alternatehistory.com

Andries Bicker
Regent and Mayor of Amsterdam

In office
1627–1636

Preceded by
Jacob de Graeff Dircksz.

Succeeded by
Cornelis de Graeff
President of the Dutch East Indies Company

Succeeded by
Cornelis de Graeff

Nationality
Dutch

Political party
States Faction

Spouse(s)
Catharina Gansneb von Tengnagel

Relations
Cornelis Bicker (brother)
Jan Bicker (brother)
Cornelis de Graeff (cousin)
Andries de Graeff (cousin)
Johan de Witt (nephew)
Cornelis de Witt (nephew)

Children
Gerard

Residence
Herengracht, Amsterdam, castle Engelenburg near Brummen

Occupation
Regent / Mayor and Landlord

Profession
merchant

Religion
Arminians/Remonstrants

Andries Bicker (Amsterdam, 1586 – Amsterdam?, 24 June 1636) 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.[1] He controlled the city's politics in close cooperation with his uncle Jacob Dircksz de Graeff and his brother Cornelis Bicker.
The Bicker family was one of the oldest patrician families of Amsterdam - 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). 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 stadtholder, some provinces, like Zeeland and Utrecht, and the Reformed preachers.[2]
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 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.
Andries Bicker opposed the stadtholderFrederick Henry, Prince of Orange, who intended the centralize the five admiralties, which would cause the Admiralty of Amsterdam to lose influence. At the end it was reduced to 3 admiralties, Holland, Zeeland and Friesland.
He died due to humonia after an accident in Amsterdam. He was the most political active member of the Bicker league and driving force of Holland and Amsterdam opposing the Stad Holder. After his death the influence of the families Bicker and de Graaff declined slowly but steadily.


Frederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch
(29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647), was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.

Contents
1 Biography
Biography


Early life
Frederick Henry was born on 29 January 1584 in Delft, Holland, Dutch Republic. He was the youngest child of William the Silent and Louise de Coligny. His father William was stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Friesland. His mother Louise was daughter of the Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny, and was the fourth wife of his father. He was thus the half brother of his predecessor Maurice of Orange, deceased in 1625.
Frederick Henry was born six months before his father's assassination on 10 July 1584. The boy was trained to arms by his elder brother Maurice, one of the finest generals of his age. After Maurice threatened to legimitize his illegitimate children if he did not marry, Frederick Henry married Amalia of Solms-Braunfels in 1625. His illegitimate son by Margaretha Catharina Bruyns (1595–1625), Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein was born in 1624 before his marriage. This son later became the governor of the young William III of England for seven years.
Stadtholder
On the death of Maurice in 1625 without legitimite issue, Frederick Henry succeeded him in his paternal dignities and estates, and also in the stadtholderates of the five provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Guelders, and in the important posts of captain and admiral-general of the Union (commander-in-chief of the Dutch States Army and of the Dutch navy).
Frederick Henry proved himself almost as good a general as his brother, and a far more capable statesman and politician. For twenty-two years he remained at the head of government in the United Provinces, and in his time the power of the stadtholderate reached its highest point. The "Period of Frederick Henry," as it is usually styled by Dutch writers, is generally accounted the golden age of the republic. It was marked by great military and naval triumphs, by worldwide maritime and commercial expansion, and by a wonderful outburst of activity in the domains of art and literature.
The chief military exploits of Frederick Henry were the sieges and captures of Grol in 1627, 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629, of Maastricht in 1632, of Breda in 1637, of Antwerp in 1638, of Bruges in 1640 and of Ghent in 1643. During the greater part of his administration the alliance with France against Spain had been the pivot of Frederick Henry's foreign policy, but in his last years he sacrificed the French alliance for the sake of concluding a separate peace with Spain, by which the United Provinces obtained from that power all the advantages they had been seeking for eighty years.
Frederick Henry built the country housesHuis Honselaarsdijk, Huis ter Nieuwburg, and for his wife Huis ten Bosch, and he renovated the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. Huis Honselaarsdijk and Huis ter Nieuwburg are now demolished.[1]
Death
Frederick Henry died on 14 March 1647 in The Hague, Holland, Dutch Republic. He left a wife, a son William II, Prince of Orange, four daughters, and the illegitimate son Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein.
On Frederick Henry's death, he was buried with great pomp beside his father and brother at Delft. The treaty of Munster, ending the long struggle between the Dutch and the Spaniards, was not actually signed until 30 January 1648, the illness and death of the stadtholder having caused a delay in the negotiations. Frederick Henry left an account of his campaigns in his Mémoires de Frédéric Henri (Amsterdam, 1743). See Cambridge Mod. Hist. vol. iv. chap. 24.


Battle of Kallo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Kallo
Part of the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War
The Battle of Kallo. Oil on canvas by Pieter Snayers.

Date
June 20, 1638

Location
Near Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands

Result
Decisive Dutch victory

Belligerents
United Provinces, Spain

United Provinces :

Strength
22,000 soldiers
(12,000 engaged)

Casualties and losses
384 dead,
922 wounded

Commanders and leaders
William of Nassau

Spain :

Strength
8,000 soldiers

Casualties and losses
2,500 dead or wounded
2,500 captured,
28 guns captured,

Commanders and leaders
Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand

The Battle of Kallo was a major battle of the Eighty Years' War. It was fought on 20 June of 1638 near the fort of Kallo, located on the left bank of the Scheldt river, between a Dutch army under the command of William of Nassau-Hilchenbach, and a Spanish army led by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. As the Dutch approached with the aim of surrounding the city of Antwerp, the Cardinal-Infante managed to assemble an army and almost repelled the much larger Dutch force, which lost several hundred men dead. The Battle of Kallo was the largest action of the Spanish-Dutch War, as well as the only pitched battle and the most significant Dutch victory of the late Eighty Years War.

Contents
1 Background
Background

The Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, by Anton Van Dyck.
While no major offensive operation was carried out against the United Provinces by the Spanish Army of Flanders during 1636–37,[ in July 1637 the statholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, marched into northern Barbant in command of an army of 18,000 soldiers and invested the Spanish-ruled city of Breda. Garrisoned by 3,000 Spaniards, Italians, Wallons and Burgundians, Breda was one of the main fortresses of the Spanish Netherlands and a symbol of the Spanish power in Europe. A Spanish force under the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand attempted to relieve the garrison of the city, but failed to dislodge the besiegers. Ferdinand decided move with his army to the valley of the Meuse, where he took Venlo and Roermond after two fierce bombardments, in order to distract Frederick Henry. However, he had to turn back shortly after, alarmed by the French advances in Artois, Hainaut and Luxembourg, and could not prevent the fall of Breda.
For the campaign of 1638, King Philip IV instructed the Cardinal-Infante to undertake an offensive strategy against the Dutch in order to subject them to massive pressure and force them to agree a favourable truce and the restoration of their conquests in Brazil, Breda, Maastricht, Rheinberg and Orsoy. The main objective of that year would be the capture of Rheinberg, which would give to Spain a crossing point in the Lower Rhine and contribute to tightening the blockade over Maastricht. Ferdinand was also ordered, when the offensive operations had finished, to quarter his army near the Dutch frontier in order to protect Antwerp, which had become more vulnerable since the loss of Breda, and even to reinforce the garrisons of many secondary fortresses.[12] In the end, however, the Spanish were pinned to the defensive by a coordinated Franco-Dutch attack in May 1638.[8]Marshall Châtillon laid siege to Saint-Omer covered by Marshall La Force in Picardy while Frederick Henry marched on Antwerp commanding an army of 22,000 soldiers, determined to besiege the city.

Battle

Dutch advance
William of Nassau-Siegen, by Jan Antonisz. van Ravesteyn.
A Dutch vanguard of 8,000 Dutchmen, Germans and Scots under Prince William of Nassau was dispatched ahead of the main army with orders to capture various forts and redoubts placed on the left bank of the Scheltd river. Initially the army was going to Bergen op Zoom, where Frederick Henry had sent 50 river barges, but then moved to Lillo_On the night of 13/14 June they crossed the Scheldt, landing at Kildreck, and easily occupied the Fort of Liefkenshoek, near the village of Kallo. According to a Spanish official letter from June 30 1638, the commander of the fort had previously been bribed with 24,000 silver coins to open the gates as they approached. According to other source, the man, a captain called Maes, was not involved in any treachery but asked permission from the Dutch to save the life. The remaining garrison, caught by surprise, was massacred. William proceeded the following morning to attack the Forts of Sainte Marie and Isabelle, the latter built on the levee of Voorderweert. He also ordered the dykes of the Polder of Melsele to be demolished with the aim of flooding the area, but the low tide prevented this.


General of the Artillery Andrea Cantelmo. Engraving by Anton van Dyck and Paulus Pontius.
Over the next four days, the Dutch sappers worked to improve the defenses of the main Fort of Liefkenshoek. Large amounts of earth and other necessary materials were brought aboard river barges from the Fort of Lillo, located on the Dutch-controlled opposite riverside, which allowed the sappers to build high and wide embankments. William garrisoned half of his troops in those entrenchments, sending the remaining to harass the Forts of Sainte Marie and Verrebroek., from where they were receiving artillery fire and skirmishes were made by the Spanish to regain the levees between Kallo and Sainte Marie. An assault against this fort was rejected by its German garrison on the 17th, although the following day it was abandoned by its defenders and occupied by William's troops. Weerdick was taken by assault and captured the same day.]

Spanish counter-attack
The Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, alarmed, requested his Imperial general Ottavio Piccolomini to advance immediately to Antwerp with his army. Piccolomini was at that moment en route to Valenciennes with 4,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry soldiers to relieve the besieged town of Saint-Omer together with the Prince Thomas Francis of Carignano. Ferdinand went himself to Antwerp determined to recover himself the lost forts. He gave the command of the citadel of Antwerp to Don Felipe da Silva and that of the city to Anthonie Schetz, baron of Grobbendonk, and even ordered the Marquis of Lede to come from the Meuse, where he was camped, with his troops. Warned of this maneuvers, William garrisoned all his troops to wait for a counterattack and requested reinforments from Frederick. Frederick ferried an additional force of 4000 soldiers to the river side of William.


Map of Fort Liefkenshoek from the Atlas van Loon.
Ferdinand divided his army into three parts. The General of the Artillery Andrea Cantelmo would lead the main force, consisting of 3,000 men divided on 5 companies of Spanish veterans of the Tercio of Velada, all the Tercio of Duchino Doria, and some companies of Walloon soldiers. The Marquis of Lede would attack in charge of 5 companies of the Old Tercio of Fuenclara, the Walloon Tercio of Ribacourt, the Lower German regiment of Brion, and other soldiers of Nations, a total of 2,000 men. The last force, whose strength was also of 2,000 men, was put in command of Count of Fuenclara and consisted of 15 companies of his own Tercio.
On 20 June the Spanish army crossed the Scheltd river and took positions near Beveren.. The battle, one of the bloodiest of the war, began that night with the Spanish army storming the Dutch positions and lasted for 12 hours. Cantelmo fell over the fortifications through the leeve of Warbrok; the Marquis of Lede did it from Beveren, and the Count of Fuenclara in the fort of Sainte-Marie. At first the Dutch soldiers managed to repel the Spanish, at the point that they were almost overrun, William ordered his reinforcements, which he kept in reserve, to charge. Several Spanish troops, shaken by the battle broke and fled in disorder, disrupting the battle line. About 2,500 men were killed or drowned in attempting to escape, while another 2,500 were captured. The whole of the artillery, 3 standards, 50 flags were taken by the Dutch. The Forts of Liefkenshoek and Verrebroek were held during the action, which cost William 384 men dead, among them many captains, and 922 wounded. According to the same Dutch official letter from 30 June, Andrea Cantelmo was shot dead during the last stage of the battle.

Aftermath
The victory of Kallo, was described by Frederick as “the greatest victory the State Army have achieved since the Battle of Nieuwport” The key fortress of Kallo was the start of the relative short siege of Antwerp. Comander of the city, Anthonie Schetz, baron of Grobbendonk and Don Felipe da Silvaasked for terms after a 2 month siege when a relieve army was routed by the besiegers. Frederick Hendrick accepted the terms which compromised a withdraw of the remaining Spanish troops and any civilians who wanted. Freedom of religion, to follow the Catholic believe and the right to keep most of the churches.
The fall of Antwerp was the pearl in the crown of Fredrick Hendrick and a major boost to his prestige, which would be important in the coming years to get the war funded by the State General and the State of Holland.
The fall of Antwerp was a shock for the Spanish Prestige. It was a shock also for the merchants of Amsterdam who saw an old competitor back, even Antwerp was not more than a shadow of the wealthy city of 100.000 people, it counted now not more than 40.000 souls and was completely eclipsed by Amsterdam.
Shortly after two of Ferdinand's generals, Ottavio Piccolomini and Prince Thomas of Carignano, routed, in command of a Spanish-Imperial force the French army under the MarshallsGaspard III de Coligny and Jacques-Nompar de Caumont,[8] which retreated from Saint Omer with the loss of 4,000 men and some 1500 men on Spanish side.
In an attempt to distract the Spanish from Saint Omer, Frederick Henry laid siege to Geldern in command of 16,000 men, which he captured.
In 1640 Bruges was captured and in 1643 in a very successful campaign the Dutch captured the city of Ghent and the smaller city of Hulst, securing the country around Antwerp. While the French opened this year with a defeat of the Spanish at the battle of Rocroy where they lost around 14000 men. After some indecisive years, only Hernentals was captured in 1645 and while the French experienced spectacular victories along the south of Flandres and Arras the Dutch captured Ostend in a coup de main under William Nassau. In 1646 Roermond and Venlo were re-captured by the Dutch army and Nieuwport while French captured Kortrijk, Dunkerque and some smaller places.


William II, Prince of Orange

Willem II, Prince of Orange (1651)
by Gerard van Honthorst
Prince of Orange

Reign
14 March 1647 – 6 November 1667

Predecessor
Frederick Henry

Successor
William III

Spouse
Mary, Princess Royal

House
House of Orange-Nassau

Father
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange

Mother
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels

Born
27 May 1626(1626-05-27)
The Hague, Dutch Republic

Died
6 November 1667(1667-11-06) (aged 41)
The Hague, Dutch Republic

Religion
Calvinism

William II, Prince of Orange (27 May 1626 – 6 November 1667) was sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death .

Contents
Biography
Biography
William II, Prince of Orange, was the son of stadtholderFrederik Hendrik of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. William the Silent had been succeeded in the position of stadtholder and as commander of the Dutch States Army by his son Maurits of Nassau, who in turn was followed by his brother Frederick Henry. William II’s ancestors governed in conjunction with the States-General, an assembly made up of representatives of each of the seven provinces but usually dominated by the largest and wealthiest province, Holland.
On May 2, 1641, William married Mary Henrietta Stuart, the Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England and Queen Henrietta Maria in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall Palace, London.

In 1648 he opposed acceptance of the Treaty of Münster, despite the fact that it recognized the independence of the Netherlands. Secretly, William opened his own negotiations with France with the goal of extending his own territory under a centralized government. In addition, he worked for the restoration of his brother-in-law, Charles II, to the throne of England. In 1650 William II became involved in a bitter quarrel with the province of Holland and the powerful regents of Amsterdam, like Cornelis de Graeff over troop reduction following the Treaty of Münster. William opposed the reduction in the size of the army which would diminish his powerbase. This resulted in William putting eight members (oa. Jacob de Witt) of the provincial assembly in prison in the castle of Loevestein. Mediation of the States of Zeeland, Guelders, Overijsel and the cities of Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges ( who desired a reduction of power of the city of Amsterdam and Holland) solved the conflict and resulted in the “Big meeting” in 1652.
After having served as stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders and Overijssel for three years, he almost died of smallpox in 1650 but recovered although heavily mutilated and with a weak health. Due to his mutilation there are no portraits made of him in his later life. This disease and political reality, reduced his aim for more centralized government and alliances with France for extending territory in the Spanish Netherlands. Instead of this he extended his own territory in the East and his battle field glory in the wars against the Princebishop of Munster, however most of the tactical success of this campaign had to credited to his cousin Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz with the State army of 35 thousand troops.
During the “Big meeting” he could convince enough members of the State General to keep a centralized State army, with a minimum of 35 thousand troops and of to reduce the number of admiralties to just three, which was a compromise. The number of men of the army was how ever a constant point of dispute.
The conquest of the parts of the Prinsbishopric greatly increased his wealth and prestige. As states man or landlord he was not a successful. He failed to persuade the State General to support him to restore the Stuart to the throne of England. In Lingen and the Musnster Amt he failed to force the population to the Calvinist believe, they remained Luther or Catholic.

Conflict and War between Münster and the Dutch Republic, 1665-1666

Princebishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen (1650-1678), after the Dutch supporting the city of Münster against him 1657-1661 and after supporting the Prince of East Frisia in a border conflict with the Princebishopric of Münster1663-1664, felt that he had to get even with the Dutch Republic. When the latter found herself at war with England (Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1665-1666), Münster declared war (Sept. 14th 1665).
The revolt of the city Münster made it an independent city state and protectorate of the Dutch Republic in 1661 and the border conflict with East Frisia resulted in that the States of East Frisia chose to be part of the Dutch Republic in 1664. Both conflicts, especially the latter one was probably the result of the standing State Army of the Dutch Republic and the swift, without complete agreement of the State General, reaction of the Stadholder William II. William II acquired the Amt Meppen from the Princebishopric which connected his possession Lingen with the Dutch Republic.

An excuse was provided by Borculo, a Münsteran fief located within the Dutch province of Overijssel. After the line of previous holders had become extinct, the fief was contested between Princebishop Christoph Bernard and the Count of Limburg-Styrum. The Emperor decided in favour of the former, the Dutch government in favour of the latter.
In June 1665, Münster signed a Treaty of Alliance with England; England promised to pay subsidies; Münster took upon her to raise a force of 20,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry and to invade the Dutch Republic. On September 23rd, Münsteran troops invaded, occupied the cities of Meppen, Borculo, Lochum, Diepenheim, Enschede, Oldenzaal, Ootmarsum and Almelo; in the Dutch province of Groningen, Westerwolde, Wedde and Winschoten were occupied, the Dutch fortress of Bourtange besieged. Here, Dutch troops threatened to cut of the Münsteran troops besieging Groningen, separated from the Princebishopric by the vast Bourtanger Moor. The Dutch force, slightly larger, came in contact with the Münsteran troops, which withdrew from Groningen, resulting in the battle of Emmen. The Battle was a clear victory for William II. Against the will of the State General, who were more concerned of the naval conflict with the English, William invade the Princebishopric and occupied Rheine and the lands of Bocholt and threatening the city of Bonn, the seat of Princebishop Bernhard von Galen. The Stadholder won the support of the State General, if the State General would inherit all his lands connected with the Dutch Republic, would he or his male heirs die without a male heir ( the secret will of the Hague). The idea of supporting the Stadholder and increasing the buffer zone around the Republic came from the States of Groningen, East Frisia, Gelre, Utrecht and Overijssel, who saw their lands ravaged by soldiers too many times in a short period.
Peace was concluded in Hannover on April 18th 1666; the Amt of Borculo and Rheine-Bevergern became Dutch, a personnel union of William II.
The city of Munster joined the Republic and was granted membership of the State General.

Border of United Provinces and Prince Bishopric of Munster around 1670

C.1670.PNG
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