Daniel Weisweiller and his family: the social universe of a Jewish banker in Elizabethian Madrid
Keywords:
Weisweiller, Rothschild, banking, Spain, social elites, JewishnessAbstract
This text is biographical sketch of the Jewish-German banker and agent in Spain of the Rothschilds between 1835 and 1892, Daniel Weisweiller. After a general account of his origins, instruction, and family connections, and of the financial and trading activities in which he participated on behalf of the Rothschilds and on his own, the article portrays his social networks and his strategy of social promotion. The latter relied on his integration in the sociability circles of Madrid elites, a process that demanded an active role of his wife and his daughters. Weisweiller’s central role in banking and his social success tuned him into an active diffuser in Spain of social practices that were common in the high finances of both Britain and France.