The Life of Hugo Grotius written by Charles Butler

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THE LIFE OF HUGO GROTIUS

With Brief Minutes of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History
of the Netherlands

by

CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ.

Of Lincoln's-Inn

London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street.

M.DCCC.XXVI.

TO
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE DUKE OF SUSSEX,
THIS BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT
OF
ONE OF THE MOST AMIABLE AND RESPECTABLE DEFENDERS OF THE NOBLE CAUSE OF
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,
OF WHICH
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS HAS UNIFORMLY BEEN A CONSTANT AND POWERFUL ADVOCATE,
IS
(WITH HIS PERMISSION),
MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY
THE AUTHOR,

Great Ormond Street

29 Sept. 1826

CONTENTS

In the following pages we shall attempt to present our Readers, with a
Life of HUGO GROTIUS; and MINUTES OF THE CIVIL, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND
LITERARY HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS.

In writing these pages, we principally consulted his life, written in
the French language, by _M. de Burigni_, Member of the French Royal
Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres; an English translation of
it, was published in 1754, in one Volume, 8vo.;

_Hugonis Grotii Manes, ab iniquis obtrectationibus vindicati_; 2
vols. 8vo. 1727: the author of this work is said to be M. Lehman;

The article _Grotius_, in _Bayle's and Chalmers's
Dictionaries_;

And many of the letters in _Hugonis Grotii Epistolae_, published at
Amsterdam in 1687, in one volume, folio; and many in the _Praestantium
et Eruditorum Virorum Epistolae Ecclesiasticae_, published at Amsterdam
in 1684, in one volume, 4to.

For what we have said on GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS, we principally
consulted,

_Schmidt's Histoire des Allemands_;

_Pfeffell's Histoire Abrege de l'Allemagne_, 2 vols. 8vo.;

_Mr. Durnford's excellent Translation, of Professor Puetter's
Historical Developement, of the Political History of the German
Empire_; 3 vols. 8vo.;

And _Hugonis Grotii Annales, et Historiae de Rebus Belgicis_, one
vol. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1658.

In our account of the troubles on _Arminianism_, and the Synod of
Dort; we principally consulted, the French Abridgment, in 3 vols. 8vo.
of _Brand's History of the Netherlands_, and _Grotius's_
excellent _Apology_:

In every part of the work, we have consulted other publications;--three
only of these we shall mention;

The three _Bibliothecques_ of Le Clerc;

_The Life of Arminius_, and

_Calvinism and Arminianism Compared_, by Mr. James Nichols.

From these materials the following pages have been composed: they may be
found to contain,--

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

A.D. 800-911.

I. 1. _Boundaries, and Devolution of the Empire of
Germany, during the Carlovingian dynasty_
2. _State of Literature, in the time of Charlemagne_
3. _Decline of Literature, under the Descendants of
Charlemagne_

A.D. 911-1024.

II. 1. _Boundaries, and Devolution of the empire of
Germany, during the Saxon dynasty_
2. _State of Literature, during the Saxon dynasty_

A.D. 1024-1138.

III. 1. _Boundaries, and State of Germany, during the
Franconian dynasty_
2. _State of German Literature, during the Franconian
dynasty_

A.D. 1138-1519.

IV. 1. _State of Germany, from the beginning of the
Suabian dynasty, until the accession of the
Emperor Charles V._
2. _State of German Literature, during this period_

A.D. 1138-1519.

V. 1. _Antient, and modern Geography of the Netherlands_
2. _The formation, of the different provinces of the
Netherlands, into one State_
3. _Brief view, of the History of the Netherlands, until
the acknowledgment of the Seven United Provinces,
by the Spanish monarch_
4. _Their constitution, and principal officers_

CHAPTER I.

A.D. 1582-1597.

BIRTH, AND EDUCATION OF GROTIUS

CHAPTER II.

A.D. 1597-1610.

GROTIUS, EMBRACES THE PROFESSION OF THE
LAW

CHAPTER III.

THE EARLY PUBLICATIONS, OF GROTIUS

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORICAL MINUTES, OF THE UNITED PROVINCES,
FROM THEIR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,
TILL THE ARMINIAN CONTROVERSY

CHAPTER V.

A.D. 1610-1617.

THE FEUDS, IN THE UNITED PROVINCES, BETWEEN
THE DISCIPLES OF CALVIN, AND THE DISCIPLES
OF ARMINIUS, UNTIL THE SYNOD OF DORT

CHAPTER VI.
A.D. 1618.

THE SYNOD OF DORT

CHAPTER VII.

A.D. 1618-1621.

TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT OF GROTIUS; HIS
ESCAPE FROM PRISON

CHAPTER VIII.

A.D. 1622

JAMES I. VORSTIUS

CHAPTER IX.

A.D. 1621-1634.

GROTIUS, AFTER HIS ESCAPE FROM PRISON, UNTIL
HIS APPOINTMENT OF AMBASSADOR, FROM
SWEDEN, TO THE COURT OF FRANCE

CHAPTER X.

SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS, OF GROTIUS
1. _New edition of Stobaeus_
2. _His treatise de Jure Belli et Pacis_
3. ---- _de Veritate Religionis Christianae_
4. ---- _de Jure summarum potestatum circa
sacra._--And _Commentatio ad loca quaedam Novi
Testamenti, quae de Antichristo agunt, aut agere
videntur_
5. _His Commentaries on the Scriptures_
6. _His other works_

CHAPTER XI.

A.D. 1634-1645.

GROTIUS, AS AMBASSADOR FROM THE KINGDOM
OF SWEDEN, TO THE COURT OF FRANCE

CHAPTER XII.

THE RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS OF GROTIUS; SOME
OTHER OF HIS WORKS,
1. _Subsequent History of Arminianism_
2. _Grotius's religious sentiments_
3. _Projects of religious Pacification_

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DEATH OF GROTIUS

CHAPTER XIV.

A.D. 1680-1815.

HISTORICAL MINUTES OF THE REVOLUTIONS OF
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SEVEN UNITED PROVINCES,
FROM THE DEATH OF WILLIAM II. TILL
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THE
NETHERLANDS.

1. _William III._
2. _John William Count of Nassau Dietz, 1702-1711;
William IV._ 1711-1751
3. _From the death of William IV. till the erection of
the Kingdom of the Netherlands_

APPENDIX I.

_Some Account of the Formularies, Confessions of Faith,
or Symbolic Books, of the Roman-Catholic, Greek,
and principal Protestant Churches_

APPENDIX II.

_On the Reunion of Christians_

FOOTNOTES

INTRODUCTION.

SUCCINCT NOTICE OF THE GEOGRAPHY, PRINCIPAL POLITICAL EVENTS, AND
LITERATURE, OF THE NETHERLANDS, BEFORE THE BIRTH OF GROTIUS.

800-1581.

We propose to present to our readers, in this chapter, a succinct
account, of the Geography, Devolution, and Literature of the
Netherlands,--considering them, until they became subject to the princes
of the House of Burgundy, as a portion of the German Empire, and
included in its history:--and from that time, as forming a separate
territory.

[Sidenote: 800-1581.]

Contemplating the Netherlands in the first of these views,--we shall
briefly mention the Boundaries and Government, of the German Empire, and
the state of learning in its territories, during the Carlovingian,
Saxon, Franconian and Suabian Dynasties, and the period, which
intervened, between the last Suabian emperor and the election of the
Emperor Charles the fifth.

From this time, we shall confine ourselves to the History of the
Netherlands. We shall then, therefore, endeavour to give a short view of
the geography of these countries, and of the manner in which they were
acquired by the Princes of Burgundy; then, shortly mention the
successful revolt of the Seven United Provinces.

In one of them, GROTIUS, the subject of these pages, was born; the part
which he took in the public events of his times, forms the most
important portion of his biography.

I. 1.

_Boundaries and Devolution of the Empire of Germany during the
Carlovingian Dynasty_.

800-911.

The Ocean on the north, the Danube on the south, the Rhine on the west,
and the Sarmatian Provinces on the east, are the boundaries assigned by
Tacitus to Antient Germany. It formed the most extensive portion of the
territories of Charlemagne; descended, at his decease, to his son, Lewis
the Debonnaire; and, on the partition between his three sons, was
allotted to Lewis, his second son.

All the territories of Charlemagne were united in Charles the Fat; he
was deposed by his subjects, and his empire divided. Germany was
assigned to his third son, Charles the Brave. On his decease, it was
possessed by Arnold, a natural son of Carloman, the elder brother of
Charles: from him it descended to Hedwiges, the wife of Otho, Duke of
Saxony, and she transmitted it to their son Henry the Fowler, the first
emperor of that house.

[Sidenote: 800-911.]

From the skirts of Germany and France two new kingdoms arose: the
kingdom of Lorraine, which comprised the countries between the Rhine,
the Meuse, and the Scheld; or the modern Lorraine, the province of
Alsace, the Palatinate, Treves, Cologne, Juliers, Liege and the
Netherlands;--and the kingdom of Burgundy: This was divided into the
Cis-juranan, or the part of it on the east, and the Trans-juranan, or
the part of it on the west of Mount Jura. The former comprised Provence,
Dauphine, the Lyonese, Franche-comte, Bresse, Bugey, and a part of
Savoy; the latter comprised the countries between Mount Jura and the
Pennine Alps, or the part of Switzerland between the Reus, the Valais,
and the rest of Savoy.

Such was the geographical state of Germany at the close of the
Carlovingian Dynasty.

I. 2.

_State of Literature in the time of Charlemagne_.

So far as Literature depends upon the favour of the monarch, no aera in
history promised more than the reign of Charlemagne. His education had
been neglected; but he had real taste for learning and the arts, was
sensible of their beneficial influence both upon the public and the
private welfare of a people; and possessed the amplest means of
encouraging and diffusing them; his wisdom would suggest to him the
properest means of doing it, and the energy of his mind would excite
him to constant exertions.

[Sidenote: I. 2. State of Literature in the time of Charlemagne.]

Nothing that could be effected by a prince thus gifted and disposed, was
left untried by Charlemagne. He drew to him the celebrated Alcuin, Peter
of Pisa, Paul Warnefrid, and many other distinguished literary
characters: he heaped favours upon them; and a marked distinction was
always shewn them at his court. He formed them into a literary society,
which had frequent meetings. Their conversation was literary, he often
bore a part in it; and, what was at least equally gratifying, he always
listened with a polite and flattering attention while others spoke. To
establish perfect equality among them, the monarch, and, after his
example, the other members of this society, dropt their own and adopted
other names. Angelbert was called Homer, from his partiality to that
poet; Riculphus, archbishop of Mentz, chose the name of Dametas, from an
eclogue of Virgil: another member took that of Candidus; Eginhard, the
Emperor's biographer, was called Calliopus, from the Muse Calliope;
Alcuin received, from his country, the name of Albinus; the archbishop
Theodulfe was called Pindar; the abbot Adelard was called Augustine;
Charlemagne, as the man of God's own heart, was called David.

[Sidenote: 800-911]

The Emperor corresponded with men of learning, on subjects of
literature; they generally related to religion. In one of his letters,
he requires of Alcuin an explanation of the words Septuagesima,
Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, which denote the Sundays which
immediately precede, and the word Quadragesima, which denotes the first
Sunday which occurs in Lent. The denominations of those Sundays give
rise to two difficulties; one, that they seem to imply that each week
consists of ten, not of seven days; the other, that the words sound as
if Septuagesima were the seventieth, when it is only the sixty-third day
before Easter Sunday; Sexagesima, as if it were the sixtieth, when it is
only the fifty-sixth; Quinquagesima, as if it were the fiftieth, when it
is the forty-ninth; Quadragesima, as if it were the fortieth, when it is
the forty-second. Alcuin's answer is more subtle than satisfactory.

At the meals of Charlemagne some person always read to him. His example
was followed by many of his successors, particularly by Francis I. of
France, who, in an happier era for learning, imitated with happier
effects, the example of the Emperor.

[Sidenote: I. 2. State of Literature in the time of Charlemagne.]

Alcuin was general director of all the literary schemes of Charlemagne.
He was an Englishman by birth; skilled both in the Greek and Latin
language, and in many branches of philosophy. Having taught, with great
reputation and success, in his own country, he travelled to Rome. In
780, Charlemagne attracted him to his court.

There, Alcuin gave lectures, and published several treatises. In these,
he began with Orthography; then proceeded to Grammar; afterwards to
Rhetoric, and Dialectic. He composed his treatises in the form of
dialogues; and, as Charlemagne frequently attended them, Alcuin made him
one of his interlocutors. Few scholars of Alcuin were more attentive
than his imperial pupil; he had learned grammar from Peter of Pisa; he
was instructed in rhetoric, dialectic, and astronomy by Alcuin. He also
engaged in the study of divinity; and had the good sense to stop short
of those subtleties, in which Justinian, Heraclius, and other princes,
unfortunately both for themselves and their subjects, bewildered
themselves. Letters from Gisela and Richtrudis, the daughters of
Charlemagne, to Alcuin, shew that they partook of their father's
literary zeal: his favourite study was astronomy.

[Sidenote: 800-911.]

The number of persons in his court, who addicted themselves to pursuits
of literature, was so great, and their application so regular, that
their meetings acquired the appellation of "The School of Charlemagne."
Their library was at Aix-la-Chapelle, the favourite residence of the
monarch: but they accompanied him in many of his journies. Antiquarians
have tracked them at Paris, Thionville, Wormes, Ratisbon, Wurtzburgh,
Mentz, and Frankfort.

Charlemagne established schools in every part of his dominions. In 787,
he addressed a circular letter to all the metropolitan prelates of his
dominions, to be communicated by them to their suffragan bishops, and to
the abbots within their provinces. He exhorted them to erect schools in
every cathedral and monastery. Schools were accordingly established
throughout his vast dominions: they were divided into two classes;
arithmetic, grammar, and music were taught in the lower, the liberal
arts and theology in the higher.

[Sidenote: 1. 2. State of Literature in the time of Charlemagne.]

In France, the abbeys of Corbie, Fontenelles, Ferrieres, St. Denis, St
Germain of Paris, St. Germain of Auxerre, and St. Benedict on the
Loire;--in Germany, the abbeys of Proom, Fulda, and of St Gall;--in
Italy, the abbey of Mount Casino, were celebrated for the excellence of
their schools. One, for the express purpose of teaching the Greek
language, was founded by Charlemagne at Osnabruck. All were equally open
to the children of the nobility and the children of peasants; all
received the same treatment. It happened that, on a public examination
of the children, the peasant boys were found to have made greater
progress than the noble. The Emperor remarked it to the latter, and
declared with an oath, that "the bishopricks and abbeys should be given
to the diligent poor." "You rely," he said to the patrician youths, "on
the merit of your ancestors; these have already been rewarded. The state
owes them nothing; those only are entitled to favour, who qualify
themselves for serving and illustrating their country by their talents
and their merits."

[Sidenote: 800-911.]

The civil law then consisted of the Theodosian code, the Salic,
Ripuarian, Allemannic, Bavarian, Burgundian, and other _codes_; and of
the _formularies_ of Angesise and Marculfus. To these Charlemagne added
his own _capitularies_. The whole collection, in opposition to the canon
or ecclesiastical law, received the appellation of _Lex Mundana_, or
_worldly law_. The canon law consisted of the code of canons which
Charlemagne brought with him from Rome in 784; a code of the canons of
the church of France; the canons inserted in the collection of Angelram,
bishop of Metz; the apostolic canons, published by St. Martin, bishop of
Braga; the capitularies of Theodulfus, of Orleans; and the penitential
canons, published in the Spicilegium of d'Acheri.[001] To the study,
both of the canon and civil law, schools were appropriated by
Charlemagne: few, except persons intended for the ecclesiastical state,
frequented them. Rabanus Maurus,[002] abbot of Fulda, and afterwards
archbishop of Mentz, has left an interesting account of the studies of
this period; it shews that all were referred to theology, and only
considered to be useful so far as they could be made serviceable to
sacred learning. Such a plan of study could conduce but little to the
advancement of general literature or science. Still, it was productive
of good, and led to improvement.

[Sidenote: I.2. State of Literature in the time of Charlemagne.]

It is observable that both antient and modern civilizers of nations,
have called music to their aid; among these we may mention Charlemagne.
In his residence at Rome, he was delighted with the Gregorian chant.
After his return to Germany, he endeavoured to introduce it, both into
his French and German dominions. The former had a chant of their own;
they called it an improvement, but other nations considered it a
corruption of the Gregorian. Greatly against the wish of Charlemagne,
his Gallic subjects persisted in their attachment to their national
music; the merit of it was gravely debated before the Emperor; they
vehemently urged the superiority of their own strains. "Tell me," said
the Emperor, "which is purer, the fountain or the rivulet?" They
answered, "the former." "Return ye, then," (said the Emperor) "to St.
Gregory: he is the fountain, the rivulets are evidently corrupted." The
Emperor was obeyed, and the Gregorian chant was taught, both in France
and Germany, by Italian choristers. The Italian writers of the times
describe the difficulties which they experienced in forming the rough
and almost untuneable voices of their French and German pupils to the
softness of the Gregorian song. They appear to have succeeded better
with the Germans than the French. By these, their lessons were so soon
and so completely forgotten, after the decease of Charlemagne, that
Lewis the Debonnaire, his son, was obliged to request Pope Gregory IV.
to send him from Rome, a new supply of singers to instruct the people.

But music continued to prosper in Germany; it abounded in songs. Some
were amatory, (_muennelier_); some were satirical, (_cantica in
malitiam_); some heroic, (_cantica in honorem,_); some diabolical,
(_cantica diabolica_.) These consisted of incantations, and of
narratives of the feats of evil spirits.

[Sidenote: 800-911.]

Vernacular poetry, and vernacular composition, of every kind, were
almost wholly left to the vulgar; all, who aimed at literary eminence,
wrote in the Latin language. Some discerning spirits became sensible
that the German language was susceptible of great improvement, and
excited their countrymen to its cultivation. Among these was Otfroid; he
translated the Gospel into German verse. He describes, in strong terms,
the difficulties which he had to encounter: "The barbarousness of the
German language is," he says, "so great, and its sounds are so
incoherent and strange, that it is very difficult to subject them to the
rules of grammar, to represent them by syllables, or to find in the
alphabet letters which correspond to them." It is however remarkable,
that, although he complains of the dissonance of the German language, he
never accuses it of poverty.

While France and Germany continued subject to the same monarch, German
was the language of the court, and generally used in every class of
society. When the treaty of Verdun divided the territories of
Charlemagne, the _Romande_, or _Romance_ language, a corruption of the
Latin, superseded the German in every part of France: it was insensibly
refined into the modern French, but the German continued to be the only
language spoken in Germany.

Great progress was made in architecture: the churches and palaces
constructed by the direction of Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle, the
Basilisc at Germani, the church of St. Recquier at Ponthieu, and many
other monuments of great architectural skill and expense, belong to the
age of Charlemagne, and bear ample testimony to the well-directed
exertions of the monarch, and of some of his descendants, and to their
wise and splendid magnificence.

I. 3.

_Decline of Literature under the Descendants of Charlemagne._

[Sidenote: 800-911]

[Sidenote: I. 3. Decline of Literature under the Descendants of
Charlemagne.]

That literature began to decline immediately after the decease of
Charlemagne, in every part of his extensive dominions, and that its
decline was principally owing to the wars among his descendants, which
devastated every portion of his empire, seems to be universally
acknowledged; yet there are strong grounds for contending that it was
not so great as generally represented. _Abbe le Beuf_,[003] in an
excellent dissertation on the state of the sciences in the Gauls during
the period which elapsed between the death of Charlemagne and the reign
of Robert, king of France, attempts to prove the contrary; and the
preliminary discourses of the authors of "l'Histoire Literaire de la
France," on the state of learning during the ninth and tenth centuries,
strongly confirm the abbe's representations. It is surprising how many
works were written during these dark, and, as they are too harshly
called, ignorant ages. It is more to be wondered, that while so much was
written, so little was written well. The classical works of antiquity
were not unknown in those times; the Latin Vulgate translation of the
Old and New Testament was daily read by the clergy, and heard by the
people. Now, although the language of the Vulgate be not classical, it
is not destitute of elegance, and it possesses throughout the exquisite
charms of clearness and simplicity. It is surprising that these
circumstances did not lead the writers to a better style. They had no
such effect; the general style of the time was hard, inflated and
obscure. It should, however, be observed, that Simonde de Sismondi, as
he is translated by Mr. Roscoe, justly observes, that "during the reign
of Charlemagne, and during the four centuries which immediately preceded
it, there appeared, both in France and Italy, some judicious historians,
whose style possesses considerable vivacity, and who gave animated
pictures of their times; some subtle philosophers, who astonished their
contemporaries, rather by the fineness of their speculations than by the
justness of their reasoning; some learned theologians, and some poets.
The names of Paul Warnefrid, of Alcuin, of Luitprand, and Eginhard, are
even yet universally respected. They all, however, wrote in Latin. They
had all of them, by the strength of their intellect, and the happy
circumstances in which they were placed, learned to appreciate the
beauty of the models which antiquity had left them. They breathed the
spirit of a former age, as they had adopted its language: we do not find
them representatives of their contemporaries: it is impossible to
recognize in their style the times in which they lived; it only betrays
the relative industry and felicity with which they imitated the language
and thoughts of a former age. They were the last monuments of civilized
antiquity, the last of a noble race, which, after a long period of
degeneracy, became extinct in them."

II. 1.

_Boundaries and Devolution of the German Empire during the Saxon
Dynasty._

911-1024.

We have mentioned that, on the death of Lewis, the son of Arnhold, the
empire descended to Henry I. in the right of his mother. From him, it
devolved through Otho, surnamed the Great, Otho II., and Otho III., to
Henry II. the last emperor of the Saxon line.

In this period of the German history, the attention of the reader is
particularly directed to two circumstances,--the principal states, of
which Germany was composed, the cradles, as they may be called, of the
present electorates, and the erection of the principal cities and
monasteries in Germany.

[Sidenote: II. 2. State of Literature during the Saxon Dynasty.]

A curious altercation between Nicephorus Phocas, the Greek emperor, and
Luitprand bishop of Cremona, ambassador from Otho I. to the Greek
sovereign, shews the state of Germany during this period. "Your nation,"
said the empire to the ambassador, "does not know how to sit on
horseback; or how to fight on foot: your large shields, massive armour,
long swords, and heavy helmets, disable you for battle."--Luitprand
told the emperor that "he would, the first time they should meet in the
field, feel the contrary." Luitprand observed, that "Germany was so
little advanced in ecclesiastical worth; that no council had been held
within its precincts:" the ambassador remarked, that "all heresies had
originated in Greece." The emperor asserted, that "the Germans were
gluttons and drunkards:" Luitprand replied, that "the Greeks were
effeminate." All writers agree, that, in what each party to this
conversation asserted, there was too much truth.

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