The Rothschild Family Tree, Explained
A visual guide to eight generations of the Rothschild banking dynasty — from Mayer Amschel's Frankfurt money-changing stall to the 'five arrows' who spread across Europe and their modern-day heirs.
The Rothschilds turned a single Frankfurt counting house into the most famous banking dynasty in history — spanning eight generations and five European capitals. This guide walks through who's who, from the founder Mayer Amschel and his five 'arrows' to the barons, scientists, and financiers who carry the name today.
The family at a glance
- People
- 19
- Generations
- 8
- Years spanned
- 280 (1744–2024)
- Earliest born
- Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744)
- Latest born
- Nathaniel Philip Rothschild (1971)
How to read the graph
Each circle is a person. Lines connect parents to children, and spouses to each other. Click a node to focus on it; drag to rearrange the layout.
First generation — the founder
Mayer Amschel Rothschild built his fortune as a coin dealer in the Frankfurt Judengasse, and with his wife Gutle raised the children who would carry the bank across Europe. Gutle famously refused to leave the family's narrow ghetto house even as her sons became the richest men on the continent.
Where it began
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Founder of the Rothschild dynasty
1744–1812 · Frankfurt am Main (Judengasse), Holy Roman Empire
Court-factor coin dealer of the Frankfurt ghetto who turned a money-changing stall into a pan-European banking empire.
Married Gutle Rothschild
Second generation — the five arrows
Mayer Amschel sent each of his five sons to a different European capital — Amschel stayed in Frankfurt, Salomon to Vienna, Nathan to London, Carl to Naples, and James to Paris. The clutch of five arrows on the family crest stands for exactly this: five brothers, five cities, one bank.
The five arrows
Third generation — the cousin marriages
To keep the fortune inside the family, the next generation married its own cousins. Lionel, Nathan's son in London, married Charlotte of the Naples house; Betty, Salomon's daughter, married her uncle James in Paris. Lionel went on to become the first practising Jew to sit in the House of Commons.
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild
Banker; first Jewish MP
1808–1879 · London
Son of Nathan; financed Britain's Suez Canal share purchase and, after an 11-year struggle, became the first practising Jew to sit in the Commons.
Married Charlotte von Rothschild
Fourth generation — barons and philanthropists
Lionel's son 'Natty' became the 1st Baron Rothschild and the first Jewish member of the House of Lords, while his Parisian cousin Edmond poured his fortune into Jewish settlements in Ottoman Palestine, earning the title 'Father of the Yishuv'.
The fourth generation
Fifth and sixth generations — scientists and bankers
The English line increasingly turned from finance to natural science: Walter built a zoological museum and received the Balfour Declaration; his brother Charles founded Britain's first nature-conservation society; and Charles's daughter Miriam became the world's leading authority on fleas.
The scientist Rothschild
Miriam Rothschild
Natural scientist
1908–2005 · Ashton Wold, Northamptonshire, England
Daughter of Charles; a self-taught polymath and the world's leading authority on fleas, with eight honorary doctorates and an FRS.
A dynasty in dates
Births and deaths across the family
- 1744Mayer Amschel Rothschild born
- 1753
Gutle Rothschild born - 1773Amschel Mayer Rothschild born
- 1774Salomon Mayer von Rothschild born
- 1777Nathan Mayer Rothschild born
- 1788Carl Mayer von Rothschild born
- 1792James Mayer de Rothschild born
- 1803
Anselm Salomon von Rothschild born - 1805
Betty de Rothschild born - 1808Lionel Nathan de Rothschild born
- 1812Mayer Amschel Rothschild died
- 1819
Charlotte von Rothschild born - 1836Nathan Mayer Rothschild died
- 1840Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild born
- 1845Edmond James de Rothschild born
- 1849Gutle Rothschild died
- 1855Amschel Mayer Rothschild died
- 1855Salomon Mayer von Rothschild died
- 1855Carl Mayer von Rothschild died
- 1868James Mayer de Rothschild died
- 1868
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild born - 1874Anselm Salomon von Rothschild died
- 1877
Nathaniel Charles Rothschild born - 1879Lionel Nathan de Rothschild died
- 1884Charlotte von Rothschild died
- 1886Betty de Rothschild died
- 1908Miriam Rothschild born
- 1910
Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild born - 1915Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild died
- 1923Nathaniel Charles Rothschild died
- 1934Edmond James de Rothschild died
- 1936
Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild born - 1937Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild died
- 1971
Nathaniel Philip Rothschild born - 1990Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild died
- 2005Miriam Rothschild died
- 2024Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild died
Generation by generation
- Mayer Amschel Rothschild
- Gutle Rothschild
- Amschel Mayer Rothschild
- Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
- Nathan Mayer Rothschild
- Carl Mayer von Rothschild
- James Mayer de Rothschild
- Anselm Salomon von Rothschild
- Lionel Nathan de Rothschild
- Charlotte von Rothschild
- Betty de Rothschild
- Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild
- Edmond James de Rothschild
- Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
- Nathaniel Charles Rothschild
- Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild
- Miriam Rothschild
- Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild
- Nathaniel Philip Rothschild
From the founder to the heir
The direct line from the founder to today's baron runs through the London house — father to son across eight generations, from a Frankfurt counting house to a modern investment fund.
Mayer Amschel RothschildNathan Mayer RothschildLionel Nathan de RothschildNathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron RothschildNathaniel Charles RothschildVictor Rothschild, 3rd Baron RothschildJacob Rothschild, 4th Baron RothschildNathaniel Philip RothschildBy the numbers
Common questions
- Who founded the Rothschild family?
- Mayer Amschel Rothschild, in the Frankfurt Judengasse in the 18th century.
- Why are there five branches?
- Mayer Amschel sent his five sons to Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Naples and Paris.
- Which branches survive?
- London and Paris. Naples closed in 1863, Frankfurt in 1901, Vienna in 1938.
- Did the Rothschilds marry within the family?
- Often. Cousin marriages kept the bank's capital inside the family for four generations.
- Who was Nathan Mayer Rothschild?
- The third son, who built the London house and financed Britain in the Napoleonic wars.
- Who is Jacob Rothschild?
- The fourth Baron Rothschild, of the English branch, who died in 2024.
- Are the Rothschilds still bankers?
- Yes — Rothschild & Co is still run by the family in Paris and London.
- How rich are the Rothschilds?
- The fortune is split among many branches and individuals; no single figure is meaningful.
- Who was Lord Rothschild of the Balfour Declaration?
- Walter, the second Baron, to whom the 1917 letter was addressed.
- Are the Rothschilds related to any royal family?
- By marriage in a few cases, but the family has stayed out of dynastic politics.
Five sons, five cities, one bank — and a name that became a byword for wealth across two centuries.