Bouxwiller, Bas-Rhin
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Bouxwiller (; , ; , or ) is a commune in the
Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...
department,
Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
,
Grand Est Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
, northeastern
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Likely meaning "Bucco's land", Bouxwiller is the capital of the Bouxwiller canton and is located within the Saverne
arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...
about 34 kilometres (21 mi) northwest of
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
. The earliest known mention of Bouxwiller dates to 724 AD. In the 13th century, the town came into possession of the Lichtenberg family, who constructed the Château de Bouxwiller here in the early 14th century. Bouxwiller was the capital of the County of
Hanau-Lichtenberg The County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged between 1456 and 1480 from a part of the County of Hanau and one half of the Barony of Lichtenberg. Following the extinction of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in ...
, and residence of the Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg, throughout its existence from 1480 to 1736. The Château de Bouxwiller was pillaged during the French Revolution and its remnants were gone by the early 19th century. In 1973, the villages of Griesbach-le-Bastberg, Imbsheim, and Riedheim were incorporated into the commune of Bouxwiller.


Toponymy

''Puxuvilare'' is the earliest spelling of the town, as mentioned in 724. In 737, ''Buxwilari'' and ''Buxovillare'' were used. Eventually, ''Buchsweiler'' became the standard German spelling. The spelling of the town is ''Busswiller'' in Alsatian. The current spelling of the town's name dates to the French Revolution. In 1792, the German spelling ''Buchsweiler''—sometimes seen as ''Bouxweiler''—was officially replaced with its French equivalent ''Bouxwiller'', then Bouxviller in 1793. During the German annexation of Alsace from 1871 to 1918 and German annexation between 1940 and 1944, the town reverted to its German spelling Buchsweiler. The name of the town is composed of two elements: Boux- and -willer. The suffix -willer is the French spelling of the German -weiler, which derives from the Medieval
Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
suffix -willer, which in turn is derived from the Low Latin word ''villare'' and means "agricultural land". The first element of the name, Boux-, is likely representative of the Germanic name ''Bucco'', as toponyms incorporating the suffix -willer was typically combined with a personal name as the first element. The letter 'X' represents the letters 'ks', of which the 's' is the Saxon genitive that frequently appeared in toponyms in the region in the late Middle Ages. Thus, a probable meaning of the town's name is "Bucco's land". An alternative
folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...
of the town name is that the name is a combination of ''Buchs''-, the German word for
Buxus ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost So ...
(boxwood), and -willer, thus meaning "land of boxwood". However, this origin is improbable considering the use of ''Puxuvilare'' in 724, since the Latin suffix -villare was not associated with vegetation.


History

Tiles and pottery shards indicate the presence of Romans on Bastberg Hill, where the remains of a laconicum (Roman bath) were discovered in 1739. The earliest written mention of Bouxwiller was in 724, when Radolph and Eloïn gave the property of their respective mothers located in ''Puxuvilare'' to the Wissembourg Abbey. Bouxwiller came into the possession of the knights of Lichtenberg around 1260.
Rudolf I of Germany Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany of the Habsburg dynasty from 1273 until his death. Rudolf's imperial election of 1273, election marked the end of the Interregnum (Holy Roman Empire), Great Interregnum whic ...
elevated Bouxwiller to the rank of city to attract the allegiance of the Lichtenberg family; this status was renewed by
Albert I of Germany Albert I of Habsburg () (July 12551 May 1308) was a List of rulers of Austria, Duke of Austria and Duchy of Styria, Styria from 1282 and List of German monarchs, King of Germany from 1298 until his assassination. He was the eldest son of King Ru ...
in 1301. This status allowed Bouxwiller to have a
city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...
and host a market, among other new sources of revenue. In 1312, the city was described as an oppidum, then meaning a fortified city. The Lichtenberg family built a moated castle in Bouxwiller—the Château de Bouxwiller—which was first mentioned in 1329, although it incorporated a
chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
that was mentioned in 1315, when it hosted funeral services for John the First of Lichtenberg. The chapel also contained an
epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
and the tomb of John, Count of Werd and Landgrave of Lower Alsace, who died in 1376. Count Jacob of Lichtenberg died in 1480 without issue, leaving his territory to be divided among his nieces. The Bailiwick of Bouxwiller was inherited by Anne of Lichtenberg and her husband Philipp I of Hanau-Babbenhausen (later Philipp I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg) to become a part of the County of
Hanau-Lichtenberg The County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged between 1456 and 1480 from a part of the County of Hanau and one half of the Barony of Lichtenberg. Following the extinction of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in ...
. Bouxwiller was the capital of the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg and residence of the Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg throughout its existence from 1480 to 1736. After being looted during the German Peasants' War, the castle was renovated in the mid-sixteenth century by Philipp IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg and expanded with two new wings and lavish gardens. In June 1683, French King
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
and his son Louis the Grand Dauphin made a stop in Bouxwiller and three years later, the city came under French control. In 1736, the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was transferred to Landgrave Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt, officially becoming a part of the
Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt () was a Imperial State, State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the four sons of Landgr ...
. The Château de Bouxwiller became the residence of Louis IX's neglected wife Countess Caroline of Zweibrücken. During the French Revolution, the château was confiscated by the state and was pillaged in November 1793 by revolutionaries. The last remnants of the château were gone by the early 19th century. The medieval fortified city's two gates were razed in 1830. In 1787, there were about 400–500 households in Bouxwiller, of which there were 40–50 Catholic families, 40 Jewish families, and over 300 families of the
Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession (), also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheranism, Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of th ...
of the
Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...
. Mining brought prosperity to the commune in the nineteenth century, but ended in 1957. In 1973, the villages of Griesbach-le-Bastberg, Imbsheim, and Riedheim were incorporated into the commune of Bouxwiller.


Judaism

The presence of a Jewish population in the city is documented in 1322. The Hanau-Lichtenberg administration was tolerant of the Jews, allowing the presence of a
yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...
(religious school) and beth din (Jewish court), which lasted from the 1760s until the French Revolution, and the establishment of two Jewish cemeteries in the commune in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1725, a census of the Jews in the city counted 31 families and five widows. A large
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
was built in Bouxwiller in 1844. It was defaced and damaged during the Second World War and the building now houses the Judeo-Alsatian Museum of Bouxwiller, dedicated to the history of Jews in Alsace.


Geography

Bouxwiller is situated northwest of
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
. It is the capital of the Bouxwiller canton and is located within the Saverne arrondissement. It is bordered by the communes of Obersoultzbach, Niedersoultzbach, Uttwiller, Obermodern,
Kirrwiller Kirrwiller (; ; Alsatian: ''Kìrrwiller'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Between 1974 and 2007 Kirrwiller-Bosselshausen was a single commune, but in January 2007, Bosselshausen and Kirrwill ...
, Bosselshausen, Printzheim, Hattmatt,
Neuwiller-lès-Saverne Neuwiller-lès-Saverne (, literally ''Neuwiller near Saverne''; ; ) is a commune located in the historic and cultural region of Alsace and the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park in northeastern France. Neuwiller-lès-Saverne is within the B ...
, and Weiterswiller. Bouxwiller covers an area of at an altitude of . The commune is not crossed by any significant rivers, but contains several large streams that drain into the river Moder. Among the large streams are the Wappachgraben, Embsbaechel, Oberholtz, Griesbaechel, Schnurgraben, and the Wallbach. Bouxwiller has a ''Cfb''
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
in the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
with an annual average temperature of and annual average precipitation of .


Transport

A railway from
Saverne Saverne (, ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a mountain pass, pass ...
was opened on 15 October 1877, with the railroad station in Bouxwiller opening the following year. The line was extended to
Haguenau Haguenau (; or ; ; historical ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Département in France, department of France, of which it is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg ...
in 1881 and Ingwiller in 1889. Service between Bouxwiller and Ingwiller ended in 1953; the remaining line served passenger trains until 1970 and freight trains until 1989. The rail line has since been removed and its right-of-way now forms a cycle path, while the Bouxwiller train station has been remodeled and houses artisanal shops.


Population


See also

*
Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):Communes of Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Historic Jewish communities