Which religious and political group did Hugo Grotius support in the Dutch Republic?
Hugo Grotius was a prominent member of the Remonstrants, a group primarily composed of upper-class "regents" who supported the tolerant Protestantism advocated by Jacobus Arminius.12
In the Dutch Republic, Grotius and his political ally Johan van Oldenbarnevelt were engaged in a bitter struggle against the Gomarists (or Counter-Remonstrants). The Gomarists were orthodox Calvinists who sought a strict, uncompromising religious orthodoxy and were supported by Prince Maurice. While the Remonstrants championed a more latitudinarian approach to dogma and civil authority over church affairs, the Gomarists viewed their strict faith as the essential "cement" of the union and sought to establish a church independent of civil control. This conflict ultimately led to a coup dāĆ©tat by Prince Maurice in 1618, resulting in the arrest of Remonstrant leaders, the execution of Oldenbarnevelt, and the life imprisonment of Grotius.123