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. 1Hildegard of BingenHildegard of Bingen1098–1179 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors15 decades
  2. 2Ibn ZuhrIbn Zuhr1091–1162 · Doctors0 decades
  3. 3AAAbd al-Latif al-Baghdadi1162–1231 · Doctorsnot measured—
  4. 4Samuel ibn TibbonSamuel ibn Tibbon1150–1230 · 🇫🇷 France · Doctors1 decades
  5. 5Mkhitar HeratsiMkhitar Heratsi1120–1200 · Doctors0 decades
  6. 6Matthaeus PlateariusMatthaeus Plateariusdied 1161 · Doctors0 decades
  7. 7RRogerius1140–1195 · Doctorsnot measured—
  8. 8Liu WansuLiu Wansu1110–1200 · Doctors0 decades
  9. 9Simeon SethSimeon Sethborn 1100 · Doctors4 decades
  10. 10MOMark of Toledo1101–1226 · Doctors0 decades
  11. 11Joseph ben Judah of CeutaJoseph ben Judah of Ceuta1160–1226 · Doctors3 decades
  12. 12ZCZhang Congzheng1156–1228 · Doctors0 decades
  13. 13JBJosef ben Meir ibn Zabara1140–1200 · Doctorsnot measured—
  14. 14MIMichael Italikos1090–1157 · Doctors0 decades
  15. 15Theodorus of AntiochiaTheodorus of Antiochia1155–1246 · Doctorsnot measured—
  16. 16ZYZhang Yuansu1151–1234 · Doctors0 decades
  17. 17AAAbu al-Bayan ibn al-Mudawwar1101–1184 · Doctorsnot measured—
  18. 18NKNicholas Kallikles1080–1150 · Doctors0 decades
  19. 19IHIbn Habal1122–1213 · Doctorsnot measured—
  20. 20DADa'ud Abu al-Fadl1161–1242 · Doctorsnot measured—
  21. 21YIYa'qub ibn Ishaq al-Israilidied 1208 · Doctorsnot 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.