Friedrich Müller

Friedrich Müller was a fictional German noble who was Holy Roman Emperor for a short time.
== Background ==
Hubert Müller was a German mercenary who fought for the English in the Hundred Years' War. After a skirmish, he was captured by French soldiers. They were going to execute him as they did not believe they could make any money from ransoming him, but before they did such a thing, Hubert claimed that he was a noble who would fetch a high price if he was returned to his homeland. To give credibility to this lie, Hubert told this outrageous story of how he is descended from Holy Roman Emperors, and how his ancestor rose to power. The French soldiers were poorly educated and so couldn't work out if the story was true, but they still doubted the validity of it. They strongly considered the possibility that it could be true though, and were blinded by promises of riches. They would have eventually found out about Hubert's lies no matter what, but they first had to journey through the countryside and back to Paris, which gave Hubert the time he needed to escape. Once he did this, he made his way to the coast and booked passage for England, using some loot he had managed to steal from the soldiers.
== Biography ==
Müller inherited a successful milling business from his family. He was thoroughly middle class in a society where advancing further was very difficult. The local count was very weak and had no heirs. Müller used his position as a successful business man to become good friends with the Duke of Bavaria. When the Count died, there was a small conflict between mercenaries hired by Müller and ones hired by the Count's distant relative. Müller won the conflict with the support of the Duke and managed to become the Count of the local area. 
It was difficult for Müller as he was not a noble, but he managed to stay in power for many years and even waged war against other vassals of the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually he managed to usurp the title of the Duchy of Bavaria. From this position he became good friends with other powerful vassals and even the Kaiser himself. When the Kaiser died of old age a few years later, Müller somehow won the election for the next one and was crowned in 1084. He would die in 1090 of illness and his family would continue to raise Emperors.