Claim profile
1100–1199

The 12th century

Whose working lives fell in the 12th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 12th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.

CountryAll🇫🇷 France🇯🇵 Japan🇩🇪 Germany🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇳🇴 Norway🇮🇹 Italy🇪🇸 Spain🇸🇪 Sweden🇨🇳 China🇹🇷 Turkey
FieldAllHistorical FiguresWritersPoliticiansReligious FiguresAcademicsModelsActorsArtistsMusiciansDoctors
  1. 1Hartmann von AueHartmann von Aue1160–1210 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers22 decades
  2. 2Otto of FreisingOtto of Freising1111–1158 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers22 decades
  3. 3Hendrik van VeldekeHendrik van Veldekedied 1184 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers0 decades
  4. 4Elizabeth of SchönauElizabeth of Schönau1129–1164 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers0 decades
  5. 5Theophilus PresbyterTheophilus Presbyter1070–1125 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers0 decades
  6. 6ArchpoetArchpoet1130–1165 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers0 decades
  7. 7Ekkehard of AuraEkkehard of Aura1080–1125 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers15 decades
  8. 8Dietmar von AistDietmar von Aist1115–1171 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers16 decades
  9. 9Friedrich von HausenFriedrich von Hausen1150–1190 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers18 decades
  10. 10AOArnold of Lübeck1150–1211 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers20 decades
  11. 11EEckebert1120–1184 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers0 decades
  12. 12EVEilhart von Oberge1100–1101 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers0 decades
  13. 13AOAnselm of Havelberg1099–1158 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers0 decades
  14. 14EEzzo1100–1100 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writersnot measured—

How this is measured

  • Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
  • Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
  • Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
  • What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.