Elsje van Houwening door Pieter Alardus Haaxman (1814-1887)

Elselina van Houwening, or Elsje van Houwing (buried March 8, 1681) was the maid who helped in the escape of

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

from

Loevestein Castle Loevestein Castle ( nl, Slot Loevestein) is a medieval castle in the municipality of Zaltbommel, Gelderland, the Netherlands. The castle was built by the knight Dirk Loef of Horne (hence "Loef's stein" (stone) house) between 1357 and 1397. Unt ...

in a book chest. In 1619, when van Houwening was a maid for Hugo Grotius and

Maria van Reigersberch Maria van Reigersberch (Veere? or Boulogne-sur-Mer?, 7 October 1589? — The Hague, 19 April 1653) was the wife of Hugo Grotius, who helped him escape in 1621 from Loevestein Castle during his incarceration there after his 1619 trial. Early li ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Grotius was accused of treason and imprisoned in

. She accompanied her employer in his confinement. Together with Grotius and his wife, a plan was hatched to smuggle Grotius out of the castle in a chest meant to be filled with books. Van Houwening played an active role in the implementation of the plan. She accompanied the chest on the boat trip on the

Merwede The Merwede () etymology uncertain, possibly derived from the ancient Dutch language, Dutch ''Merwe'' or ''Merowe'', a word meaning "wide water") is the name of several connected stretches of river in the Netherlands, between the cities of Woudrich ...

and made sure that it was delivered to a friendly address in

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( or ), also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of Oc ...

. In 1625 she married notary William Fields, who also had been employed by Grotius and had been trained by him. The couple settled in The Hague, where her husband in 1642 was an Advocate at the Hof van Holland. Van Houwening died in 1681 and was buried in her hometown on March 8 of that year.

References

*Loosjes, A. Pz.t Gedrag van Elsje van Houwening dienstmaagd van Huig de Groot geschetst, in eene aanspraak'', uitg. A. Loosjes Pz., Haarlem, 1794. {{DEFAULTSORT:van Houwening, Elselina 1681 deaths Date of birth unknown 17th-century Dutch people 17th-century Dutch women