HdG

Hugo de Groot / Grotius (1583-1645). The son of Johan de Groot, town secretary, he was born on Oude Langendijk ca. number 36, the fifth house to the west of Oosteinde.

A child prodigy, he wrote Eligien in latin at age 8. He became a lawyer in the service of the VOC United EastIndia Company. His 1609 book Mare Liberum (the Free Sea) on maritime law made him famous but he also laid the legal foundation for a harsh policy in East India, epitomizid by the brutal military campains by Jan Pietersz. Coen. Later on he was a diplomat in Sweden and France. In 1625 he wrote De jure belli ac pacis, in which international law was first codified, stressing ideals on how nations should live in peace and help each other within the framework of international law.

He lived outside Delft but was buried in the Delft New Church, his tomb erected in 1663.

Note. Eyftinger p. 34 in cat. Prinsenhof. Van der Aa, Biographisch Woordenboek VII p. 452. The house may have been at the site of present day Maria van Reigersberchstraat. Arnold Houbraken, De groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen, The Hague 1752 [2nd ed.] Book 3, page 390.

This page forms part of a large encyclopedic site on Delft. Research by Drs. Kees Kaldenbach (email). A full presentation is on view at johannesvermeer.info.

Launched 16 February 2005; Last update March 1, 2017. More info in the RKD site.