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 The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

Family

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Gerrit Bicker was the son of Pieter Pietersz Bicker (1522–1585), a brewer and Amsterdam

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to Danzig, and Lijsbeth Benningh, Banninck (an ancestor of

Frans Banninck Cocq Frans Banninck Cocq (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Banning), ''free lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam'' (February 23, 1605 – January 1, 1655) was a knight, burgemeester (mayor) and military person of Amsterdam in the mid-17th century, the Dutc ...

). His brothers were Laurens Bicker, Jacob Bicker (1555–1587) and his sister was Dieuwer Jacobsdr Bicker (1584–1641). He belonged to the powerful

Bicker family Bicker (also: Bicker van Swieten) is a Dutch patrician family, it has been a patrician family since 1390. The family has played an important role during the Dutch Golden Age. They led the Dutch States Party and were at the centre of the oligarch ...

of ''

regenten The ''regenten'' ( Dutch plural for ''regent'') were the rulers of the Dutch Republic from the 16th through the 18th century, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a her ...

''. In 1580 Gerrit Bicker married to Aleyd Andriesdr Boelens, descended from

burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, ) is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or executive of a city or town. The name in English was derived from the Dutch . In so ...

Andries Boelens Andries Boelens (Amsterdam, 1455 – there, 1519), also: ''Boelenz'', ''Boelensz., Andries Boel Dircksz.'' or ''Andries Boelen Dircksz'', was an alderman and mayor of Amsterdam. In the period from 1496 to 1517 he was mayor fifteen times. The ter ...

, making him brother in law to burgomaster Jan Claes Boelens. The couple had four children:

Andries Andries is a Dutch and Afrikaans masculine given name or surname equivalent to Andrew. Given name People with this name include * Andries van Artvelt (1590–1652), Flemish painter * Andries Beeckman (1628–1664), Dutch painter * Andries Bekke ...

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

, Jan and Cornelis Bicker.Johan Engelbert Elias, De Vroedschap van Amsterdam, 1578-1795, p 174
/ref>

Life

In 1585 Bicker was one of the richest merchants in Amsterdam, initially living on the

Oudezijds Achterburgwal The Oudezijds Achterburgwal, often abbreviated to ''OZ Achterburgwal'', is a street and canal in De Wallen, the red light district in the center of Amsterdam. Location and characteristics Just like the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, the OZ Achterburgwal ...

and later on the Niezel. In 1590 he was elected to the town council and six years later he not only became one of the founding directors of the Compagnie van Verre but also invested in Uilenburg, whilst also involved in the sale of plots of land. In 1597 he and his brother Laurens established the Compagnie van Guinee to trade with

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

and on the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

in South America. In 1601 Gerard le Roy and Laurens Bicker led the twelfth Dutch expedition to the east Indies, paid for by the Vereenigde Zeeuwse Compagnie (United Zeeland Company), a 'voorcompagnie'.De Vroedschap van Amsterdam, 1578-1795, p 173
/ref> In 1590 Bicker was appointed

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

and member of the

Vroedschap The ''vroedschap'' () was the name for the (all male) city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a ''vroedman'', literally a "wise man". An honorific title of the ''vroedschap'' was the ''vroede vadere ...

of Amsterdam. In 1600 he sold his father's brewery. In 1602 he became one of the first financial backers of the

, contributing 21,000

guilders Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' (" gold penny"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Rom ...

. He was also one of the first Dutch traders to trade with the

White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...

. In 1603 he became

of Amsterdam. His son laid the foundation stone of the

Zuiderkerk The Zuiderkerk (, "southern church") is a 17th-century Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Protestant church in the Nieuwmarkt area of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The church played an important part in the life of Rembr ...

. In 1604 Gerrit Bicker was appointed ' ambachtsheer' of

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

Nieuwer-Amstel Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

.Bestuurders van Amstelveen
/ref>

Sources

* Zandvliet, Kees, ''De 250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw. Kapitaal, macht, familie en levensstijl'' (2006 Amsterdam; Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers), 73

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bicker, Gerrit Mayors of Amsterdam 1554 births 1604 deaths Dutch merchants 16th-century Dutch people 17th-century Dutch people Gerrit Businesspeople from Amsterdam