Hugo Grotius

(1583 - 1645)

Born to a prosperous family in Delft, Hugo Grotius served as a jurist and was appointed attorney general of Holland before being named pensionary of Rotterdam in 1613. Five years later he and his colleagues were ousted by Calvinist fundamentalists, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Allowed access to books and outside communication during this time, he is said to have orchestrated his 1621 escape by hiding in a trunk sent by his wife under the pretext of removing his books. After reuniting with his family in Paris, Grotius wrote On the Law of War and Peace, a three-volume treatise on international law. He died after a shipwreck on the coast of Germany at the age of sixty-two.