Paris: the Exile
After his escape from Loevestein, Grotius arrived in Paris on 13 April 1621. As Benjamin Aubrey du Maurier had promised, he was welcomed with open arms in France and was reunited there with Maria and some of their children in September that year. With his restored freedom, and much help from Maria, Grotius was able to continue publishing, including his most famous work De Iure Belli ac Pacis (1625) and, shortly after his arrival, the controversial Verantwoordingh (1621). Grotius had started writing the Verantwoordingh while at Loevestein, aiming to demonstrate the illegality of the 1618 arrests and the subsequent trials as well as to defend Oldenbarnevelt and his policy of religious toleration.
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Initially, Grotius struggled financially but in 1634 he was appointed by Queen Christina of Sweden as her ambassador to France. Nevertheless, as a Protestant, Grotius never felt fully comfortable in France and never stopped longing – and fighting – for his return to the Dutch Republic. On his way back from a visit to Sweden, Grotius survived a shipwreck but died soon afterwards in Rostock on 28 August 1645. |