Grotius, Hugo [Huigh de Groot] (1583-1645)
Dutch jurist, Arminian theologian, and missions apologist
In 1618 Grotius was sent to prison for his Arminian theological sympathies, by order of the Calvinist Prince Maurice of Nassau, but he escaped and settled in Paris. He wrote juridical, political, and theological works. His most famous book, intended as a handbook for the use of Dutch sailors traveling to the Far East, is De Veritate Religionis Christianae (On the truth of the Christian religion, 1627). In this book Grotius gives evidence of the truth of the Christian religion and refutes paganism, Judaism, and Islam. He concludes his defense of Christianity with an admonition for all Christians to live simple, devout lives in peace and harmony. During his lifetime De Veritate was translated into English, French, and German; after his death 144 editions and translations were published, including an Arabic edition in 1660 and an Urdu edition in 1839. Richard Baxter recommended the Arab translation to the East India Company. Grotius influenced his student and friend Peter Heyling, a jurist, who in 1632 went to Egypt and Ethiopia, hoping to contribute to the renewal of the oriental Orthodox churches.
Jan A. B. Jongeneel, “Grotius, Hugo (or Huigh de Groot),” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 264.
This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.
Bibliography
Digital Texts
Burigny, Jean Lévesque de. The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius: Containing a Copious and Circumstantial History of the Several Important and Honourable Negotiations in Which He was Employed; Together with a Critical Account of His Works; Written Originally in French. London: printed for A. Millar, 1754.
Butler, Charles. The Life of Hugo Grotius: With Brief Minutes of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of the Netherlands. London: John Murray, 1826.
Grotius, Hugo. De Veritate Religionis Christianae. London: Joannem Nourse, 1755. Orig. 1627.
_____. The Truth of the Christian Religion. In Six Books. Translated by John Clarke. London: printed for J. and P. Knapton, 1743.
_____. Annotationes in Novum Testamentum. 1641-1650.
_____. The Rights of War and Peace; Including the Law of Nature and of Nations. Translated by A. C. Campbell. n.p.: M. Walter Dunne, 1901. With an “Introduction” on the work and influence of Grotius.
Grotius, Hugo and Edmund Goldsmid (ed.). On the Origin of the Native Races of America. Edinburgh: Unwin Bros., 1884. Includes biographical notes by Goldsmid.
Grotius, Hugo and Simon van Leeuwen. Commentaries on [Grotius’s] Roman-Dutch Law. Volume 2. Translated by J. G. Kotze. London: Stevens and Haynes, 1886.
Grotius, Hugo and James Brown Scott (ed.). The Freedom of the Seas: Or, The Right which Belongs to the Dutch to Take Part in the East Indian Trade. Translated by Ralph Van Deman Magoffin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1916.
Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell. Catalogue of the Works of Grotius and of Books Relating to Him. [New York: printed for the Holland Society of New York], 1890.
Takahashi, Sakuyei. The Influence of Grotius in the Far East. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Law, 1908.
Vreeland, Hamilton. Hugo Grotius: The Father of the Modern Science of International Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 1917.
Primary
Grotius, Hugo. Annotationes in Vetus Testamentum. 1644
Grotius, Hugo, Robert Feenstra and Jeroen Vervliet. Hugo Grotius Mare Liberum 1609-2009. Original latin text (facsimile of the first edition, 1609) and modern English translation. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
Grotius, Hugo and Guillaume Henri Marie Posthumus Meyjes. Meletius, sive, De iis quae inter Christianos conveniunt epistola. Critical edition with translation, commentary and introduction by Meyjes. Leiden: Brill, 1988.
Secondary
Bell, Jordy. Hugo Grotius: Historian. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, [1980].
Burigny, Jean Lévesque de. The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius: Containing a Copious and Circumstantial History of the Several Important and Honourable Negotiations in Which He was Employed; Together with a Critical Account of His Works; Written Originally in French. London: printed for A. Millar, 1754. Also Echo Library, 2006.
Bull, Hedley, Benedict Kingsbury and Adam Roberts. Hugo Grotius and International Relations. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Butler, Charles. The Life of Hugo Grotius: With Brief Minutes of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of the Netherlands. London: John Murray, 1826.
Edwards, Charles S. Hugo Grotius, the Miracle of Holland: A Study in Political and Legal Thought. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981.
Gellineck, Christian. Hugo Grotius. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983.
Heering, Jean-Paul. Hugo de Groot als Apologeet van de Christelijke Godsdienst. s’Gravenhage: Pasmans,1992. Includes a summary in English.
_____. Hugo Grotius as Apologist for the Christian Religion: A Study of His Work De veritate religionis Christianae, 1640. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003.
Jeffery, Reneé. Hugo Grotius in International Thought. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Keene, Edward. Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002.
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. Grotius-Commissie. The World of Hugo Grotius (1583-1645): Proceedings of the International Colloquium Organized by the Grotius Committee of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Rotterdam 6-9 April 1983. Amsterdam: Holland University Press, 1984.
Meyjes, G. H. M. Posthumus, Henk J. M. Nellen and Edwin Rabbie. Hugo Grotius, Theologian: Essays in Honour of G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes. Leiden and New York: E.J. Brill, 1994.
Osgood, Samuel. Hugo Grotius and the Arminians. Hila, MT: Kessinger Pub., 2007? [reprint?].
Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell. Catalogue of the Works of Grotius and of Books Relating to Him. [New York: printed for the Holland Society of New York], 1890.
Stumpf, Christoph A. The Grotian Theology of International Law: Hugo Grotius and the Moral Foundations of International Relations. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2006.
Takahashi, Sakuyei. The Influence of Grotius in the Far East. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Law, 1908.
Van Ittersum, Martine Julia. The Long Goodbye: Hugo Grotius’ Justification of Dutch Expansion Overseas, 1615-1645. [Maryland Heights, MO: Elsevier Science], 2010.
Van Ittersum, Martine Julia and Hugo Grotius. Profit and Principle: Hugo Grotius, Natural Rights Theories and the Rise of Dutch Power in the East Indies, 1595-1615. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006.
Vreeland, Hamilton. Hugo Grotius: The Father of the Modern Science of International Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 1917.
Wilson, Eric Michael. The Savage Republic: De Indis of Hugo Grotius, Republicanism, and Dutch Hegemony Within the Early Modern World System (c. 1600 -1619). Leiden and Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008.
Portrait
“Hugo de Groot.” Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt. 1631. Public domain. Accessed at Wikimedia Commons.