Müller, Johannes von (Schaffhausen, 1752-1809, Kassel), Swiss historian, who began as a schoolmaster, published his first historical work, Die Geschichten der Schweizer, in 1780; this later developed into the five-volume Geschichten schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft (1786-1808) which takes the history of the Swiss to 1489. In 1807 he edited J. G. Herder's Stimmen der Völker in Liedern.

Müller became a much sought-after scholar and held appointments successively in Kassel, Mainz, Vienna, Berlin, and again in Kassel. His title of nobility dates from 1791. His other historical writings include 24 Bücher allgemeiner Geschichte (3 vols., 1811) and works on the Papacy and the League of Princes (see Fürstenbund), Darstellung des Fürstenbundes, published anonymously in 1787. Among his admirers were Goethe and Schiller; the latter used Müller's Swiss history as one of his sources for Wilhelm Tell.

Müller's works were edited by his brother J. G. Müller as Sämtliche Werke (27 vols.), 1810-19, and (40 vols.), 1831-5. Schriften in Auswahl, ed. E. Bonjour, appeared in 1953, and correspondence, Briefwechsel mit Herder, ed. K. E. Hoffmann, in 1952.

(yōhä'nəs fən mül'ər) , 1752–1809, Swiss historian. He spent much of his life in Germany, where he held political posts under the elector of Mainz, the king of Prussia, and King Jérôme Bonaparte of Westphalia. His patriotic history of Switzerland (5 vol., 1786–1808, in German), long since superseded, was hailed in its day with great enthusiasm. Evoking the past, Müller praised traditional institutions. He fully accepted the William Tell legend; from Müller's history Schiller drew the material for his drama.