Grotius, HUGO, or HUG VAN GROOT, Dutch jurist, was born at Delft, 10th April 1583. An extraordinarily precocious boy, Grotius entered the university of Leyden in his eleventh year, and there he enjoyed the advantage of studying under Joseph Scaliger. When only fifteen years old he entered public life, accompanying Olden Barneveldt, the grand-pensionary, on an embassy to France, where, notwithstanding his extreme youth, his talents and conduct gained him the favour of Henry IV. On his return next year he began to practise as a lawyer in the Hague; in 1607 he was appointed a provincial fiscal-general, and in 1613 pensionary of Rotterdam. But the religious disputes between the Remonstrants and their opponents were now at their height in Holland; Olden Barneveldt was the protector of the former, and Grotius supported them by his writings and influence. These theological strifes had, however, a political significance also. In 1618 Barneveldt and Grotius were arrested, tried, and condemned by the dominant party under Prince Maurice (see BARNEVELDT), Barneveldt to death, and Grotius to imprisonment for life in the castle of Lovenstein. He escaped, however, by the contrivance of his wife, who managed to have him carried out of the castle in a chest used for the conveyance of books and linen, while she remained in prison in his stead. Grotius found refuge at Paris in 1621, and Louis XIII. bestowed upon him a pension of 3000 livres. But ten years later this pension was withdrawn from him. From his youth upwards Grotius had been a diligent student of jurisprudence; in 1604 he wrote a work entitled De Jure Prædæ, which, however, he did not publish, but which he seems to have steadily improved year after year, until finally he issued it as his masterpiece, De Jure Belli et Pacis, in 1625. This work, a piece of most excellent scholarship, at once established its place as a standard authority on international law, and such it remained for several generations (see INTERNATIONAL LAW). In 1634 Oxenstierna and Queen Christina induced Grotius to enter the Swedish service as ambassador at the French court, a post which he held until 1645. On his retirement he proceeded to Stockholm; but, finding the court as uncongenial as the climate, he was returning home to Holland when he was shipwrecked, and died at Rostock, on the 29th August 1645.
To the talents of an able statesman Grotius united deep and extensive learning. He was a profound theologian—perhaps the best exegete of his day—a distinguished scholar, an acute philosopher, a judicious historian, and a splendid jurist. He was one of the best modern writers of Latin verse, and likewise composed poems in the Dutch language. His best historical work is Annales et Historiæ de Rebus Belgicis (1657), written in a style that recalls Tacitus by its concise and pointed power. His theological productions bear the titles Annotationes in Vetus Testamentum (1644); Annotationes in Novum Testamentum (1641–46); and De Veritate Religionis Christianæ (1627), translated even into several oriental languages, and remarkable for its clear arrangement, vigorous logic, and graceful style. It is an elegant treatise on Christian apologetics. Lehmann's Hugonis Grotii Manes Vindicati (1727) contains a good life and a complete bibliography of his works. See also Hély, Étude sur le Droit de la Guerre et de la Paix de Grotius (1875), and Butler's Life (1827). The De Jure Belli was translated into English by Whewell in 1853.