Born at
Hamburg in 1596, he studied at the gymnasium of Hamburg, and later at
Leiden University, where he was closely acquainted with some of the most famous scholars of the age, including
Johannes Meursius,
Daniel Heinsius and
Philip Cluverius, whom in 1618 he accompanied on his travels in Italy and Sicily, thus giving him a taste for the study of geography. Disappointed at his failure on his return to obtain a post in the gymnasium of his native Hamburg, he left Germany for good. Having spent two years from 1622 in England, at
Oxford and
London, gathering materials for his
Geographi Minores, he then proceeded to
Paris. At Paris in 1624, he became librarian to the
President de Mesmes, the friend of the scholarly brothers
Dupuy, and the correspondent of
N. Peiresc. At this time he was converted to
Catholicism. He was probably led to take this step from reading the writings on mystical theology of the Greek and Latin Fathers. In 1627 he went to
Rome, and through the influence of Peiresc was admitted to the household of
Cardinal Francesco Barberini, former papal
nuncio and the possessor of the most important private library in Rome. In 1636 he became the cardinal's librarian. Much of Holstenius' collection was deposited in the
Biblioteca Angelica in Rome. Finally, under
Innocent X, he was placed in charge of the
Vatican Library. The popes sent him on various honorable missions, such as bearing the cardinal's hat to the nuncio at Warsaw in 1629, and
Alexander VII sent him to
Innsbruck to receive the formal abjuration of
Protestantism from
Christina, former Queen of Sweden. He also acted as intermediary in the conversion of the Danish nobleman, Friedrich, Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt and of Christoph, Graf von Rantzau. Mostly, however, he was occupied with his studies. Holstenius formed great projects. He was a man of unwearied industry and immense learning, but he lacked the persistency to carry out the vast literary schemes he had planned. Among them, he desired to correct
Philipp Clüver's errors and complete his work; to edit, translate and comment the works of the
Neoplatonists; to form a collection of the unedited homilies of the
Greek Fathers; to collect inscriptions; to write a critical commentary on the Greek text of the Bible; to form a collection of all the monuments and acts of the history of the popes. These diverse undertakings consumed his energies and filled his notebooks, but without profit to scholarship. His notes and collations have been used by various editors. Holstenius died on 2 February 1661 in Rome. ==Works==