Andries Bicker

Andries Bicker (14 September 1586 – 24 June 1652) was a prominent burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam, politician and diplomat in the Dutch Republic. He belonged to the Bicker family, who, together with the related De Graeff family, ruled the city of Amsterdam and thus the province of Holland for about half a century. At that time, the Republic was at the height of its power. At the end of the Twelve Years' Truce he became a member of the city council and the leader of the Bickerse faction, after Reynier Pauw's political end in 1620. Then the management of the Amsterdam city council fell into the hands of the tolerant Bicker and his uncle Jacob Dircksz de Graeff. This also gave new impetus to the republican States faction, which had been weakened since the assassination of Land's Advocate Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. Andries Bicker, the leader of the so called "Bickerse league", was considered one of the strongest political adversaries of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, and controlled Dutch foreign policy. He, together with his brother Cornelis Bicker and cousin Cornelis de Graeff, portrayed as Bicker-De Graeff clan, was one of the main initiators of Peace of Münster effectively bringing an end to the Eighty Years' War.