Family makes history

The Tucher patrician family is not one of the oldest families in Nuremberg, but presumably originates, like many others, from the high medieval class of the imperial ministeriales (unfree nobility). The genealogy in the "Großes Tucherbuch" begins with the ancestor Konrad, who died in 1326. In 1340, Berthold I (died 1379) was the first Tucher to become a member of the imperial city’s Small Council. Marriages between the Tuchers and the city’s most distinguished families are documented as early as the 14th century.

In the fourth generation, the descendants of Hans II (died 1449) and Endres I (died 1440) formed the elder and younger line, both of which are still flourishing today. One member of each line was represented on the Small Council almost without interruption until the end of the imperial city in 1806.

The "Großes Tucherbuch" is not only the most magnificent and valuable genealogical book of this genre – it also impressively manifests the Tuchers’ special interest in family historiography. From the end of the 14th century, members of the dynasty wrote unsystematic chronological records, incorporating biographical and autobiographical details. These include the accounts by the Jerusalem crusader Hans VI (died 1491). The lawyer Dr Christoph Scheurl (died 1542), who descended from the Tucher family on his mother’s side, then devoted himself in detail to the actual genealogy, on whose textual basis the "Großes Tucherbuch" was written.

The Tuchers achieved significant economic success with their trading company, "Tucherisch Compagnia", which operated throughout Europe until the mid-17th century. The family invested their profits in real estate in the city and the area around Nuremberg, thus acquiring their namesake seat of Simmelsdorf in 1598. In the following period, further estates were added, mainly from the proceeds of the Dr. Lorenz Tucher’sche Stiftung. In 1815 the Tuchers were enrolled in the baronial class of the Bavarian nobility.

Antonia Landois