Hugo Grotius

Hugo Grotius, also known as Hugo de Groot or Huig de Groot, was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft and studied at Leiden University. He was imprisoned in Loevestein Castle for his involvement in the controversies over religious policy of the Dutch Republic, but escaped hidden in a chest of books that was transported to Gorinchem. Grotius wrote most of his major works in exile in France.

10 April 1583

Born on the same birth day (10 April): Andrzej Badeński • Asriel Günzig • Bernardo Houssay • Carol V. Robinson • Charlie Culberson • Clare Turlay Newberry • David Angell • David Rovics • Dion Phaneuf • Jacques Castérède • Jane Kean • Jeff Gray (baseball, born 1963) • John M. Ford • Leonidas Polk • Masashi Sada • Matthew C. Perry • Mike Hawthorn • Paul Sweezy • Priit Kasesalu • Sheb Wooley • Steve Anderson (hurdler)