Boßler family

Boßler, also spelled Bossler or Bosler in some family branches or testimonies of earlier centuries, is the changed name of a patrilineal lateral branch of the patrician family Rüde based in the electoral palatinate chief administrative city Mosbach. The southern Hessian family was particularly notable in the manufacture of air guns, in the field of music journalism and music engraving and in German inland passenger and freight shipping on the rivers Neckar and Rhine. In addition, individual members of the family achieved importance in scientific or cultural terms over the course of time.

The unbroken line of the family dynasty, which has resided with a branch in France since 1791 and another branch in Neckarsteinach in the Bergstrasse district since 1822, has been documented in the area of the historic district of Lichtenberg (district Darmstadt-Dieburg) since 1616. Members of the dynasty appeared there as local lower and higher judicial court officials, as princely state officials in the forestry and cameral system of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt and as burgraves belonging to the hesse court officials. Due to their social standing, they belonged to the regional notables.

The Origin of the Family


The Boßler family represent a lawful patrilineal branch of the patricians Rüde, who had lived in Mosbach since 1482. The Rüden, who ranked among the wealthiest burghers of the chief administrative city, practised crafts and trade. As councillors and mayors, the patrician family was involved in the local government and was one of Mosbach's lenders. The Rüde family of Mosbach also became part of the patriciate of the imperial city of Heilbronn and were related to the Heilbronn patriciate as well as the patriciate of the imperial city of Hall and families ennobled by imperial letters patent.

Rüde is a nomen gentilicium, which was changed to the dialectal occupational surname Boßler at the request of the bearer of the name between 1633 and 1640. The Boßler family tree begins in 1616 in the Hessian Amt Lichtenberg. At Asbach, now a district of the municipality of Modautal the family survived the Thirty Years' War unharmed. Martin Rüde dictus Boßler (1616–1694) is the progenitor of the family. He had four sons: Christian (1643–1690) burgrave and gunsmith, Matthaeus (1645–1716), Peter (1654–1697) and Johann Valentin (1661–1719). All four of them were born under the freely adopted surname Boßler, which had replaced the nomen gentilicium Rüde.

Coat of arms


As rightful male side line and thus a member oft the agnatic legal community of the patrician family Rüde, the Boßlers bear the same coat of arms, which shows a black, smooth-haired Rüde pointing upwards towards the jump with open mouth, craving red tongue and tail curved over itself on a yellow or golden escutcheon with a frog-mouth helm.

In 1607, prince-elector Frederick IV of the Palatinate confirmed the above blazoned family coat of arms by grant of arms with feudal fief article and granted an augmentation of honour consisting of a tilting helmet with black mantling on the outside and a yellow or golden on the inside, from which two black horns emerge at the top and a yellow or golden six-pointed star between them. During his imperial vicariate Prince-elector Frederick V of the Palatinate increased the Rüde coat of arms again in 1619 by grant of arms with feudal fief article. An imperial or electoral issuance of arms with a feudal fief article is recognised as a patent of nobility by the Almanach de Gotha.

cultural and social significance
In the field of music and drama, the fine arts were shaped by two descendants of the South Hessian dynasty who were among the cultural elite of their time. The first was the renowned music publisher Heinrich Philipp Boßler (1744–1812), a figure who shaped music publishing in the 18th century. On the other hand, there was Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, a childhood friend of Goethe and one of the most important poets in literary history, whose work Sturm und Drang gave its name to an entire literary epoch in the Age of Enlightenment. Klinger found a connection to the Boßler family through his paternal grandmother's line. Both descend from the gunsmith Christian Boßler.

The baltic knighthoods itself points out that Klinger was married to an illegitimate daughter of the Russian empress Catherine the Great.

In addition, branches and twigs of the Boßler family share ancestors with important personalities from the fields of theology, science, politics and culture in earlier centuries or are closely intertwined with their family trees. These include, for example, the outstanding chemist Justus Liebig or Georg Gottfried Gervinus (1805–1871) as well as Friedrich Ludwig Weidig. At this point, the social-genealogical reference to the internationally known Merck family of Darmstadt also seems remarkable. In addition, there are recurring genealogical links to families of forestry and hunting officials or members of the Lutheran clergy.

The Paris branch, i.e. the French part of the family descended from Matthäus Boßler. The most famous scientific representative was the astronomer Jean Bosler (1878–1973), whose work was shaped by his work as director at the Marseille Observatory. His scientific work was award-winning, even the Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrödinger considered him for his work. Jean Boslers great-grandfather came from Reinheim and went to Paris. In France the surname Boßler was changed to the form Bosler.

In the natural sciences, the chemical element Darmstadtium, with atomic number 110 in the group 10 elements of the periodic table, is also associated with the name Bossler.

Court gunsmith of the landgraves of Darmstadt
Members of the dynasty and descendants of the gunsmith Christian Boßler made a name for themselves as hesse-darmstadt court gunsmiths. They created rifles that can still be found in public or private collections throughout Europe and have even found their way into the catalogues of Christie's, the global auction house. All in all, these family members have achieved a high social standing, are part of Hesse-Darmstadt's hunting history and have attained pioneer status through their famous creative art in the manufacture of air rifles.

The air rifles of the hesse-darmstadt court gunsmiths Johann Peter (1689–1742) and Friedrich Jacob Boßler (1717–1793) so famous that they were copied during the lifetime of their creators.



Inland shipping company in Neckarsteinach
The Neckarsteinach branch, ergo the entire family from Neckarsteinach, is divided into an older and a younger family line and belongs to the history of shipping on the Neckar. The older line was active in cargo shipping on the Rhine and its tributaries. The Boßlers in Neckarsteinach are also descended from Matthaeus Boßler through the schoolmaster and merchant Johannes Boßler (1796–1834) from Nieder-Modau (near Ober-Ramstadt). The younger line concentrated on the business of passenger shipping (white shipping). It operated a passenger shipping company based in Bad Friedrichshall as well as two shipping companies in Neckarsteinach and Heidelberg. In the process, the family tradition of operating passenger transport on the Neckar since 1796 was advertised for tourist purposes. Members of the younger family line are considered pioneers of passenger shipping on the Neckar, as they were already active in this business field in the 1920s.

The guest list of the passenger companies run by the younger line included high personalities from the state and politics as well as furthermore foreign representatives. Descendants of the shipping entrepreneur Andreas Boßler (1884–1961) are today shareholders in the passenger shipping company Weisse Flotte Heidelberg.

Thus a family branch of the younger line is involved in one of the largest tourism companies in the shipping industry in southern Germany.

Incidentally, the piano manufacturer Henry Ackerman (1845–1923) in Marion, Ohio (Ackerman & Lowe) belonged to the nephews of Johannes Boßler through his mother, Margaretta Ackerman(n) a née Bossler from Nieder-Modau.

Bibliography in German language

 * Marcel Christian Boßler: Die hessischen Büchsenmacher Boßler. Two Parts, in: Archiv für hessische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Darmstadt 2022–2023,.
 * Part 1. Eine Waffenmanufaktur als Komponente der hessen-darmstädtischen Jagdhistorie und Diplomatie. (2022), p. 91–130.
 * Part 2. Drei Brüder, ein feurig-pulvriges Kunsthandwerk und die europäisch funkende Vetternschaft von Heinrich Philipp Boßler mit Friedrich Maximilian Klinger. (2023), p. 45–84.
 * Marcel Christian Boßler: Er war nicht zu Zella geboren! Der Hessen-Darmstädtische Hofbüchsenmacher Johann Peter Boßler und seine Dynastie, in: Waffen- und Kostümkunde. Zeitschrift für Waffen- und Kleidungsgeschichte, Sonnefeld 2020,, p. 151–174.
 * Beethoven-Haus Bonn: Die musikalische Welt des jungen Beethoven. Beethovens Verleger Heinrich Philipp Boßler, Bonn 2001.
 * Helmut Betz: Historisches vom Strom. Die Neckarschiffahrt vom Treidelkahn zum Groß-Motorschiff, Vol. 5, Duisburg 1989, ISBN 3-924999-04-X, p. 53, 122, 128, 142–148.
 * Hans Schneider: Der Musikverleger Heinrich Philipp Bossler 1744–1812. Mit bibliographischen Übersichten und einem Anhang Mariane Kirchgeßner und Boßler, Tutzing 1985, ISBN 3-7952-0500-X.
 * Günter Benja: Personenschiffahrt in deutschen Gewässern. Vollständiges Verzeichnis aller Fahrgastschiffe und -dienste, mit 115 Schiffsfotos, Oldenburg 1975, ISBN 3-7979-1853-4, p. 34–35.
 * Europa-Verkehr = European transport = Transports européens. Band 18, Otto Elsner, Darmstadt 1970,, p. 122–123.