Name

Peter Kirstenius

Original name

Kirstein

Main activity

Orientalist

Secondary activity

Physician, Schoolmaster

Title

Doctor

Name variations

Petrus Kirstenius"

Education place

Leipzig, Jena, Basel

Education institution

University of Leipzig

Activity place

Breslau, Upsala

Activity institution

Breslau Latin School (Elisabethanum)

Activity start date

1610

Activity end date

1616

Place of birth

Breslau

Date of birth

1577

Place of death

Upsala

Date of death

1640

Bibliographical references

Descriptive card

Peter Kirstenius was born in the Silesian town of Breslau (Wrocław) on 25.12.1577 the son of a wealthy merchant. After attending the Latin school in his native town (Elisabethanum) he moved to Posen in 1589 to study Polish -- with the aim of becoming a merchant. He returned to Breslau in 1591 and matriculated in Leipzig in 1596. Kirstenius became a magister artium at the Universtiy of Jena in 1599, where he also commenced his study of theology and medicine. This was followed in 1600 by an extensive peregrinatio acadmica, in the course of which he became a Dr of medicine in Basel (August 1601). It is in these early years that he evinced an interest in Avicenna and decided to study Arabic. How he acquired his knowledge of Arabic remains unclear – possibly with the aid of a native-speaker in Italy or Spain. After marrying in 1603 he returned to Breslau where he worked as a physician. In 1610 he was appointed headmaster of the Elisabethanum, a position he kept until 1616. Kirstenius left Breslau during the Thirty Years War (probably in 1634). He made the acquaintance of the Swedish statesman Axel Oxenstierna and travelled with him to Sweden. He served as royal physician and professor of medicine in Upsala until his death in April 1640. In the decade after his return to Breslau he published a series of works concerning Arabic – the elegant Arabic types were designed by Kirstenius himself and made at his own expense.

Entry author

Asaph Ben Tov