Everything about Andries Bicker totally explained
Andries Bicker (Amsterdam,
1586 - Amsterdam?,
24 June 1652) was a wealthy merchant on
Moscovia, a member of the
vroedschap, the leader of the
Arminians, an administrator of the
VOC, representative of the
States-General of the Netherlands and colonel in the
Civic guard.
The Bicker family, consisting of Andries' father Gerrit, a grain merchant and beer brewer, and his three brothers, Jacob, Jan and Cornelis, had a firm grip on world trade, trading on the East, the West, the North and the Mediterranean. (His uncle Laurens Bicker was one of the first to trade on Guinea and seized four Portuguese ships in 1604). In 1646, seven members of the Bicker family, called the Bicker's league, simultaneously held some political position or other. The Bickers provided silver and ships to Spain, and were very much interested in ending the
Eighty Years War. This brought them in conflict with the
stadholder, some provinces, like
Zeeland and
Utrecht, and the
Reformed preachers.
Life
Andries became a member of the vroedschap in 1616, in 1620
schepen of Amsterdam and in 1627, just over forty,
mayor of Amsterdam. He came to the fore through his knowledge and moderation. In 1627, he was delegated to go to Sweden and Poland, to close negotiations between these two countries, mediate a peace (culminating in the
Treaty of Sztumska Wieś) and at the same time set up new
Baltic trade agreements. In 1631 he was the owner of of a few plots in
Spanderswoud in
's-Graveland, the site where now the fine
Trompenburgh house stands. The Bicker family also had concerns in peat-digging in
Drenthe.
At the solemn entry of
Maria de Medici into Amsterdam in 1638, he and
Albert Burgh welcomed her in the name of the city's government. In 1643, he went with
Jacob de Witt to Sweden to mediate between Sweden and Denmark. Andries Bicker opposed the
stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, who intended the centralize the five admiralities, which would cause the
Admiralty of Amsterdam to lose influence.
After the
Peace of Münster was signed, Bicker was of the opinion that it was no longer necessary to maintain was a standing army, bringing him into vehement conflict with prince
Willem II, who had succeeded his father Frederick Henry as stadtholder. To regain power William went on the march towards Dordrecht and Amsterdam with an army. His troops got lost in a dense fog and were discovered by the postal courier on Hamburg, who also warned Andries' son Gerard, the
high bailiff of
Muiden, to leave without delay for Amsterdam. The mayors of Amsterdam had the civic guard called out, the bridges raised, the gates closed and the artillery dragged into position.
Andries Bicker was purged from the
vroedschap, as was his brother Cornelis, as one of the conditions of the treaty that followed, led by
Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen. Henceforth, it was the equally republican-minded
brothers De Graeff, and their following, who dominated Amsterdam. His niece
Wendela Bicker married the powerful
raadspensionaris Johan de Witt.
Sources
Further Information
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