The New International Encyclopædia/Müller, Johannes von

MÜLLER, Johannes von (1752-1809). A German historian. He was born January 3, 1752, at Schaffhausen, where his father was a clergyman and rector of the gymnasium. He studied at Göttingen under Heyne, Schlözer, Walch, and others. In 1772 he was appointed professor of Greek at Schaffhausen, and in the same year published his first work, Bellum Cimbricum. He now began to devote his leisure hours to the investigation of Swiss chronicles and documents. In 1780 he published the first volume of his great work, Geschichte der Schweizer, and in 1781 was called to the Collegium Carolinum at Cassel, as professor of statistics. In 1786 he was appointed librarian and Councilor of State to the Elector of Mainz; here he finished the second volume of his Swiss history; his Darstellung des Fürstenbundes (1787); and Briefe zweier Domherren (1787). In 1792 he went to Vienna, where the Emperor made him a member of the Aulic Council, and where he in 1800 became first Imperial librarian. In 1804 he left Vienna for Berlin, where he wrote, among other things, an additional volume of his Swiss history. Introduced to Napoleon after the battle of Jena, he was appointed by him (1807) Secretary of State in the new Kingdom of Westphalia. He died at Cassel, May 29, 1809. His works have all been replaced by more modern researches, but in their own day they were of great value. Besides those mentioned, the Vierundzwanzig Bücher allgemeiner Geschichte, based on lectures delivered in Geneva (1811 and often republished), are important. Müller's Sämmtliche Werke were published (27 vols., Stuttgart, 1810-19; new ed., 40 Vols., 1831-35).