Talk:Bernhard Müller

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LEON, CountL, religious mystic, utopian. Born Maximilian Bernhard Mueller, March 21, 1788, in Kostheim, near Mainz, Germany; son of Helen Balzer and Adam Mueller. Claimed to be the messiah ordained to found the New Jerusalem. Marriage to Elizabeth Heuser, "Countess De Leon" (q.v.), was never recorded. Their three children, Johanna, Joseph and Anna, were given the surname of De Leon's secretary, Dr. Goentgen (q.v.). Leader of an millenial group in Offenbach, Germany, in 1827; left Germany and sailed to America, 1831, to avoid imprisonment; joined George Rapp's Harmony Society in Economy, Pa.; established a commune called The New Philadelphia Society in Philipsburg, Pa., March 21, 1832; group left for Louisiana in 1833; settled at Grand Ecore, near Natchitoches, February 4, 1834. Died there on August 29, 1834. Followers founded the colony of Germantown, near the present city of Minden, in 1835. K.J.R.A. & J.B.C. Sources: Karl J. R. Arndt, "The Genesis of Germantown, Louisiana: or The Mysterious Past of Louisiana's Mystic, Count De Leon," Louisiana Historical Quarterly , XXIV (1941); Manuscript collection of Karl J. R. Arndt. See also Arndt, Economy on the Ohio, 1826-1834 (1984).
LEON, Elisa Leon (Countess Leon), leader of Germantown communal colony. Born, Frankfurt, Germany, 1798; daughter of Johann and Anna Maria Heuser. Claimed to have married Bernhard Mueller of Frankfurt, Germany, also known as Count Leon (q.v.), date unknown. Three children, Johanna Schardt, Joseph Maximilian and Anna Stahl. Subject came to America, 1831, with group led by husband, a religious mystic. Joined Rappite colony in Pennsylvania. Two years later, after split with Rappites, left for Louisiana to establish a New Jerusalem near Natchitoches. Count Leon and other relatives soon died of cholera, leaving subject in charge. Moved colony away from Red River to new site a few miles above future town of Minden, present Webster Parish, 1835. Communal colony flourished until after Civil War, then declined and was abandoned, 1871. Subject especially remembered for perpetuating old world grace and culture in Northwest Louisiana. Date of death unknown, probably died in Hot Springs, Ark. P.C.C. Sources: Pauline Jennings, "Elisa Leon: First Lady of the Germantown Colony," North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, VIII, No. 2 (Winter, 1977); Rita Moore Krouse, Fragments of a Dream: The Story of Germantown (1962).
Geneisner (talk) 07:55, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Possible Birth and Death Information

message: When studying the history of Bernhard Müller (1788-1834), aka "Count de Leon", the subject of his title comes into question.  He claimed more than one title over the course of his life, and this has been documented in a number of sources.  He claimed to be a Count, an Archduke, and the "Lion of Judah", among other things too, no doubt.  However, none of these titles of nobility can be proven, and they were most likely the fanciful creation of Müller himself.  Most of the literature by and about the Harmony Society in Pennsylvania depicts Müller as a charlatan, a false prophet, and a fraud.  It's easy to see why the Harmony Society would depict Müller in such a negative light, due to his involvement in their schism of 1832.  Though, some of the literature written about Müller and his followers in Louisiana is usually a little more sympathetic to the "Count" (most likely because the writers in Louisiana are trying to present a better picture of him due to their local interests).  Karl J. R. Arndt, who was a professor of German language at Louisiana State University from 1935 into the 1940s, began doing work on the Germantown Colony site around that time, and he generally depicted a more favorable view of the "Count" than of George Rapp, especially initially, even though Arndt later shifted the majority of his work in historical writing to the Harmony Society and to Rapp in particular.  Nevertheless, some still claim there is obvious bias in Arndt's writing.  I live close to Old Economy Village in Pennsylvania, and there the "Count" is not depicted too well in the literature.  There, the "Count" is basically seen as a snake in George Rapp's garden.  However, in Monaca, Pennsylvania, where the "Count" and his followers moved after leaving Economy, the "Count" isn't really presented negatively at all.  So, locality definitely does seem to have a big influence on how certain historical figures are presented in different places, and this does seem to be the case here too.
As for evidence that Müller was in any way related to (or descended from) any type of nobility, well, I have seen no such evidence to back up any of those claims.  There are the uncertain statements from the Biographic-Bibliographic Church Lexicon, Volume XXIII (2004) Columns 978-984 Author: Claus Bernet, and that biographical entry only reinforces the notion that his claims of nobility are very questionable (if not outright unlikely).  The Louisiana Historical Association's, Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, even claims that Müller was merely the son of two German commoners, a Helen Balzer and Adam Müller.  Then I saw an article by John Agan dated May 9, 2008, entitled "The Germantown Story" in the Northwestern Louisiana News that claims "Leon was the uncle of Empress Marie Louise of Austria, the second wife of Napoleon and had ties to royalty throughout Europe. He used these ties to stay in Europe long after authorities had expelled most other Utopians."  This is more than likely pure fantasy or wishful thinking on the part of Agan and/or the people who gave him that story.  The only way that story could be true is if the fanciful story the "Count" created himself about being the twin sibling of Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este () had any shred of accuracy to it, which makes no sense whatsoever because they weren't even born on the same date according to Müller's claim that he was born on Good Friday, March 21, 1788.  Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este was born on December 14, 1787.  There's no way they were twins, and it's highly unlikely that they were even related.  These types of stories seem to be pure fantasy on the part of Bernhard Müller.  It seems that Bernhard Müller created a fake biography about himself, and falsely claimed to be from the House of Austria-Este, and falsely claimed to be the son of Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria-Este and Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'Este, and thus falsely claimed to be the brother of Archduke Maximilian of Austria–Este and Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este.  
Perhaps a more accurate early biographical sketch of Bernhard Müller thus far is by Ellen C. Merrill, in the book Germans of Louisiana (2005).  On page 88 it says, "This man was actually a peasant, born as Bernhard Müller, in Kostheim in 1788.  Because of the poverty of his family, as a boy he was put in a cloister, where his religious fanaticism developed. At fourteen he was sent out by the brothers to work as a servant, a position from which he ran away.  He then wandered for several years in the Taunus Mountains wearing a chain and hair shirt and recording religious visions.  Luckily he found a protector, Landgrave Karl of Frankfurt, a nobleman convinced of Proli's God-given ability to change base metals into gold.  Landgrave Karl soon introduced Proli to his powerful and wealthy circle of friends, among whom Proli soon developed a significant following."  Pages 87 and 88:  "The religious dissidents who formed Germantown were forced to leave their homeland because of the seditious political activities of their leader, Maximilian Ludwig Proli (Bernhard Müller), who was seen as the Messiah by his followers.  Proli, who then called himself Count Leon von Proli, was an alchemist and visionary who claimed direct ancestry from Christ.  He saw himself as the prophet of the Second Coming, the judge of mankind, and the chosen instrument of God, destined to establish a new order on earth.  In 1829 he issued a proclamation to the Pope in Rome as well as to the kings and princes of Europe, demanding abdication of their worldly powers in deference to the imminent approach of the last judgment, with Proli as its instrument.  Understandably, he was arrested and exiled."  Also on page 88:  "In 1831 he left Frankfurt with fifty-six followers and eventually settled in Louisiana, at Grand Ecore, just outside of Nachitoches.  Proli chose this location because it was on the same geographical latitude as Jerusalem. However, yellow fever broke out in the new colony, killing a number of the settlers, including Proli himself. The houses, which they had built on a bluff over the Red River, were undercut and washed away by spring floods.  Proli's valiant common-law wife, the wealthy and visionary daughter of a Frankfurt merchant, then led the colonists along a branch of the river to what was called Corianna Allen's Landing.  Here the countess purchased a large tract of government land."  Well, I would say that is probably a more accurate portrayal of the origins of Bernhard Müller and the history of his relatively small religious movement when compared to the more lofty and fanciful stories.
Geneisner (talk) 09:06, 12 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: False claims of nobility

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