Jan Bicker

Who was Jan Bicker?

Jan Gerritsz. Bicker was a merchant, a mayor and a member of the Bicker family, an influential patrician family from Amsterdam.

The son of Gerrit Bicker, he was a shipbuilder and merchant in Amsterdam. His trade mainly was focussed on the Levant. Jan Bicker was the cities inspector of the ropes, and in 1647 he became Schepen. His brothers Cornelis and Andries Bicker were influential merchants and burgemeesters of the city. His older brother Jacob was lord of Engelenburg. 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 First Stadtholderless Period. When Andries died, Jan was given the position of burgemeester, but did not keep it for long.