Grotius' "The Truth of the Christian Religion" was first published in Leiden in 1627 in Latin. Written in a plain and direct language for his countrymen, this short work aimed to show those who would encounter pagans, Muslims, and Jews that the Christian religion was the true revealed religion. In addition to 'fortifying' the beliefs of his fellow Christians, the treatise intended to convince non-Christians of 'the reasonableness of believing and embracing the Christian Religion above any other'. Editor Maria Rosa Antognazza suggests that 'Grotius claimed the superiority of Christian doctrine and morality and their perfect conformity with the teaching of the most enlightened reason, and at the same time he advocated tolerance for all positive religions...Grotius rejected the use of any kind of violence, proclaiming that 'the weapons appointed for the soldiers of Christ are ...proper to the Spirit.' Moreover, in an era of bloody and violent confrontations amongst the different Christian confessions, Grotius raised a forceful appeal 'to mutual agreement'. All Christians should remember that they 'were baptised into the same Name', that of Jesus Christ, and that 'therefore there ought to be no Sects or Divisions amongst them'.

The freedom of the seas -- meaning both the oceans of the world and coastal waters -- has been among the most contentious issues in international law for the past four hundred years. The most influential argument in favour of freedom of navigation, trade, and fishing was that put forth by the Dutch theorist Hugo Grotius in his 1609 Mare Liberum'. The Free Sea' was originally published in order to buttress Dutch claims of access to the lucrative markets of the East Indies. It had been composed as the twelfth chapter of a larger work, De Jure Praedae' (On the Law of Prize and Booty'), which Grotius had written to defend the Dutch East India Company's capture in 1603 of a rich Portuguese merchant ship in the Straits of Singapore. This new edition publishes the only translation of Grotius's masterpiece undertaken in his own lifetime -- a work left in manuscript by the English historian and promoter of overseas exploration Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616). This volume also contains William Welwod's critque of Grotius (reprinted for the first time since the seventeenth century) and Grotius's reply to Welwod. Taken together, these documents provide an indispensable introduction to modern ideas of sovereignty and property as they emerged from the early-modern tradition of natural law.

The history of "Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty "is complex. When Grotiuss personal papers were auctioned in The Hague in 1864, Dutch scholars discovered that his famous Mare Liberum was just one chapter in a manuscript of 163 folios, written in justification of Jacob van Heemskercks capture of the Santa Catarina, a Portuguese merchantman, in the Straits of Singapore in February 1603. A prominent Dutch historian of the nineteenth century, Robert Fruin, persuaded the classical scholar H. G. Hamaker to transcribe and publish it, and the Latin text was issued in 1868. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the one prepared by Gwladys L. Williams and Walter H. Zeydel for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It combines a revised text and new material, making it a highly attractive edition of a work that is difficult to obtain.

The history of Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty is complex. When Grotius's personal papers were auctioned in The Hague in 1864, Dutch scholars discovered that his famous Mare Liberum was just one chapter in a manuscript of 163 folios, written in justification of Jacob van Heemskerck's capture of the Santa Catarina, a Portuguese merchantman, in the Straits of Singapore in February 1603. A prominent Dutch historian of the nineteenth century, Robert Fruin, persuaded the classical scholar H. G. Hamaker to transcribe and publish it, and the Latin text was issued in 1868. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the one prepared by Gwladys L. Williams and Walter H. Zeydel for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It combines a revised text and new material, making it a highly attractive edition of a work that is difficult to obtain. The hardback edition is also availble: 0865974748, GBP13.95.

Grotius's "The Truth of the Christian Religion" was first published in Leiden in 1627 in Latin. Written in a plain and direct language for his countrymen, this short work aimed to show those who would encounter pagans, Muslims, and Jews that the Christian religion was the true revealed religion. In addition to "fortifying" the beliefs of his fellow Christians, the treatise intended to convince non-Christians of "the reasonableness of believing and embracing the Christian Religion above any other."
Editor Maria Rosa Antognazza suggests that "Grotius claimed the superiority of Christian doctrine and morality and their perfect conformity with the teaching of the most enlightened reason, and at the same time he advocated tolerance for all positive religions. . . . Grotius rejected the use of any kind of violence, proclaiming that 'the weapons appointed for the soldiers of Christ are . . . proper to the Spirit.'. . . Moreover, in an era of bloody and violent confrontations amongst the different Christian confessions, Grotius raised a forceful appeal 'to mutual agreement.' All Christians should remember that they 'were baptized into the same Name, ' that of Jesus Christ, and that 'therefore there ought to be no Sects or Divisions amongst them.' "
Hugo Grotius is one of the most important thinkers in the early-modern period. A great humanistic polymath--lawyer and legal theorist, diplomat and political philosopher, ecumenical activist and theologian--his work was seminal for modern natural law and influenced the moral, political, legal, and theological thought of the Enlightenment, from Hobbes, Pufendorf, and Locke to Rousseau and Kant, as well as America's Founding leaders. Jean Le Clerc (1657-1736), a Genevan by birth, was a philosophical and theological scholar and, through his editorship of leading journals, a key figure in the republic of letters.Maria Rosa Antognazza is a Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London.John Clarke (bap. 1687, d. 1734) was a schoolmaster at Hull, an educational reformer, and a translator.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History and Director of the Centre for Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.