Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot or Hugo de Groot , was a Dutch jurist. Along with the earlier works of Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili, Grotius laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law. A teenage intellectual prodigy, for his involvement in the intra-Calvinist disputes of the Dutch Republic, he was imprisoned and then escaped hidden appropriately in a chest of books. He wrote most of his major works in exile in France.