Ludwig Erdwin Seyler (15 May 1758 – 26 October 1836; often known as ''L.E. Seyler'') was a German

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was by marriage a member of the

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

Berenberg banking dynasty, and was a partner in the Hamburg firm Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. (Berenberg Bank) for 48 years (1788–1836), for 46 years as the company's senior partner. The "Co." part of the company name refers to him. Seyler was one of the first merchants and bankers from modern Germany to establish trade relations with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

. He served as a member of the government of Hamburg during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

and later as the President of the Commercial Deputation, one of the city-state's main political bodies, and as a member of the

Hamburg Parliament The Hamburg Parliament (german: Hamburgische Bürgerschaft; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry”) is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2011 there were 121 members in the parli ...

. Ludwig Seyler was a son of the Swiss-born theatre director

Abel Seyler Abel Seyler (23 August 1730, Liestal – 25 April 1800, Rellingen) was a Swiss-born theatre director and former merchant banker, who was regarded as one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe. He played a pivotal role in the deve ...

and a son-in-law of the bankers

Johann Hinrich Gossler Johann Hinrich Gossler (born 18 August 1738 in Hamburg, died 31 August 1790 in Hamburg) was a German banker and grand burgher of Hamburg, a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg/Gossler banking dynasty and the owner and head of the firm Joh. Berenb ...

and

Elisabeth Berenberg Elisabeth Berenberg (2 December 1749 – 16 January 1822) was a Hamburg heiress, merchant banker and a member of the Berenberg family. She was the last male line member of the Flemish-origined Hanseatic Berenberg banking family in Hamburg, and ance ...

through his marriage to their eldest daughter

Anna Henriette Gossler Anna Henriette Gossler (7 November 1771 – 2 August 1836) was a Hamburg banker, heiress and socialite. Biography Gossler was born in Hamburg. Anna Henriette Gossler, who went by the name of Henriette, was a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg/ ...

Background and early life

Ludwig E. Seyler was born in Hamburg and was the younger son of the Swiss-born

(1730–1800), one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe, and his Hanoverian wife Sophie Elisabeth Andreae (1730–1764). His father had been born in the Swiss

Canton of Basel Basel was a canton of Switzerland that was in existence between 1501 and 1833, when it was split into the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country. Background Before the Protestant Reformation, Basel was ruled by prince-bishops (see ...

and had come to Hamburg as a young adult, where he had established himself as a merchant banker in the 1750s and 1760s. In 1763 his companies went spectacularly bankrupt with enormous debts in the wake of the

Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763 The Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763 in the Netherlands followed the end of the Seven Years' War. At this time prices of grain and other commodities were falling sharply, and the supply of credit dried up due to the decreased value of collateral ...

, and from 1767 he devoted himself entirely to the theatre, largely abandoning his children as he adopted a traveling lifestyle, moving from court to court with the

Seyler Theatre Company The Seyler Theatre Company, also known as the Seyler Company (German: ''Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft'', sometimes ''Seylersche Truppe''), was a theatrical company founded in 1769 by Abel Seyler, a Hamburg businessman originally from Switzerl ...

. Following the death of their mother in 1764, Ludwig Seyler and his brother and sister were raised in Hanover by their maternal uncle, the noted

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

natural scientist

J.G.R. Andreae Johann Gerhard Reinhard Andreae (ca. 17 December 1724 – 1 May 1793), often known as J.G.R. Andreae or I.G.R. Andreae, was a Hanoverian natural scientist, chemist, geologist, court pharmacist (''Hofapotheker'') and alchemist in the Age of Enl ...

. By several accounts Andreae was a highly erudite and kind man who became a loving father figure to his sister's children; he had no children of his own. Their father, Abel Seyler, remarried in 1772 to

Friederike Sophie Seyler Friederike Sophie Seyler (1738, Dresden – 22 November 1789, Schleswig; née Sparmann, formerly married Hensel) was a German actress, playwright and librettist. Alongside Friederike Caroline Neuber, she was widely considered Germany's greatest ac ...

, Germany's leading actress of the second half of the 18th century and the author of the opera ''

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...

'', a major influence on the libretto of ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

''. On his father's side Seyler was descended from many of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

's leading patrician families, especially the families Seyler,

Burckhardt Burckhardt, or (de) Bourcard in French, is a family of the Basel patriciate, descended from Christoph (Stoffel) Burckhardt (1490–1578), a merchant in cloth and silk originally from Münstertal, Black Forest, who received Basel citizenship i ...

Socin Sozzini, Sozini, Socini or Socin is an Italian noble family originally from Siena in Tuscany, where the family were noted as bankers and merchants, jurists and humanist scholars. The family has been described as "the most famous legal dynasty of t ...

(originally an Italian noble family), Merian and

Faesch Faesch, also spelled Fesch, is a prominent Swiss, French, Belgian, Corsican and Italian noble family, originally a patrician family of Basel. Known since the early 15th century, the family received a confirmation of nobility from the Holy Roman E ...

; Cardinal

Joseph Fesch Joseph Fesch, Prince of France (3 January 1763 – 13 May 1839) was a French priest and diplomat, who was the maternal half-uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte (half-brother of Napoleon's mother Laetitia). In the wake of his nephew, he became Archbishop ...

, Napoleon's uncle, was a distant relative. On his mother's side he was a grandson of the Hanoverian court pharmacist Leopold Andreae. His sister Sophie Seyler (1762–1833) was married to the

Sturm und Drang ''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto- Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...

poet

Johann Anton Leisewitz Johann Anton Leisewitz (born 9 May 1752 in Hanover, died 10 September 1806 in Braunschweig) was a German lawyer and dramatic poet, and a central figure of the Sturm und Drang era. He is best known for his play ''Julius of Taranto'' (1776), that ins ...

, the author of ''

Julius of Taranto ''Julius of Taranto'', also known as ''Julius of Tarent'' (german: Julius von Tarent), is a dramatic tragedy by Johann Anton Leisewitz. Published in 1774, it is a notable work of the Sturm und Drang era. The play was a favourite of Friedrich Schil ...

''.

Felix Hoppe-Seyler Ernst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler (''né'' Felix Hoppe; 26 December 1825 – 10 August 1895) was a German physiologist and chemist, and the principal founder of the disciplines of biochemistry and molecular biology. Biography Hoppe-Seyler was b ...

, the principal founder of biochemistry and molecular biology, was an adopted son of his nephew.

Berenberg Bank

He joined the Berenberg & Gossler company in Hamburg as an apprentice in 1775, aged 17. Founded in 1590 by the immigrant Berenberg family from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

in modern Belgium, it was one of Hamburg's most respected companies. On 20 May 1788, he married

(1771–1836), the eldest child of the company's owners,

(1738–90) and

(1749–1822). His mother-in-law was the only heir and last member of the Berenberg family. During his lifetime and beyond his wife's family was regarded as one of the two most prominent families of the city-state of Hamburg. Shortly after his marriage, his father-in-law made him a partner in the Berenberg company. Upon the death of his father-in-law in 1790, he succeeded him as the company's senior partner and effective head. His mother-in-law was a partner in her own right from 1790 to 1800, and in 1798 his seventeen years younger brother-in-law, the later senator

Johann Heinrich Gossler Johann Heinrich Gossler (born 28 March 1775, died 3 April 1842) was a Hamburg banker and grand burgher, a member of the Berenberg-Gossler-Seyler banking dynasty, a co-owner (from 1798) of the Berenberg Bank and a senator of Hamburg from 1821. He ...

, joined the company as a partner. Under his leadership and to reflect his entry into the partnership the company name was changed to Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. in 1791, and has remained unchanged since. As head of the Berenberg company Seyler greatly increased the company's international trade, and was one of the first merchants and bankers from Germany who established trade relations with the newly independent

and with

. By 1800 the capital of the company has doubled since he became a partner. The company lost half its capital during the

, but quickly regained and exceeded its former size once the war ended. Ludwig Seyler remained one of the two dominant partners, with his brother-in-law, until his death in 1836. At the time of his death he had worked for the company for 61 years, been a partner for 48 years and been the company's senior partner for 46 years.

Napoleonic Wars and politics

During the

Hamburg was occupied by France from 1806 and annexed into the

Bouches-de-l'Elbe Bouches-de-l'Elbe (; "Mouths of the Elbe", ) was a departments of France, department of the First French Empire in present-day Germany that survived for three years. It was named after the mouth of the river Elbe. It was formed in 1811, when the r ...

département of the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

in 1811. The French government promoted the French language and instituted numerous changes in Hamburg. In February 1813 Seyler was appointed by the French authorities as a deputy judge on the commercial tribunal (''tribunal de commerce''). During the spring of 1813 he was among 30 prominent and wealthy Hamburg merchants who were briefly held as hostages by the French authorities to force the city to pay a "contribution" to the French government, which caused great consternation in Hamburg. The Berenberg company's head office was moved to his home in Wandrahm in 1813 when the Gossler family's city residence,

Mortzenhaus The Mortzenhaus was one of the largest and most well known city palaces in Hamburg. It was built in 1621 by the brothers and arms dealers Jacob and Hans Moers, who were among the wealthiest people in Hamburg in their lifetime. History Overview ...

, was requisitioned by the French and turned into a military hospital. Seyler later moved the head office to the home of his son-in-law

Gerhard von Hosstrup Gerhard Carsten Jakob von Hosstrup (or Hoßtrup) (born 23 April 1771 in Hamburg, died 7 September 1851) was a Hamburg businessman and the founder of the Hamburg Stock Exchange building (Hamburger Börsenhalle). He became ''Oberalter'' in 1843. ...

. In the summer of 1813 he was appointed by the French Governor-General

Louis-Nicolas Davout Louis-Nicolas d'Avout (10 May 1770 – 1 June 1823), better known as Davout, 1st Duke of Auerstaedt, 1st Prince of Eckmühl, was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and t ...

as a member of the municipal council (''conseil municipal''), the governing body of Hamburg which had replaced both the government (known as the council, later as the senate) and the parliament under French rule. He served in the municipal council until it was dissolved after the liberation of Hamburg, when Hamburg became a fully sovereign state. For a brief transition period, the former municipal councillors were asked to serve in the post-Napoleonic government. On 23 March 1813 he was elected as a member of the Commercial Deputation and he served as its President from May 1817 to July 1818. The Commercial Deputation was one of the city-state's main political bodies. As a member of the Commercial Deputation he was also ''ex officio'' a member of the

in accordance with the city-state's post-Napoleonic constitution. He was also a member of the Banco Deputation, the commission that had the oversight over Hamburg's internationally used Banco currency, and of the Shipping and Port Deputation.

Legacy

L.E. Seyler was highly regarded in Hamburg; he was described as "an honourable character, both as a merchant and as a human being." Seyler is interred in the family grave of the Berenberg/

Gossler family The Gossler family (also spelled Goßler, historically also Gosler), including the Berenberg-Gossler branch, is a Hanseatic and partially noble banking family from Hamburg. The family is descended from weavers and burghers in the city-republic ...

on the Old Hamburg Memorial Cemetery (''Althamburgischer Gedächtnisfriedhof'', formerly ''Ehrenfriedhof''), together with his wife Anna Henriette née Gossler, his mother-in-law

and other relatives such as his brother-in-law, Senator

and his nephew, Hamburg First Mayor

Hermann Gossler Hermann Gossler (born 21 August 1802 in Hamburg, died 10 May 1877 in Hamburg) was a Hamburg lawyer, senator (1842–77) and First Mayor and President of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (i.e. the city republic's head of state ...

. The grave is one of only six family graves on the memorial cemetery, which is reserved for notable Hamburg citizens.

Issue and family

Ludwig Seyler and Anna Henriette Gossler had seven children, in order of birth #Sophie Henriette Elisabeth ("Betty") Seyler (1789–1837), married to Hamburg businessman

, who founded the Hamburger Börsenhalle in 1804 #Johann ''Hinrich'' Seyler #Emilie ("Emmy") Seyler, married to the physician Ludwig Friedrich Christian Homann #Louise ''Auguste'' Seyler, married to Gerhard von Hosstrup after the death of her sister #Maria ("Molly") Seyler #Louise ("Wischen") Seyler (1799–1849), married to ship broker Ernst Friedrich Pinckernelle (1787–1868), whose sons founded the G. & J. E. Pinckernelle insurance broker firm # Henriette Seyler (1805–1875), married to the Norwegian industrialist

Benjamin Wegner Jacob Benjamin Wegner (21 February 1795 – 9 June 1864) was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant. Born in Königsberg, East Prussia, he moved to London in 1819 and to Berlin in 1820, where he established an independ ...

(1795–1864) of Fossum Manor, later of

Frogner Manor Frogner Manor (''Frogner Hovedgård'') is a manor house and former estate in today's borough of Frogner in Oslo, Norway. The estate comprised most of the modern borough of Frogner, which has been named after the estate, and Frognerseteren with ...

His seven children were co-owners of Berenberg Bank from 26 October to 31 December 1836. The co-founder of

Commerzbank Commerzbank AG () is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. Founded in 1870 in Hambur ...

Ludwig Erdwin

Amsinck Amsinck is a Dutch people, Dutch-origined patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family whose members were prominent merchants in multiple countries including the Netherlands, Hamburg, Portugal, England, France, Kingdom of Hanover, Hanover, Ho ...

(1826–1897), a son of his niece Emilie Amsinck née Gossler and business magnate Johannes Amsinck, was named after him. Ludwig Seyler was an uncle of Hamburg

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

Portraits

Gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

portraits of Ludwig E. Seyler and his wife Anna Henriette Gossler from the Napoleonic era or its immediate aftermath were owned by the descendants of their daughter Henriette in Norway, and were sold through the Norwegian art broker Blomqvist in 2018. There also exist portraits of him and his two siblings as children, probably from the 1760s.''Johann Anton Leisewitzens briefe an seine braut'', vol. 1, p. xxvi, Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen, 1906

Gallery

File:Abel Seyler silhouette - Basel.svg, His father, the theatre director

File:Sophie Friederike Hensel.jpg, His father's second wife, the actress

, author of ''

'' File:Johann Gerhard Reinhard Andreae.JPG, His uncle and foster father, the natural scientist and polymath

File:JALeisewitz.jpg, His brother-in-law, the poet

, author of ''

'' File:JohannHinrichGossler.jpg, His father-in-law

, owner of

Berenberg Bank Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, commonly known as Berenberg Bank and also branded as simply Berenberg, is a multinational full-service investment bank based in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded by the Flemish Berenberg family in 1590 () and ...

File:Henriette Seyler drawn by her sister Molly Seyler in 1827 (cropped).jpeg, His daughter Henriette Seyler (1805–75, married Wegner) drawn by her sister Molly in 1822

Ancestry

References

Literature

Percy Ernst Schramm Percy Ernst Schramm (14 October 1894 – 21 November 1970) was a German historian who specialized in art history and medieval history. Schramm was a Chair and Professor of History at the University of Göttingen from 1929 to 1963. Early lif ...

, ''Neun Generationen: Dreihundert Jahre deutscher Kulturgeschichte im Lichte der Schicksale einer Hamburger Bürgerfamilie (1648–1948)'', Vol. I, Göttingen, 1963 *

, ''Kaufleute zu Haus und über See. Hamburgische Zeugnisse des 17., 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts'', Hamburg, Hoffmann und Campe, 1949 *

, "Kaufleute während Besatzung, Krieg und Belagerung (1806–1815) : der Hamburger Handel in der Franzosenzeit, dargestellt an Hand von Firmen- und Familienpapieren." ''Tradition: Zeitschrift für Firmengeschichte und Unternehmerbiographie'', Vol. 4. Jahrg., No. 1. (Feb 1959), pp. 1–22. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40696638 *

, "Hamburger Kaufleute in der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts," in: ''Tradition. Zeitschrift für Firmengeschichte und Unternehmerbiographie'' 1957, No 4., pp. 307–332. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40696554 {{DEFAULTSORT:Seyler, Ludwig Erdwin German bankers Berenberg-Gossler family Berenberg Bank people Members of the Hamburg Parliament German people of Swiss descent German people of Italian descent Grand burghers of Hamburg 1758 births 1836 deaths Ludwig Erdwin