TheSeyler family (also spelledSeiler) is a Swiss family, originally apatrician family fromLiestal nearBasel. Family members served as councillors andSchultheißen of Liestal from the 15th century, later also as members of theGrand Council of Basel. AHamburg branch descended from the banker and renowned theatre directorAbel Seyler became by marriage a part of theBerenberg banking dynasty, co-owners ofBerenberg Bank and part of Hamburg's ruling class ofHanseaten.

Among the earliest known family members are Johannes Seyler, who was a councillor inLiestal in 1445, and Martin Seyler, aSchultheiß (mayor) of Liestal in 1477. Balthasar Seyler (died 1460) was a canon and dean of theStift of St. Peter.^[1]

Magister Friedrich Seyler (1603–1676), a native ofBasel, first served as parish priest ofBichwyl andLütisburg inSt. Gallen, later as teacher and rector of theSchule auf Burg gymnasium inBasel, and then again as parish priest, and obtained the Basel burghership in 1670.^[1][2][3] He was married to Rosina Stöcklin (1612–1681), daughter of the Basel council member Matthys Stöcklin (1577-1649), and they were the parents of Margaretha Seyler (1639–1695), who married Professor of Ethics, Rhetoric and Law Simon Battier (1629–1681), and of the notedCalvinist theologianFriedrich Seyler (1642–1708).

Friedrich Seyler was pastor at St. Peter's Church in Basel and wrote a history ofAnabaptism and a refutation of Anabaptist "errors."^[4][5] In 1672, he married ElisabethSocin (born 1655),^[6][7][8] who belonged to an Italian-origined noble family and who was the daughter of the Basel judge, member of the Grand Council and envoy to the French courtAbel Socin (1632–1695) and Maria Hummel (1635–1681), as well as a niece of Basel burgomasterEmanuel Socin.

Friedrich Seyler and Elisabeth Socin were the parents of the theologian Dr.theol. Abel Seyler (1684–1767), who was parish priest of Frenkendorf-Munzach in theLiestal district of Basel from 1714 to 1763.^[9] Abel Seyler was married to Anna Katharina Burckhardt (1694–1773), a member of the Basel patricianBurckhardt family and the daughter of Johann Rudolf Burckhardt and Anna MariaMerian, and granddaughter of SusannaFaesch. Anna Katharina Burckhardt was a descendant of the famous publisher and humanistJohann Froben and many of her ancestors had been councillors and burgomasters of Basel.

Abel Seyler the Elder and Anna Katharina Burckhardt were the parents of Elisabeth Seyler (1715–1798), married to parish priest DanielMerian (1700–1779), and businessman and famed theatre directorAbel Seyler (1730–1801).

Abel Seyler (1730–1801) emigrated from Liestal toHamburg and established himself as a wealthy businessman there. He established the bankSeyler & Tillemann with his business associateJohann Martin Tillemann, which speculated heavily on currencydebasement during theSeven Years' War. The company went spectacularly bankrupt in what was termed a "malicious bankruptcy" with 3 millionMark Banco, an enormous sum, in debts, but Seyler and Tillemann were able to retain some of their fortunes.^[10] Subsequently, Seyler devoted himself completely to the theatre, first as the main financial backer of theHamburgische Entreprise (the Hamburg National Theatre), collaborating closely with its dramaturgeGotthold Ephraim Lessing, and subsequently as the founder and director of theSeyler theatrical company, becoming "the leading patron of German theatre" in his lifetime and employing some of Germany's foremost actors, playwrights and composers. Abel Seyler is also credited with introducingShakespeare to a German language audience.^[11] Heinter alia commissioned the playSturm und Drang byKlinger, that gave its name to the era.

In 1754, Abel Seyler married Sophie ElisabethAndreae (1730–1764), the daughter of the wealthyHanover court pharmacist Leopold Andreae (1686–1730) and the sister of the renowned natural scientistJ.G.R. Andreae. They were the parents of two sons and a daughter, the court pharmacist andIlluminati memberAbel Jacob Gerhard Seyler, the prominent Hamburg bankerLudwig Erdwin Seyler (1758–1836) andSophie Marie Katharina Seyler (1762–1833).^[12] Following the death of their mother in 1764, the Seyler children grew up with their uncle J.G.R. Andreae in Hanover and hardly saw their biological father for the rest of his life. In 1772, Abel Seyler married his long-time mistressFriederike Sophie Seyler (1737/1738–1789), who was alongsideFriederike Caroline Neuber Germany's leading actress of the 18th century, and who wrote the SingspielHüon und Amande that was a major inspiration for the libretto of the operaThe Magic Flute. They had no children.

The oldest son of Abel Seyler, Abel Jacob Gerhard Seyler (1756–1805), was court pharmacist inCelle 1791–1803 and also inherited theAndreae & Co. pharmacy with his two siblings as co-heirs, which was sold in 1803. He was married to Karoline Auguste Luise Klügel (1770–1841), a daughter of the noted mathematician and physicistGeorg Simon Klügel. Their only son wasGeorg August Wilhelm Seyler (1800–1866), a doctor of theology and pastor inAnnaburg. He was married (1826) to Klara Franziska Hoppe, a daughter of theFreiburgsuperintendent (bishop) Ernst August Dankegott Hoppe. Georg Seyler became a second father to his wife's orphaned younger siblings, and in 1864 he formally adopted his 25 years younger brother in law, the later noted physiologist and chemistFelix Hoppe-Seyler, who added the Seyler name to his birth name.

The second son of Abel Seyler, Ludwig Erdwin Seyler (1758–1836), was married to Anna Henriette Gossler (1771–1836), a member of the HamburgHanseaticBerenberg-Gossler banking dynasty, who was the eldest daughter of bankerJohann Hinrich Gossler andElisabeth Berenberg (1749–1822). Elisabeth Berenberg was the only heir of theFlemish-origined Berenberg banking family ofgrand burghers who establishedBerenberg Bank in 1590, and her grandfatherRudolf Berenberg had become a senator in 1735. She was also descended from theWelser family. Johann Hinrich Gossler had become owner of the bank by marrying her in 1768, as her father had no male heirs and as the Hamburg branch of the Berenberg family was becoming extinct in the male line. In 1788, Gossler took on Seyler, his son-in-law, as the new partner, and following Gossler's death in 1790, Ludwig Seyler became head of the firm. Ludwig Seyler served,inter alia, as President of theCommerz-Deputation (1817–18), one of Hamburg's three main political bodies, and as a member of theHamburg Parliament (Erbgesessene Bürgerschaft). He was the brother in law of Hamburg senatorJohann Heinrich Gossler and the uncle of First Mayor (head of state)Hermann Gossler.^[13]

Ludwig Seyler and Anna Henriette Gossler were the parents of

• Sophie Henriette Elisabeth ("Betty") Seyler (1789–1837), who married Hamburg businessmanGerhard von Hosstrup, who founded the Hamburger Börsenhalle in 1804. Their daughter Bertha von Hosstrup (1814–1902) was married to the legal scholar and politicianAlbert Hänel.
• Auguste Seyler, who married Gerhard von Hosstrup after the death of her sister
• Louise ("Wischen") Seyler (1799–1849), who married ship broker Ernst Friedrich Pinckernelle (1787–1868), whose sons founded theG. & J. E. Pinckernelle insurance broker firm
• Henriette Seyler (1805–1875), who married the Norwegian industrialistBenjamin Wegner (1795–1864), a co-owner ofBlaafarveværket,Hassel Ironworks and theHafslund estate, and owner ofFrogner Manor
• Emmy Seyler, married Homann
• Molly Seyler

The only daughter of Abel Seyler,Sophie Marie Katharina Seyler (1762–1833), who was regarded as strikingly beautiful,^[14] was married (1781) to their distant relative, theSturm und Drang poetJohann Anton Leisewitz, the author ofJulius of Taranto. They had no children.

• 
  Sophie Seyler, wife ofJohann Anton Leisewitz
• 
  Elisabeth Seyler (1789–1837), daughter ofBerenberg Bank ownerL.E. Seyler and Anna Henriette Gossler, and her husbandGerhard von Hosstrup, painted ca. 1815 byFriedrich Carl Gröger
• 
  Henriette Seyler (1805–75, married to industrialistBenjamin Wegner), daughter ofBerenberg Bank ownerL.E. Seyler and Anna Henriette Gossler, drawn by her sister Molly in 1827

Gules, a risingdeer,argent, withantler and cloven hooves,Or, that is, a rising white deer with golden antler and cloven hooves in a red shield.^[15] Sometimes the arms also includes a green base or mountain, e.g. in the arms of mayor of Liestal Adam Seiler from 1587.^[16]

• Berenberg-Gossler-Seyler banking dynasty
• Seyler theatrical company

• "Seiler, auch Seyler," inAllgemeines Helvetisches, Eydgenössisches, Oder Schweitzerisches Lexicon (1747–1765), XVII, pp. 42–45
• Seiler, inHistoriches Lexikon der Schweiz
• A. Seiler-Rosenmund,Stammbaum der Bürgergeschlechter von Liestal, vol. 1, 1908, pp. 111–119
• Josef Widmann,Bürger-Familienbuch von Liestal, Lüdin & Walser, 1860
• Auszug Stamm Seiler in / aus Liestal, stroux.org

Hamburg branch

• Magazin zur Geschichte des deutschen Theaters, 1773, VI, pp. 264–276
• Percy Ernst Schramm,Neun Generationen: Dreihundert Jahre deutscher Kulturgeschichte im Lichte der Schicksale einer Hamburger Bürgerfamilie (1648–1948), Vol. I, Göttingen, 1963
• Percy Ernst Schramm,Kaufleute zu Haus und über See. Hamburgische Zeugnisse des 17., 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts, Hamburg, Hoffmann und Campe, 1949
• Percy Ernst Schramm, "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
• Percy Ernst Schramm, "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

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