Diederik Jansz. Graeff

Dirck Jansz Graeff, also Diederik Jansz Graeff, Lord of the manors Valckeveen and Vredenhof, was a patrician, wholesaler, shipowner, politician and large landowner. He became an important figure of the Protestant Reformation, member of the Reformed Church, supporter of the Geuzen and the Protestant-minded community of wholesale merchants, and a confidant of William I of Orange. Graeff was the founder of a regent dynasty of the Dutch Golden Age and the short time of the First Stadtholderless Period that retained power and influence for centuries and produced a number of ministers. He was the first Burgomaster of Amsterdam from the De Graeff family.