Jenner 1802 bis Ende Dezember 1805, section 15, June 15, 1802.

53 Bucek, Margarete, Geschichte der Seidenfabrikanten Wiens im 18. Jahrhundert (1710–1792) (Vienna, 1974), 108Google Scholar; Slokar, Industrie, 394ff.

54 HKA, red no. 147, fols. 564, 805–10.

55 Hofmann, Victor, “Beiträge zur neueren österreichischen Wirtschaftsgeschichte. 3. Tl. Die Anfänge der Zuckerindustrie in Österreich und Ungarn,” Archiv für Österreichische Geschichte 113 (1934): 14–23Google Scholar.

56 CK, Conferenz Protocoll, fol. 186, Oct. 13, 1793.

57 Hofmann, “Zuckerindustrie,” 17ff.

58 CK, fasc. 1959 [1801].

59 CK, Conferenz Protocoll, May 22, 1804.

60 Hofmann, “Zuckerindustrie,” 21.

61 HKA, red no. 147, fols. 805–10.

62 Slokar, Industrie, 576.

63 Gross, Nachum T., “Die Stellung der Habsburger Monarchie in der Weltwirtschaft,” in Die Habsburgermonarchie 1848–1918, ed. Brusatti, Alois, 6 vols. (Vienna, 1973), 1:3Google Scholar.

64 Freudenberger, Herman, “An Industrial Momentum Achieved in the Habsburg Monarchy,” Journal of European Economic History 12 (1983): 339–50Google Scholar; Gross, Nachum T., “The Industrial Revolution in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1750–1914,” in Fontana Economic History of Europe, ed. Cipolla, Carlo M., 6 vols. (Glasgow, 1973), 4:229ffGoogle Scholar.

65 Sandgruber, Roman, “Die Agrarrevolution in Österreich,” in Österreich-Ungarn als Agrarstaat, ed. Hoffmann, Alfred (Vienna, 1978), 197, 200, 203Google Scholar.

66 CK, Auszug aus den Capitalienbücher … nach dem erschienenen Finanzpatent.…

67 Oesterreichische National-Encyklopädie, 4:13ff.

68 Good, David, The Economic Rise of the Habsburg Empire, 1750–1914 (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1984), 38–73Google Scholar.