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By William E. Steinman:
Part 82, Grotius:
October 18, 2004:
As our final subject for this study of the men of the renaissance let's look at Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). A Dutchman Grotius was a jurist, politician, and theologian. He most important work was Of the Law of War and Peace which was published in 1625, It is considered to be the first comprehensive dissertation on international law.
It is not an overstatement to speak of Grotius as a child genius. For example, he was writing Latin poetry at the tender age of eight. At age eleven he entered Leiden University to become a student in the faculty of letters. There he was taken under the wing of the very famous French classical scholar Joseph Scaliger.
A short time later, at age 15, he went to France where he was received with honor by Henry IV himself. Grotius liked it so well that he stayed on to study law at Orleans. He was not too busy in this time to write six monologues analyzing the current political situation. He called it Pontifex Romanus. It is hard to remember this kid is only 15. When I was 15 I was doing cannonballs into the local swimming hole.
Onward and upward. At 16 he returned home and became an advocate in The Hague. There he wrote a poem called Mirabilia. It was a study of the events of the first half of 1600. This kid was good and he was noticed. He became the official Latin historiographer for the states of Holland. He was commissioned to write a description of the Dutch republic's long revolt against Spain He wrote it in two parts called Annales and Historiae.
Grotius also did translations of other works from Greek and Roman literature and he became interested in politics. Politics at that time was much about trade monopolies with the East Indies. When the Dutch navy seized a Portuguese trading ship, he wrote a defense of the action, On the Law of Prize and Booty. Parts of that were often reprinted and read around the world. And yes, he continued to write other works.
In 1613 he produced the Ordinum Hollandiae et Westfrisiae Pietas. It was really a religious/political argument in support the statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt of the province of Holland. This was just another of those childish nitpicking, hair-splitting debates about predestination versus free will. As usual, the Calvinists were deeply involved on the side of predestination while Grotius took the side of Oldenbarnevelt and argued for free will. It ended badly for Grotius since it annoyed Prince Maurice of the Netherlands.
In 1618 Maurice had Oldenbarnevelt and several of his supporters arrested including Grotius. In a real kangaroo court tribunal, Oldenbarnevelt was sentenced to death for what was called high treason. In fact he was murdered for disagreeing with the Calvinists in the subversion of the country's religion. He was beheaded in 1619.
Grotius got off a bit easier. He was sentenced to life in the clink and was locked up in the castle of Loevestein. His wife and kids were allowed to join him there, so it was not so bad. It limited his movement, but not his mind. While there he wrote a poem about Dutch sailors called Bewijs van den waren Godsdienst. It got translated into 13 languages and made him a famous man. He also began a treatment on jurisprudence in Holland. It was published in 1631 and later became the basis for law in South Africa. It is interesting to notice the resourcefulness of Grotius and many of the other men of the Renaissance. Being in prison did not bum him out to the point of dysfunction. For him, it was just another place to think and write.
Of course, Grotius would rather be free and he was a clever man. In 1621, he hid himself in a shipment of books and got out of the slammer. How embarrassing for the jailors. Rather than risk recapture, Grotius went to Paris where he was well received by Louie XIII. Paris is where he published his masterpiece, On the Law of War and Peace. After that he wrote another defense of his defense of Oldenbarnevelt.
As to Prince Maurice, he kicked the bucket in 1625 and Grotius was able to go home. However, it wasn't long before he got in another snoring contest with some of the big shots in the government. This time, he had sense enough to blow town before the noose closed and he ended up in Hamburg. Again he was well received. It seems, like many geniuses, he was famous and well liked everywhere except at home. He was offered and accepted the position of Swedish ambassador to Paris. And he continued writing, but it turned out he was not good at the diplomat business. Queen Christina called him to Sweden and relieve him, with great kindness, of his post as ambassador. He could have stayed in Sweden, but he decided for Paris. Too bad, because he was shipwrecked on his way back and died of exhaustion at Rostock.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of his life was his work on international law. His position was that nations, like men, are bound by natural law independent of religion and its positions. He believed all law should be divided between what was divine and what was human. The primary laws of nature are laws that completely express the will of God. Secondary laws of nature are rules and laws that lie within the realm of reason.
He also differentiates between just and unjust wars. He sees
some wars as a necessary evil wherein they are waged to protect
a right or to punish a wrong. He also goes into the methods for
settling disputes without recourse to war. First is conference
and negotiation amongst rivals. Second is compromise where each
side gives up some demands. Third is settlement by lot. These
methods must all be under the control of a neutral mediator. The
idea is to arrive at a solution that is just. Some of this thinking
was later expounded in the philosophies of John Locke.
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