Andreas Holmsen (5 June 1906 – 20 February 1989) was a Norwegian historian, author, and educator. He is most commonly associated with his textbook Norges historie fra de eldste tider til 1660 (Norwegian History from the Oldest Times to 1660), which is a standard introduction to early Norwegian history.

Personal life

He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was a son of head teacher Andreas Holmsen (1857–1926) and Dagmar Berger (1865–1948). From 1933 he was married to Solveig Ingebrethsen, a daughter of the newspaper editor Ingolf Ingebrethsen and sister of Arne Jostein Ingebrethsen, but the marriage was dissolved. In 1961 he married the ethnologist Rigmor Frimannslund (1911–2006). They resided at Vøyenenga. He died in February 1989 in Bærum.

Career

Holmsen graduated from the University of Oslo (Cand. Philol. 1931). Andreas Holmsen was a consultant in history at the Institute of Economics at the University of Oslo from 1934 to 1940. He was a professor of history at the university from 1955 to 1975. During the course of his career, Holmsen wrote several books and numerous articles in addition to delivering a number of scientific papers. His work principally concerned Norwegian socioeconomic and social history.

Other sources

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