Henzi, Samuel

▪ Swiss conspirator

born 1701, Bern

died July 17, 1749, Bern

      principal organizer of the “Henzi conspiracy” (June 1749) that sought to overturn the patrician government of the Swiss canton of Bern.

      After service in Italy under the Duke of Modena (1741–43), Henzi returned to his native city, where he became embroiled in the affair of the Memorial (1744), a petition by the Bernese lower bourgeoisie to have opened to them more positions in government administration. For his part in the imbroglio, he was accused of treason and was banished for five years. Retiring to Neuchâtel, in western Switzerland, he worked for a time on the Journal helvétique, but on receiving his pardon he returned to Bern (1748). There, his career ambitions thwarted by patrician privilege, he organized a conspiracy with 60 to 70 other burghers to overthrow the government and establish a petit bourgeois oligarchy. His plan was prematurely revealed, however, and he was arrested and subsequently executed. Although it was crushed, the conspiracy aroused attention throughout Europe.

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