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78-420: Historically holders of allods are a type of sovereign. Allodial land is described as territory or a state where the holder asserted right to the land by the grace of God and the sun. For this reason they were historically equal to other princes regardless of the size of their territory or the title they used. This definition is confirmed by the acclaimed jurist Hugo Grotius , the father of international law and

156-533: A fief from the count of Hainaut ; both Hainaut and Brabant were formerly part of the Holy Roman empire and before that of Lotharingia . There were many lords who founded their powerful position on extensive allodial estates in the eastern Alpine countries and the lands of the Bohemian Crown . The king as lord paramount never exercised lordship over the whole Empire. An allodial estate could also be created when

234-427: A field hospital . Braine l'Alleud is home to RCS Braine football club, founded in 1913 and one of the oldest continuously existing clubs in the country. The city also has a successful women's basketball club, BC Castors Braine . The free-to-play, 18-hole Parc du Bourdon disc golf course is situated 1 kilometer from Braine L'Alleud train station. It is served by the following 10 bus lines: Braine-l'Alleud

312-590: A Part or Appendant of the Empire of that Island. " It is generally assumed that Grotius first propounded the principle of freedom of the seas , although all countries in the Indian Ocean and other Asian seas accepted the right of unobstructed navigation long before Grotius wrote his De Jure Praedae ( On the Law of Spoils ) in the year of 1604. Additionally, 16th-century Spanish theologian Francisco de Vitoria had postulated

390-522: A book." The work is twenty-seven pages long, is "polemical and acrimonious" and only two-thirds of it speaks directly about ecclesiastical politics (mainly of synods and offices). The work met with a violent reaction from the Counter-Remonstrants, and "It might be said that all Grotius' next works until his arrest in 1618 form a vain attempt to repair the damage done by this book." Grotius would later write De Satisfactione aiming "at proving that

468-421: A copy out of friendship. This was a work "on the relationship between ecclesiastical and secular government" from the moderate counter-remonstrant viewpoint. In early 1616, Grotius also received the 36-page letter championing a remonstrant view Dissertatio epistolica de Iure magistratus in rebus ecclesiasticis from his friend Gerardus Vossius . The letter was "a general introduction on (in)tolerance, mainly on

546-425: A fief into a freehold – a familiar process in the 19th century – is called enfranchisement . Ownership of enfranchised fiefs continued to be limited, however, to the rights of the former feudatories. Only the overall suzerainty of the feudal lord over the estate was repealed, while the rights of the feudatory remained unaffected. Such an enfranchised fief became analogous to entailment ( Familienfideikommiss ); often it

624-621: A law degree from the University of Orleans. In Holland, Grotius earned an appointment as advocate to The Hague in 1599 and then as official historiographer for the States of Holland in 1601. It was on this date that the States of Holland requested from Grotius an account of the United Provinces’ revolt against Spain; Grotius is indeed contemporary with the Eighty Years' War between Spain and

702-409: A legal document by Henry I dated 1197. The name of the municipality changed to the current one, derived from “Braine”, former name of the stream that crosses its territory (now called the “Hain”), and “alleu(d)”, a medieval French word designating exempt land (English allod ). The latter name was added to the former to distinguish this community from two neighbouring ones also called Braine. At

780-667: A letter to Lubbertus) declared Grotius' ideas diabolical. In 1621, with the help of his wife and his maidservant, Elsje van Houwening , Grotius managed to escape the castle in a book chest and fled to Paris . In the Netherlands today, he is mainly famous for this daring escape. Both the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the museum Het Prinsenhof in Delft claim to have the original book chest in their collection. Grotius then fled to Paris , where

858-455: A lord renounced his rights in favour of his vassal. Deforested land was considered allodial by the princes. Conversely, free territorial lords were sometimes punished by the Emperor by converting their allodial land into fiefs. The differences between the two forms of medieval ownership – the fief and the allod – diminished over time. Firstly, vassals were no longer required to render services from

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936-514: A means of realizing something. Peter Borschberg suggests that Grotius was significantly influenced by Francisco de Vitoria and the School of Salamanca in Spain , who supported the idea that the sovereignty of a nation does not lie simply in a ruler through God's will, but originates in its people, who agree to confer such authority upon a ruler. It is also thought that Grotius was not the first to formulate

1014-575: A net much wider than the case at hand; his interest was in the source and ground of war's lawfulness in general. The treatise was never published in full during Grotius' lifetime, perhaps because the court ruling in favor of the Company preempted the need to garner public support. In The Free Sea ( Mare Liberum , published 1609), Grotius formulated the new principle that the sea was international territory and all nations were free to use it for seafaring trade . Grotius, by claiming 'free seas' ( freedom of

1092-413: A noble change to the course of human affairs; whose thoughts, reasonings, suggestions, and appeals produced an environment in which came an evolution of humanity that still continues. Braine-l%27Alleud Braine-l'Alleud ( French: [bʁɛn lalø] ; Walloon : Brinne-l'-Alou ; Dutch : Eigenbrakel [ˈɛiɣə(m)ˌbraːkəl] ) is a municipality of Wallonia , in

1170-513: A particular view of the atonement of Christ known as the " Governmental theory of atonement ". He theorized that Jesus' sacrificial death occurred in order for the Father to forgive while still maintaining his just rule over the universe. This idea, further developed by theologians such as John Miley , became one of the prominent views of the atonement in Methodist Arminianism . Living in

1248-664: A scholarly edition of the late antique author Martianus Capella 's work on the seven liberal arts , Martiani Minei Felicis Capellæ Carthaginiensis viri proconsularis Satyricon. It remained a reference for several centuries. In 1598, at the age of 15 years, he accompanied Johan van Oldenbarnevelt to a diplomatic mission in Paris. On this occasion, the King Henri IV of France would have presented Grotius to his court as "the miracle of Holland ". During his stay in France, he passed or bought

1326-503: A wider campaign to sway public (and international) opinion. It was in this wider context that representatives of the Company called upon Grotius to draft a polemical defence of the seizure. The result of Grotius' efforts in 1604/05 was a long, theory-laden treatise that he provisionally entitled De Indis ( On the Indies ). Grotius sought to ground his defense of the seizure in terms of the natural principles of justice. In this, he had cast

1404-484: A work which he had originally written as Dutch verse in prison, providing rudimentary yet systematic arguments for the truth of Christianity. The Dutch poem, Bewijs van den waren Godsdienst , was published in 1622, the Latin treatise in 1627, under the title De veritate religionis Christianae . In 1631, he tried to return to Holland, but the authorities remained hostile to him. He moved to Hamburg in 1632. But as early as 1634,

1482-621: Is divided into three books: Grotius' concept of natural law had a strong impact on the philosophical and theological debates and political developments of the 17th and 18th centuries. Among those he influenced were Samuel Pufendorf and John Locke , and by way of these philosophers, his thinking became part of the cultural background of the Glorious Revolution in England and the American Revolution . In Grotius' understanding, nature

1560-466: Is in the territory of Braine-l'Alleud. Several archaeological finds point to prehistoric settlements in this area. The first historical mention of a parish on Braine-l'Alleud's current territory, then called Dudinsart , dates from 1131, date at which Godfrey I, Duke of Brabant ceded it to the Abbey of Gembloux . The Duke, however, still owned exempt land (or franchise ) on this territory, as specified in

1638-489: Is no longer any respect for the law, divine or human; it is as if, in accordance with a general decree, frenzy had openly been let loose for the committing of all crimes. De jure belli ac pacis libri tres ( On the Law of War and Peace: Three books ) was first published in 1625, dedicated to Grotius' current patron, Louis XIII. The treatise advances a system of principles of natural law, which are held to be binding on all people and nations regardless of local custom. The work

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1716-878: The ius commune system of ownership as a full right in rem . While in France the régime féodal was ended in 1789 by the stroke of the pen under the Revolutionary legislature, in Germany it was not until the mid-20th century that feudal law was formally abolished in 1947 by Allied Control Council law. In most of Scotland, the feudal system was abolished in the early 21st century; allodial tenure still exists in Shetland and Orkney . Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius ( / ˈ ɡ r oʊ ʃ i ə s / GROH -shee-əss ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot ( Dutch: [ˈɦyɣoː də ˈɣroːt] ) or Huig de Groot ( Dutch: [ˈɦœyɣ də ˈɣroːt] ),

1794-602: The Arminians are far from being Socinians ". Led by Oldenbarnevelt, the States of Holland took an official position of religious toleration towards Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants. Grotius (who acted during the controversy first as Attorney General of Holland and later as a member of the Committee of Counsellors) was eventually asked to draft an edict to express the policy of toleration. This edict, Decretum pro pace ecclesiarum

1872-559: The Fisc of Holland , Zeeland and Friesland in 1607, and then as Pensionary of Rotterdam (the equivalent of a mayoral office) in 1613. Also in 1613, following the capture of two Dutch ships by the British, he was sent on a mission to London, a mission tailored to a man who wrote Mare liberum [ The Free Seas ] in 1609. However, it was opposed by the English by reason of force and he didn't obtain

1950-665: The Netherlands . The resulting work, entitled Annales et Historiae de rebus Belgicis, describing the period from 1559 to 1609, was written in the style of the Roman historian Tacitus and was first finished in 1612. The States, however, did not publish it, possibly because of the way the work resonated with the politico-religious tensions within the Dutch Republic (see below). His first occasion to write systematically on issues of international justice came in 1604 when he became involved in

2028-474: The early Middle Ages are one of the groups out of which the nobility sprang over time. They saw themselves as equal partners of the territorial lords , because they participated alongside them as members of the territorial assembly and were not their vassals. The freedoms associated with allodial estates (tax exemption, hunting rights, etc.) were only exercised by the nobility in most states – even if, after 1500, they had to subordinate themselves increasingly to

2106-452: The international society doctrine, but he was one of the first to define expressly the idea of one society of states, governed not by force or warfare but by actual laws and mutual agreement to enforce those laws. As Hedley Bull declared in 1990: "The idea of international society which Grotius propounded was given concrete expression in the Peace of Westphalia , and Grotius may be considered

2184-411: The province of Walloon Brabant , Belgium , about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Brussels . The municipality consists of the following districts: Braine-l'Alleud (including the hamlet of Sart-Moulin), Lillois-Witterzée , and Ophain-Bois-Seigneur-Isaac . Bordering Flanders, the town is home to a minority of Dutch speakers. The famous Lion of Waterloo , where the eponymous battle took place,

2262-569: The territorial princes (as part of the establishment of statehood) – who remained, politically and economically, the most influential group of landowners. The term ‘allod’ occurs only in the Franconian region and those territories influenced legally by Frankish tribes. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, there were no more allods in England at all (though Lundy was later deemed to not be in England ) and, in France, allodial estates existed mainly in

2340-515: The 13th century. Jan de Groot was also the translator of Archimedes and a friend of Ludolph van Ceulen . He groomed his son from an early age in a traditional humanist and Aristotelian education. A prodigious learner, Grotius entered Leiden University when he was just eleven years old. There he studied with some of the most acclaimed intellectuals in northern Europe, including Franciscus Junius , Joseph Justus Scaliger , and Rudolph Snellius . At age 16 (1599), he published his first book:

2418-537: The 17th century at the latest, and vassals’ rights of inheritance became much stronger in the early modern period, and, secondly, the territorial princes were able to force freemen in the 16th century to make regular tax payments. In the 19th century, feudal law was finally gradually abolished in most European countries largely due to the Napoleonic wars and the influence of the Napoleonic Code . It fully integrated

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2496-782: The Captain-General of the republic, Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange could not allow with the treaty nearing its end. Maurice seized the opportunity to solidify the preeminence of the Gomarists , whom he had supported, and to eliminate the nuisance he perceived in Oldenbarnevelt (the latter had previously brokered the Twelve Years' Truce with Spain in 1609 against Maurice's wishes). During this time Grotius made another attempt to address ecclesiastical politics by completing De Imperio Summarum Potestatum circa Sacra , on "the relations between

2574-483: The Law of War and Peace ) dedicated to Louis XIII of France and the Mare Liberum ( The Free Seas ) for which Grotius has been called the "father of international law." Grotius has also contributed significantly to the evolution of the notion of rights . Before him, rights were, above all, perceived as attached to objects; after him, they are seen as belonging to persons, as the expression of an ability to act, or as

2652-517: The Netherlands after the death of Prince Maurice in 1625 when toleration was granted to them. In 1630, they were allowed complete freedom to build and run churches and schools and to live anywhere in Holland. The Remonstrants guided by Johannes Wtenbogaert set up a presbyterial organization. They established a theological seminary at Amsterdam where Grotius came to teach alongside Episcopius , van Limborch , de Courcelles , and Leclerc . In 1634, Grotius

2730-513: The Swedes - a European superpower - sent him to Paris as ambassador. He remained in this position for ten years, where he had the mission to negotiate for Sweden at the end of the Thirty Years' War . During this period, he had been interested in the unity of Christians and published many texts that would posthumously (1679) be published under the title of Opera Omnia Theologica . Grotius also developed

2808-526: The authorities granted him an annual royal pension. Grotius lived in France almost continuously from 1621 to 1644. His stay coincides with the period (1624-1642) during which the Cardinal Richelieu led France under the authority of Louis XIII . In France in 1625 Grotius published his most famous book, De jure belli ac pacis [ On the Law of War and Peace ] dedicated to Louis XIII of France . While in Paris, Grotius set about rendering into Latin prose

2886-525: The auxiliary troops in Utrecht. Grotius went on a mission to the States of Utrecht to stiffen their resistance against this move, but Maurice prevailed. The States General then authorized him to arrest Oldenbarnevelt, Grotius and Rombout Hogerbeets on 29 August 1618. They were tried by a court of delegated judges from the States General. Van Oldenbarnevelt was sentenced to death and was beheaded in 1619. Grotius

2964-485: The beginning, the franchise might not have been much more than a right to local administration. By 1489, however, the local lord enjoyed complete juridical power on its territory, which was still formally part of the fiefdom obtained from the Duke of Brabant . In 1815, part of the fighting that took place at the Battle of Waterloo actually occurred on the territory of Braine-l’Alleud. The town's church of Saint-Étienne became

3042-557: The civil authorities there to join Holland's majority view about church politics. In early 1617 Grotius debated the question of giving counter-remonstrants the chance to preach in the Kloosterkerk in The Hague which had been closed. During this time lawsuits were brought against the States of Holland by counter-remonstrant ministers and riots over the controversy broke out in Amsterdam. As

3120-411: The concept of sovereignty: "holders of allodial land are sovereign" because allodial land is by nature free, hereditary, inherited from their forefathers, sovereign and held by the grace of God. This form of ownership meant that the landowner owed no feudal duties to any other person. An allod could be inherited freely according to the usual law of the land. To begin with, the income from allodial estates

3198-508: The conflict between civil and religious authorities escalated, in order to maintain civil order Oldenbarnevelt eventually proposed that local authorities be given the power to raise troops (the Sharp Resolution of August 4, 1617). Such a measure undermined the unity of the Republic's military force, the very same reason Spain had managed to retake so much lost territory in the 1580s, something

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3276-513: The controversy by defending the civil authorities' power to appoint (independently of the wishes of religious authorities) whomever they wished to a university's faculty. He did this by writing Ordinum Pietas , "a pamphlet...directed against an opponent, the Calvinist Franeker professor Lubbertus; it was ordered by Grotius' masters the States of Holland, and thus written for the occasion – though Grotius may already have had plans for such

3354-460: The essential character of the allodial estate: a freely-owned property allocated and guaranteed by the will of the whole people or by the people's law ( Volksgesetz ). The landowner was independent of any superiors and free of any property right restrictions. In many regions only allodiaries were counted as freemen, i.e., those who enjoyed all common, public rights and duties. They served as territorial assemblymen ( Landesgemeinde ). The allodiaries of

3432-794: The historian Jacques Auguste de Thou , the Orientalist and Arabic scholar Erpinius , and the French ambassador in the Dutch Republic, Benjamin Aubery du Maurier , who allowed him to use the French diplomatic mail in the first years of his exile. He was also friends with the Brabantian Jesuit Andreas Schottus . Grotius was the father of regent and diplomat Pieter de Groot . Grotius designed his theory to apply not only to states but also to rulers and subjects of law in general. Grotius's masterpiece De Jure Belli ac Pacis thus proved useful in

3510-551: The idea of freedom of the seas in a more rudimentary fashion under the principles of jus gentium . Grotius's notion of the freedom of the seas would persist until the mid-20th century, and it continues to be applied even to this day for much of the high seas , though the application of the concept and the scope of its reach is changing . Aided by his continued association with Van Oldenbarnevelt , Grotius made considerable advances in his political career, being retained as Oldenbarnevelt's resident advisor in 1605, Advocate General of

3588-637: The influence of Grotius's ideas revived in the 20th century following the First World War . Born in Delft during the Dutch Revolt , Grotius was the first child of Jan Cornets de Groot and Alida van Overschie. His father was a man of learning, once having studied with the eminent Justus Lipsius at Leiden University , as well as of political distinction. His family was considered Delft patrician as his ancestors played an important role in local government since

3666-515: The intellectual father of this first general peace settlement of modern times." Additionally, his contributions to Arminian theology helped provide the seeds for later Arminian-based movements, such as Methodism and Pentecostalism ; Grotius is acknowledged as a significant figure in the Arminian–Calvinist debate . Because of his theological underpinning of free trade, he is also considered an "economic theologist". After fading over time,

3744-458: The later development of theories of both private and criminal law. The king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus , was said to have always carried a copy of De jure belli ac pacis in his saddle when leading his troops. In contrast, King James VI and I of Great Britain reacted very negatively to Grotius' presentation of the book during a diplomatic mission. Some philosophers, notably Protestants such as Pierre Bayle , Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and

3822-474: The legal proceedings following the seizure by Dutch merchants of a Portuguese carrack and its cargo in the Singapore Strait . Throughout his life Grotius wrote a variety of philological, theological and politico-theological works. In 1608, he married Maria van Reigersberch ; they had three daughters and four sons. The Dutch were at war with Spain ; although Portugal was closely allied with Spain, it

3900-513: The main representatives of the Scottish Enlightenment Francis Hutcheson , Adam Smith , David Hume , Thomas Reid held him in high esteem. The French Enlightenment, on the other hand, was much more critical. Voltaire called it boring and Rousseau developed an alternative conception of human nature. Pufendorf , another theoretician of the natural law concept, was also skeptical. Andrew Dickson White wrote: Into

3978-473: The matter in more detail...I may summarize my feelings thus: that the [civil] authorities should scrutinize God's Word so thoroughly as to be certain to impose nothing which is against it; if they act in this way, they shall in good conscience have control of the public churches and public worship – but without persecuting those who err from the right way." Because this stripped Church officials of any power some of their members (such as Johannes Althusius in

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4056-475: The ministry" was backed up by Grotius with "thirty-one pages of quotations, mainly dealing with the Five Remonstrant Articles ." In response to Grotius' Ordinum Pietas , Professor Lubbertus published Responsio Ad Pietatem Hugonis Grotii in 1614. Later that year, Grotius anonymously published Bona Fides Sibrandi Lubberti in response to Lubbertus. Jacobus Trigland joined Lubberdus in expressing

4134-542: The ownership of a fief was split so that a lord had dominium directum and his tenant in fee had dominium utile (German nutzbares Eigentum ). By contrast, an allodiary had a full freehold interest – or dominium plenum ( volles Eigentum ) – in his allod. This was also reflected in the contemporaneous synonym for an allod, Erbe und Eigen (loosely "inheritance and ownership"). Borough properties were usually allodial. Likewise, ecclesiastical institutions (e.g. abbeys and cathedrals) owned allodial estates. The conversion of

4212-515: The people's focus to the controversy and Arminius' followers. Grotius played a decisive part in this politico-religious conflict between the Remonstrants, supporters of religious tolerance, and the orthodox Calvinists or Counter-Remonstrants. The controversy expanded when the Remonstrant theologian Conrad Vorstius was appointed to replace Jacobus Arminius as the theology chair at Leiden. Vorstius

4290-450: The policy concerning appointments at this institution, which was governed in their name by a board of Curators – and, in the final instance, the States were responsible for dealing with any cases of heterodoxy among the professors." The domestic dissension resulting over Arminius' professorship was overshadowed by the continuing war with Spain, and the professor died in 1609 on the eve of the Twelve Years' Truce . The new peace would move

4368-537: The religious and secular authorities...Grotius had even cherished hopes that publication of this book would turn the tide and bring back peace to church and state". The conflict between Maurice and the States of Holland, led by Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius, about the Sharp Resolution and Holland's refusal to allow a National Synod, came to a head in July 1619 when a majority in the States General authorized Maurice to disband

4446-459: The return of the boats. In these years a great theological controversy broke out between the chair of theology at Leiden Jacobus Arminius and his followers (who are called Arminians or Remonstrants ) and the strongly Calvinist theologian, Franciscus Gomarus , whose supporters are termed Gomarists or Counter-Remonstrants. Leiden University "was under the authority of the States of Holland – they were responsible, among other things, for

4524-679: The seas ), provided suitable ideological justification for the Dutch breaking up of various trade monopolies through its formidable naval power. England , competing fiercely with the Dutch for domination of world trade, opposed this idea and claimed in John Selden 's Mare clausum (The Closed Sea) , "That the Dominion of the British Sea, or That Which Incompasseth the Isle of Great Britain, is, and Ever Hath Been,

4602-604: The south. In Germany, the allodial estates were mainly those owned by the nobility in the south, though in the north at least one Belgian village has a name that recalls this system, namely Braine-l'Alleud , Dutch Eigenbrakel (where eigen is cognate to English own ), in the province of Walloon Brabant , formerly in, or surrounded by, the southern part of the Duchy of Brabant ; this is in contrast with Braine-le-Comte ('s-Gravenbrakel) , some 25 km away in Hainaut , whose name refers to

4680-463: The subject of predestination and the sacrament...[and] an extensive, detailed and generally unfavourable review of Walaeus' Ampt , stuffed with references to ancient and modern authorities." When Grotius wrote asking for some notes "he received a treasure-house of ecclesiastical history. ...offering ammunition to Grotius, who gratefully accepted it". Around this time (April 1616) Grotius went to Amsterdam as part of his official duties, trying to persuade

4758-399: The times of the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands and the Thirty Years' War between Catholic and Protestant European nations (Catholic France being in the otherwise Protestant camp), it is not surprising that Grotius was deeply concerned with matters of conflicts between nations and religions. His most lasting work, begun in prison and published during his exile in Paris,

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4836-473: The use of force, many shareholders were eager to accept the riches that he brought back to them. Not only was the legality of keeping the prize questionable under Dutch statute, but a faction of shareholders (mostly Mennonite ) in the Company also objected to the forceful seizure on moral grounds, and of course, the Portuguese demanded the return of their cargo. The scandal led to a public judicial hearing and

4914-466: The very midst of all this welter of evil, at a point in time to all appearance hopeless, at a point in space apparently defenseless, in a nation of which every man, woman, and child was under sentence of death from its sovereign, was born a man who wrought as no other has ever done for the redemption of civilization from the main cause of all that misery; who thought out for Europe the precepts of right reason in international law; who made them heard; who gave

4992-490: The view that tolerance in matters of doctrine was inadmissible, and in his 1615 works Den Recht-gematigden Christen: Ofte vande waere Moderatie and Advys Over een Concept van moderatie Trigland denounced Grotius' stance. In late 1615, when Middelburg professor Antonius Walaeus published Het Ampt der Kerckendienaren (a response to Johannes Wtenbogaert 's 1610 Tractaet van 't Ampt ende authoriteit eener hoogher Christelijcke overheid in kerckelijkcke zaken ) he sent Grotius

5070-489: The winter of 1644–1645, he went to Sweden in difficult conditions, which he decided to leave in the summer of 1645. While departing from his last visit to Sweden, Grotius was shipwrecked on the voyage. He washed up on the shore of Rostock , ill and weather-beaten, and on August 28, 1645, he died; his body at last returned to the country of his youth, being laid to rest in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. Grotius' personal motto

5148-409: Was Ruit hora ("Time is running away"); his last words were purportedly, "By understanding many things, I have accomplished nothing" ( Door veel te begrijpen, heb ik niets bereikt ). Significant friends and acquaintances of his included the theologian Franciscus Junius , the poet Daniel Heinsius , the philologist Gerhard Johann Vossius , the historian Johannes Meursius , the engineer Simon Stevin ,

5226-646: 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 regularly brought to him and was transported to Gorinchem . Grotius wrote most of his major works in exile in France . Grotius

5304-407: Was a major figure in the fields of philosophy, political theory and law during the 16th and 17th centuries. Along with the earlier works of Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili , his writings laid the foundations for international law , based on natural law in its Protestant side. Two of his books have had a lasting impact in the field of international law: De jure belli ac pacis ( On

5382-594: Was a monumental effort to restrain such conflicts on the basis of a broad moral consensus. Grotius wrote: Fully convinced...that there is a common law among nations, which is valid alike for war and in war, I have had many and weighty reasons for undertaking to write upon the subject. Throughout the Christian world, I observed a lack of restraint in relation to war, such as even barbarous races should be ashamed of; I observed that men rush to arms for slight causes or no cause at all and that when arms have once been taken up, there

5460-446: Was completed in late 1613 or early 1614. The edict put into practice a view that Grotius had been developing in his writings on church and state (see Erastianism ): that only the basic tenets necessary for undergirding civil order (e.g., the existence of God and His providence ) ought to be enforced while differences on obscure theological doctrines should be left to private conscience. The edict "imposing moderation and toleration on

5538-552: Was explicitly converted into a fee tail ( Fideikommissgut ). The allod as a form of ownership was established among the Germanic tribes and peoples , before it became part of the feudal system. Land that was originally held in common by the whole community was transferred to a single individual. The freemen of the Germanic peoples divided or drew lots for the land in the countries they had conquered and taken possession of. This gave rise to

5616-497: Was given the opportunity to serve as Sweden 's ambassador to France . Axel Oxenstierna , regent of the successor of the recently deceased Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus , was keen to have Grotius in his employ. Grotius accepted the offer and took up diplomatic residence in Paris, which remained his home until he was released from his post in 1645. In 1644, the queen Christine of Sweden , who had become an adult, began to perform her duties and brought him back to Stockholm. During

5694-559: Was not an entity in itself but God's creation . Therefore, his concept of natural law had a theological foundation. The Old Testament contained moral precepts (e.g. the Decalogue ), which Christ confirmed and therefore were still valid. They were useful in interpreting the content of natural law. Both Biblical revelation and natural law originated in God and could, therefore, not contradict each other. Many exiled Remonstrants began to return to

5772-483: Was not even liable for taxes paid to any other sovereigns, including the Landesfürsten ( princely heads of state ). In all of these ways, the allod differed from fiefs , which were mere tenures held by feudatories ( Lehnsmänner ) or their vassals ( Vasallen ). Overall suzerainty in a fief remained with the feudal lord , who could require of his vassals certain services which varied from vassal to vassal. Also,

5850-647: Was not removed. The Counter-Remonstrants were also supported in their opposition by King James I of England "who thundered loudly against the Leyden nomination and gaudily depicted Vorstius as a horrid heretic. He ordered his books to be publicly burnt in London, Cambridge, and Oxford, and he exerted continual pressure through his ambassador in the Hague, Ralph Winwood, to get the appointment canceled." James began to shift his confidence from Oldenbarnevelt towards Maurice. Grotius joined

5928-587: Was not yet at war with the Dutch . Near the start of the war, Grotius's cousin captain Jacob van Heemskerk captured a loaded Portuguese carrack merchant ship, Santa Catarina , off present-day Singapore in 1603. Heemskerk was employed with the United Amsterdam Company (part of the Dutch East India Company ), and though he did not have authorization from the company or the government to initiate

6006-521: Was sentenced to life imprisonment and transferred to Loevestein Castle. From his imprisonment in Loevestein, Grotius made a written justification of his position "as to my views on the power of the Christian [civil] authorities in ecclesiastical matters, I refer to my...booklet De Pietate Ordinum Hollandiae and especially to an unpublished book De Imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra , where I have treated

6084-509: Was soon seen by Counter-Remonstrants as moving beyond the teachings of Arminius into Socinianism and he was accused of teaching irreligion. Leading the call for Vorstius' removal was theology professor Sibrandus Lubbertus . On the other side, Johannes Wtenbogaert (a Remonstrant leader) and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt , Grand Pensionary of Holland, had strongly promoted the appointment of Vorstius and began to defend their actions. Gomarus resigned his professorship at Leyden, in protest that Vorstius

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