. In the following year he married Maria van Reigersberch, the daughter

of the burgomaster of Veere, an intelligent and 

 woman who stood by him unwaveringly in the difficult years to

come. In 1618 Grotius was sentenced to life imprisonment in the fortress of

Loevestein for

participating in

a bitter political and religious struggle. In 1621,

with the aid of his wife, Grotius made a dramatic escape from the castle by

hiding in a chest of books. He fled to Antwerp and finally to