Jan Gerritsz. Bicker (1591–1653) was a merchant, a mayor (

burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chie ...

) and a member of the Bicker family, an influential patrician family from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. De Bickers were part of the ''staatsgezinde partij'' (the pro-republican party) and opponents of the stadtholders, who belonged to the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau ( Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherland ...

. Jan Bickers son-in-law, the influential Grand Pensionary

Johan de Witt Johan de Witt (; 24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672), ''lord of Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp en IJsselvere'', was a Dutch statesman and a major political figure in the Dutch Republic in the mid-17th century, the F ...

practically controlled the

Republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

during the

First Stadtholderless Period The First Stadtholderless Period or Era (1650–72; nl, Eerste Stadhouderloze Tijdperk) is the period in the history of the Dutch Republic in which the office of Stadtholder was vacant in five of the seven Dutch provinces (the provinces of Fries ...

in 1650–1672.

Biography

Family

Jan Bicker was a son of

Gerrit Bicker Gerrit Pieter Bicker (1554–1604) was a Dutch merchant, patrician, and one of the founders of the Compagnie van Verre and its successor the Dutch East India Company. Family Born in Amsterdam, Gerrit Bicker was the son of Pieter Pietersz Bick ...

, and brother of

Cornelis Cornelis is a Dutch form of the male given name Cornelius. Some common shortened versions of Cornelis in Dutch are Cees, Cor, Corné, Corneel, Crelis, Kees, Neel and Nelis. Cornelis (Kees) and Johannes (Jan) used to be the most common given na ...

and Andries Bicker, both influential merchants and

burgemeester Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief m ...

s of the city. His older brother

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ...

was lord of Engelenburg. Bicker was married to

Agneta de Graeff van Polsbroek Agneta de Graeff van Polsbroek ( Amsterdam, 10 November 1603 – 3 or 4 March 1656), was a patrician woman from the Dutch Golden Age. She became known as the mother-in-law of Johan de Witt. Biography Agneta was born as the oldest daughter o ...

, a sister of

Cornelis de Graeff Cornelis de Graeff, also Cornelis de Graeff van (Zuid-)Polsbroek (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664) was the most illustrious member of the De Graeff family. He was a mayor of Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age and a powerful Amsterdam regent after ...

. Four daughters were born from this marriage: * Elisabeth Bicker married Jacobus

Trip Trip may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Trip (''Pokémon''), a ''Pokémon'' character * Trip (Power Rangers), in the American television series ''Time Force Power Rangers'' * Trip, in the 2013 film ''Metallica Through th ...

, a wealthy arms dealer * Geertruida Bicker married Jean Deutz, a very rich Banker of Amsterdam * Wendela Bicker married

* Jacoba Bicker married her full cousin

Pieter de Graeff Pieter de Graeff (15 August 1638 – 3 June 1707), was a member of the De Graeff-family from the Dutch Golden Age. He was an Amsterdam Regent during the late 1660s and the early 1670s, and held the titles as Lord of the semi-sovereign Fief Zuid ...

Career

Jan Bicker was for his time a wealthy man. He act as a shipbuilder and merchant in Amsterdam. His trade mainly was focussed on the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

. Aside from

Baarn Baarn () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, near Hilversum in the province of Utrecht. The municipality of Baarn The municipality of Baarn consists of the following towns: Baarn, Eembrugge, Lage Vuursche. The town of Baarn ...

he also had countryhouses in

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast ...

: ''Akerendam'' (1637) and ''Duynwijck''. Within the city of Amsterdam, Jan Bicker owned almost an entire island, called the '' Bickerseiland''. He bought the island in 1631 and had an enormous house with a high tower built there so that he could see his ships arrive. He lived on Keizersgracht (221). Jan Bicker was the cities inspector of the ropes, and in 1647 he became

Schepen A schepen (Dutch; . ') or échevin (French) or Schöffe (German) is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands. It has been replaced by the ' in the Netherlands (a municipal executive). In modern Belgium, the ''schepen'' or ''éch ...

. When stadtholder William II attacked the city in 1650, one of his demands was that the Bickers voluntarily resigned their positions. The brothers were never burgemeester at the same time, but they had made agreements about an alliance, the so-called ''Bickerse ligue''. After William II died in that same year, the Bickers regained their position during the

. When Andries died, Jan was given the position of burgemeester, but did not keep it for long. Several ownerships of Jan Bicker, amongst which the countryhouse 'De Eult' in

, eventually later fell into the hands of the stadtholders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicker, Jan 1591 births 1653 deaths Businesspeople from Amsterdam Dutch States Party politicians Mayors of Amsterdam Jan Nobility from Amsterdam