Published three years before Grotius’ escape, this hand-coloured map by Claes Jansz. Visscher depicts the city where Grotius would find refuge, in terms of its streets as well as its people. Visscher framed his map with small costume prints, showing what the city’s noblemen looked like and how Parisian paupers dressed. The map includes the locations of the two houses where Grotius lived during his exile. His first home was on Rue de Hautefeuille in the Parisian city centre. In 1622, he and his family moved to a larger house in the suburbs in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where they would stay until 1631. C.J. Visscher, Lutetia Parisiorum urbs, map, 1618 [COLLBN Port 83 N 17]

During his stay in Paris, Grotius continued his correspondence with his brother-in-law and friend Nicolaas van Reigersberch. Grotius wrote this letter on 29 July 1621, a few months after his arrival in Paris and one element in particular reflects that he is still caught between freedom and oppression: the letter uses codes (the number 75 stands for the French King and 313 for the reformed religion) for certain people and sensitive subjects. The letter discusses several current affairs, most notably the Dutch authorities’ poor treatment of the Remonstrants, and reflects on Grotius’ own tolerance - even though he is adamant that he will remain in the church he belonged to when he was imprisoned, he is happy to refrain from criticism on the Catholic Church and entertain warm friendships with Calvinists. Grotius to Nicolaas van Reigersberch, letter, 29 July 1621 [PAP 2]

Written during Grotius’ exile and dedicated to his protector King Louis XIII, this is the frontispiece of his best-known legal work, De Iure Belli ac Pacis. As Henk Nellen so rightfully states in his biography of Grotius: “The goal of [this book] was to promote peace, and therefore the book was mainly about war”. It more specifically offers a reflection on the just causes of war. This book is one of the reasons why Grotius is sometimes referred to as the ‘father of international law’. There is quite some discussion as to whether he can in fact really been seen as the father of modern international law but most would in any case agree that he did have some influence on its development. In addition, and not without importance for the topic of this exhibition, he seems to have helped in secularizing law. Hugo de Groot, De Iure Belli ac Pacis, book, 1625 [1498 C 18]

In the autumn of 1631, Grotius travelled back to the Republic, hoping that he would be allowed to stay. He met with old Remonstrant friends, visited the statue of Erasmus, and travelled to Delft, where he was reunited with his parents and sat for a portrait by Michiel Jansz Van Mierevelt. However, after a six-week stay in Rotterdam, it looked as if a new arrest was imminent. Grotius left for Amsterdam, where he wrote this message to his brother, and a very similar one to Nicolaas van Reichersberg. It is a desperate letter – Grotius writes that he simply cannot understand why he is not allowed to be in the country that he loves so sincerely and of the yearning he felt in exile, for the skies of his homeland and the faces of his elderly parents. But his stay was not to last: the Counter-Remonstrant governors and administrators, many of whom had been installed by Stadtholder Maurice after 1618, did not want Grotius in the Republic and he left the country again in the spring of 1632. Grotius to Willem de Groot, letter, 13 December 1631 [PAP 2]

It is understandable that Grotius thought that a return to the Republic might have been possible in 1631. Even though Remonstrants were only just tolerated, tensions had reduced considerably under Stadtholder Frederick Henry, Maurice’s successor. In the late 1620s, Grotius’ old friend Johannes Uytenbogaert, the Remonstrant leader, had been allowed to return from Antwerp, where he had fled after the arrests of Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius. This etching was made by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1635 and is possibly based on his sketches for the portrait of Uytenbogaert that is now in the Rijksmuseum. Grotius wrote the four-line verse that accompanies the image and refers to Uytenbogaert’s final return to The Hague – back where he belonged. Rembrandt, Portrait of Johannes Uytenbogaert, print, 1635 [BWB 277]

Even though Grotius was back in Paris and now appointed as Sweden’s ambassador to France, he still longed for the Republic and news from friends there. The Dutch playwright Joost van den Vondel was a regular correspondent – Vondel was a Mennonite and even though Grotius had been somewhat critical of the Mennonite community at times, the men had developed a strong friendship, based on their shared interest in poetry and drama, from the early 1600s. Vondel was also inspired by Grotius’ position on religious tolerance and in 1637, had dedicated his most famous play Gysbreght van Aemstel to his friend – a daring move given Grotius’ continued notoriety in the Republic. This letter gives a valuable insight into their friendship: Vondel’s tone is affectionate and he writes that he will welcome Grotius’ wife Maria during her stay in Amsterdam in 1639. Joost van den Vondel to Grotius, letter, 9 September 1639 [PAP 2]

Grotius’ death in 1645 certainly did not pass unnoticed and much poetry was written to celebrate his life. The Dutch poet and Remonstrant Jacob Westerbaen wrote this elegy to celebrate Grotius’ life and works. He presented Grotius as a man of great virtue; “the greatest of scholars, whose mind had understood all things”. Grotius was buried in the New Church in Delft, near the grave of his enemy Stadtholder Maurice, on 3 October 1645. The monument inside the church and the statue outside, both of which would be much erected later, emphasize Grotius’ legacy as a legal scholar and one of the greatest intellectuals of his age. However, he must also be remembered as an advocate for a tolerant society, in which different groups can co-exist in freedom and peace. Jacob Westerbaen, Graf-gedichten van […] Hugo de Groot, book, 1645 [THYSPF 4831]