Wilhelm von Schröder

Wilhelm von Schröder (1640–1688) was a German mercantilist and cameralist at Emperor Leopold I's Vienna court. After studying law at Jena, he travelled in Holland and England, pursuing economics and the natural sciences, and joined the Royal Society in 1662.

He converted to Catholicism and entered Habsburg service in 1673, reporting on English economic innovations. In 1677 he took over Vienna's Kunst- und Werkhaus, a state model factory for wool, silk and glass.

The factory closed in 1681 and burned down in the 1683 Turkish siege. Schröder died at Eperies while serving as a treasury councillor in Hungary.