{{Short description|Danish politician}} {{infobox noble|type | name = Johan Ludvig Holstein | image = Count Johan Ludvig Holstein Ledreborg (Carl Gustaf Pilo) - Gothenburg Museum of Art - WL 65.tif | caption = An oil painting depicting Holstein, {{circa|1752}} | succession = Privy Councillor of Denmark | predecessor = Ulrik Adolf Holstein | successor = Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff | birth_date = 7 September 1694 | death_date = {{death date and age|1763|1|29|1694|9|7|df=y}} | birth_place = Lübz, Mecklenburg, Germany | death_place = Copenhagen, Denmark | issue = Christian Frederik Holstein | father = Johan Georg Holstein | mother = Ida von Bülow | spouse = {{marriage|Hedevig Vind|1733|1756|end=d}} }} '''Johan Ludvig Holstein''', Lensgreve til Ledreborg (7 September 1694 – 29 January 1763) was a Danish Minister of state from 1735 to 1751.

He was the ancestor of the Holstein-Ledreborg family, including Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg and Knud Johan Ludvig, Lensgreve Holstein til Ledreborg, husband of Princess Marie Gabriele of Luxembourg. In 1739 he built Ledreborg Manor near Lejre, Denmark.

The Danish colony Holsteinsborg on Greenland (now Sisimiut), was named after him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark Nuttall|title=Encyclopedia of the Arctic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Swr9BTI_2FEC&pg=PA1916|date=12 November 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78680-8|page=1916}}</ref>

== Early life == Johan Ludvig was the son of Johan Georg Holstein, who would himself become Danish prime minister, and Ida Frederikke Joachime of the Bülow family. He was born on 7 September 1694, at the Lübz castle which belonged to his maternal grandmother. His tutors during his upbringing included J. W. Schröder who later would go on to tutor Christian VI of Denmark. In 1711 his father sent him to Hamburg where he studied with Johann Albert Fabricius for a year.<ref>Holm (DBL), p.37</ref> Subsequently, he studied and traveled at various places in Germany, the Netherlands, France and England until 1716, when he became a courtier and civil servant in Denmark.<ref>Holm (DBL), pp.37–38</ref>

== Career in Denmark == He obtained the position of marshal of the court to Crown Prince Christian (later King Christian VI) in 1721.<ref name=snl>[https://snl.no/Johan_Ludvig_Holstein Johan Ludvig Holstein] Store norske leksikon (2005–2007)</ref> In 1727, he became a member of the College of Missions where his father was president, and the same year he also became director of the ''Waisenhuset'', an orphanage King Frederick IV founded that year.<ref name=p38>Holm (DBL), p.38</ref>

When Christian VI became king in 1730, he appointed Holstein ''stiftsamtmand'' (''amtmann'' and co-administrator of the diocese with the bishop) of Zealand and ''amtmann'' of Copenhagen and Roskilde.<ref name=p38/> In February 1734, he was appointed Minister of Finance. As the new king soon became disappointed in the men he originally had chosen to lead the chanceries, he appointed Holstein leading secretary of the Danish chancery (a position often known as Minister of State) on 12 May 1735, replacing Iver Rosenkrantz. At the same time, he became member of the king's council (''Konseillet'').<ref name=p39>Holm (DBL), p.39</ref> In 1740, he also replaced Rosenkrantz as patron of the University of Copenhagen. In 1757, he additionally became first member of a special agricultural committee which was operative for several years.<ref name=p39/>

Holstein was in regular correspondence with the King about daily affairs and matters with which the King was occupied.<ref name=p39/>

== Religious and scientific interests== Holstein was deeply religious with pietistic leanings. In his older days he studied Greek in order to be able to read the New Testament in its original language.<ref name=p41>Holm (DBL), p.41</ref> He also studied philosophy and history.<ref name=p41/> Francis Bacon was among the philosophers he read, and he corresponded with Johann Lorenz von Mosheim and Johann Matthias Gesner. In Denmark, he was in contact with historians Hans Gram and Andreas Hojer.<ref name=p41/>

With the permission of the King, Holstein and Gram founded the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters on 13 November 1742.<ref name=snl/><ref name=p42>Holm (DBL), p.42</ref> He served as president of the Academy for the rest of his lifetime and the meetings were held at his residence.<ref name=p42/> The academy opted right from the beginning to publish in Danish rather than German, even though German was Holstein's mother tongue as well as the language of many academics in Denmark at that time.<ref name=p42/>

== Personal life and Ledreborg == thumb|Ledreborg Palace Holstein married Hedevig Vind (1707–1756), a Danish noblewoman, in 1733. They had three children, among them Christian Frederik Holstein. With the help of her inheritance, capital obtained from selling his properties in Mecklenburg, and his income as a civil servant Holstein was able to buy land in the Ledreborg area, where he built the Ledreborg mansion. Ledreborg was first established as a ''stamhus'' (family seat) and in 1750 converted into a comital trust (Danish: ''lensgrevskap'').<ref name=p43>Holm (DBL), p.43</ref>

At his death Holstein left a library of 20,000 books, as well as a collection of handwritten manuscripts. Both are now in the Royal Library in Copenhagen.<ref name=snl/><ref name=p43/>

== Decorations == *Knight of the Dannebrog (1727)<ref name=p39/> *Knight of the Elephant (1747)<ref name=p39/>

==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book|last1=Holm|first1=E|title=Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, VIII|pages=37–43|url=https://runeberg.org/dbl/8/0039.html|ref=Holm|language=Danish}} 1897–1905. Via Project Runeberg

{{s-start}} {{s-off }} {{s-bef | before = Iver Rosenkrantz }} {{s-ttl | title = Privy Councillor of Denmark | years = 1735 -1751 }} {{s-aft | after = Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff }} {{end}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ledreborg, Johan Ludvig Lensgreve Holstein Til}} Category:1694 births Category:1763 deaths Category:18th-century Danish landowners Category:People from Lübz Category:Government ministers of Denmark Category:Burials at the Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen