The 15 Richest People Throughout History

2. Pope Innocent III

Let’s start here, with maybe the most corrupt Pope in history (and that’s saying something). While most of the people on this list certainly accrued their fair share of power along with their vast fortunes, Pope Innocent III accrued so much power he didn’t necessarily need wealth. Early in the thirteenth century, Innocent claimed power over the entirety of Europe’s various monarchies (and actually got it, too). Of course he leveraged that influence into the disastrous Fourth Crusade, but, hey, that’s poor people’s problems. Even better, Pope Innocent also gets to go down in history as one of the most hypocritical figures in history, too, because he preached the virtues of poverty while living one of the most lavish lifestyles in history.