Nägeli, Hans Franz

▪ Swiss politician

born c. 1497, , Aigle, Savoy

died Jan. 9, 1579, Bern

      Swiss politician and military leader who was prominent in Bern's public affairs for nearly 40 years.

      Nägeli was captain of the Bernese forces in the campaign against the adventurer-robber baron Giangiacomo Medici, lord of Musso (1531) and during the occupation of the frontier of the canton of Valais in the second Kappel War (an intercantonal religious struggle). In 1536 he subsequently commanded a Bernese contingent of 6,000 men in the liberation of the canton of Vaud from Savoyard control and led an expedition against the Bishop of Lausanne that freed François Bonivard from the castle of Chillon. Between 1540 and 1568 he served as chief magistrate for Bern. He determined much of the canton's foreign policy and served on numerous diplomatic missions.

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