← Fame through time1100-1199
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 coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Averroes22 decades - 2
Zhu Xi8 decades - 3
Chrétien de Troyes21 decades - 4
Abdul Qadir Gilani0 decades - 5
Geoffrey of Monmouth22 decades - 6
Anna Komnene1 decades - 7
Nizami Ganjavi0 decades - 8
Marie de Francenot measured- - 9
Saxo Grammaticus22 decades - 10
Attar of Nishapur0 decades - 11
Sancho I of Portugal0 decades - 12
Abraham ibn Ezra0 decades - 13
Alfonso II of Aragon0 decades - 14
William IX, Duke of Aquitainenot measured- - 15
Yue Fei3 decades - 16
Lu You8 decades - 17
Suger22 decades - 18
Hartmann von Aue22 decades - 19
Ahmad Yasawi0 decades - 20
William of Malmesbury22 decades - 21
Li Qingzhao8 decades - 22
Al-Nasir0 decades - 23
Gerard of Cremona10 decades - 24
Orderic Vitalis5 decades - 25
Niketas Choniates1 decades - 26
Otto of Freising22 decades - 27
Xin Qiji7 decades - 28
John Tzetzes3 decades - 29
Wacenot measured- - 30
Aelred of Rievaulx4 decades - 31Ibn Jubayr3 decades
- 32
Rashid ad-Din Sinan0 decades - 33
Bertran de Born8 decades - 34
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Sanainot measured- - 35Ali ibn al-Athir0 decades
- 36Michael the Syrian5 decades
- 37
Imad ad-Din al-Isfahaninot measured- - 38
Fujiwara no Teika0 decades - 39
Usama ibn Munqidh0 decades - 40Henry of Huntingdon22 decades
- 41
Arnaut Daniel7 decades - 42
Comtesse de Die0 decades - 43
Gallus Anonymus0 decades - 44
Al-Muqtafi0 decades - 45Abraham ibn Daud0 decades
- 46William Longchamp11 decades
- 47
Saigyō0 decades - 48Al-Mustazhir0 decades
- 49
Geoffrey of Villehardouin0 decades - 50
Paschal III0 decades - 51
Kamo no Chōmei0 decades - 52
Minamoto no Yorimasa0 decades - 53
Demetrius I of Georgianot measured- - 54
Walter Map17 decades - 55
Khaqani0 decades - 56
Gampopa Sonam Rinchen0 decades - 57Gervase of Tilbury13 decades
- 58Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabinot measured-
- 59
Hendrik van Veldeke0 decades - 60
Konstantinos Manasses0 decades - 61
Liang Hongyunot measured- - 62
William of Newburgh20 decades - 63
Marcabru6 decades - 64
Helmoldnot measured- - 65
Baha ad-Din Shoiebnot measured- - 66Ari Þorgilsson0 decades
- 67
Shikishi-naishinnōnot measured- - 68
Elizabeth of Schönau0 decades - 69
Nerses IV the Graciousnot measured- - 70Andronikos Doukas Angelosnot measured-
- 71
Gregory VIII22 decades - 72
Archpoet0 decades - 73Theophilus Presbyter0 decades
- 74Somadeva14 decades
- 75
John of Worcester3 decades - 76
Rabbeinu Tam21 decades - 77
Mahsati0 decades - 78
Wincenty Kadłubek0 decades - 79
Lorcán Ua Tuathail0 decades - 80
Kim Pusik0 decades - 81Georgios Kedrenos0 decades
- 82
Isaac the Blind20 decades - 83Alexander Neckam5 decades
- 84John Kinnamos0 decades
- 85
Pietro Ziani21 decades - 86
Jacopo Tiepolo0 decades - 87Jiang Kuinot measured-
- 88Lakshman Sen0 decades
- 89Bernard of Cluny2 decades
- 90
Anvari4 decades - 91
Rögnvald Kali Kolssonnot measured- - 92
Baldwin of Forde0 decades - 93Ibn Quzman0 decades
- 94
Robert of Torigni3 decades - 95John Xiphilinus0 decades
- 96Theodoros Prodromos0 decades
- 97Peter of Blois22 decades
- 98
Guiraut de Bornelh0 decades - 99
Michael Choniates0 decades - 100
Han Shizhong0 decades
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.