1583 – ✝ 1645
Hugo de Groot
Hugo de Groot is considered one of the greatest jurists ever. With famous works such as De jure belli ac pacis and Mare Liberum, he laid the foundations for today's Western legal system. However, his influence was not appreciated by all.
Young talent
Hugo de Groot was a talented boy. By the age of eight, he could already write poetry in Latin and translate books from Greek and Latin. At age eleven, he began studies at Leiden University. After graduating, he became a lawyer in The Hague. He eventually made it to Pensionaris of Rotterdam - the chief advisor to the city council.
Life
After 1610, a religious conflict arose between the Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants. Hugo de Groot sided with the Remonstrants, upon which Stadholder Prince Maurits sentenced him to life imprisonment, first at The Hague and later at Slot Loevestein.
Spectacular escape
From time to time, guards brought a large crate of books back and forth between De Groot and his family in Gorinchem. On 22 March 1621, however, Hugo himself crawled into the crate. The unsuspecting guards brought him out, and he fled to Paris. It became a famous story: today there are several coffins in which Hugo de Groot is said to have escaped. One of them is in the Prinsenhof in Delft.
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William of Orange
William of Orange; the 'Father of the Fatherland'. That his name was associated with Delft and the Nieuwe Kerk is purely coincidental. After his sudden death in the Prinsenhof in Delft, the family tomb in Breda was inaccessible.
King William I
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Willem George Frederik
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