Samson Wertheimer

Samson Wertheimer (1658–1724) was the leading court Jew and financier to the Habsburg emperor Leopold I. Born in Worms, he settled in Vienna, where he supplied the imperial armies and, with Samuel Oppenheimer, helped finance the Habsburg war effort in the War of the Spanish Succession. He was also chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia.

A scholar and patron of scholars, he paid for the Frankfurt printing of the Babylonian Talmud (1712–1722). His wealth and influence earned him the nickname Judenkaiser, the ‘Jewish emperor’; ten imperial soldiers guarded his house.