Who helped Maria van Reigersberch carry out Hugo Grotius’s escape plan?

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Oil portrait of Hugo de Groot, also known as Hugo Grotius, by the workshop of Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt, showing him with a ruffled white collar and dark clothing. — Hugo Grotius Portrait of Hugo de Groot (Hugo Grotius), oil on panel by the workshop of Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt, 1631; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Maria van Reigersberch orchestrated the escape of her husband, Hugo Grotius, from Loevestein Castle with the assistance of her maid, Elsje van Houwening.1

Elsje played a critical role in the plan by accompanying the chest—in which Grotius was hidden—out of the prison and onto a boat. Once the chest reached the house of a friend, the friend's wife also assisted by providing a disguise, allowing Grotius to travel safely to Antwerp with the woman's brother. Throughout the process, Maria remained at the castle to maintain the ruse and delay the discovery of his departure.1