genealogist historian professor
He was born in Kristiania as 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 newspaper editor Ingolf Ingebrethsen and sister of Arne Jostein Ingebrethsen, but the marriage was dissolved.
Author and educator. He is most commonly associated with his text book, Norges historie fra de eldste tider til 1660 which is a standard introduction in the early Norwegian history. Andreas Holmsen was a consultant in history in 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.
Lunden, Kåre and Harald Winge (1986) Andreas Holmsen en bibliografi over hans historiske forfatterskap (Oslo: Norsk loklahistorisk institutt) Holmsen, Andreas (1977)Norges Historie:Fra de eldste tider til 1660 (Universitetsforlaget AS).
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
