← Fame through time1540-1549
The 1540s
Whose working lives fell in the 1540s. 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 1540s, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
John Calvin22 decades - 2
Francis Xavier22 decades - 3
Catherine Howard22 decades - 4
Humayun21 decades - 5
Catherine Parr22 decades - 6
Giorgio Vasari22 decades - 7
John Knox22 decades - 8
James V of Scotland1 decades - 9
Andrea Palladio22 decades - 10
Gerardus Mercator0 decades - 11
Andreas Vesalius11 decades - 12
Michael Servetus22 decades - 13
Hurrem Sultan0 decades - 14
Francisco de Orellana22 decades - 15
Tahmasp I0 decades - 16
Thomas Tallis9 decades - 17
Ambroise Paré22 decades - 18
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Albanot measured- - 19
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado14 decades - 20
Jiajing Emperor0 decades - 21
Henry I of Portugal0 decades - 22
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somersetnot measured- - 23
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha0 decades - 24
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley22 decades - 25
Şehzade Mehmed0 decades - 26
Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandíanot measured- - 27
Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugalnot measured- - 28
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey1 decades - 29Lope de Aguirre22 decades
- 30
Manco Inca2 decades - 31
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazinot measured- - 32
Renee of France22 decades - 33
Mikael Agricola1 decades - 34
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochfordnot measured- - 35
Altan Khan3 decades - 36
Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal1 decades - 37Injong of Joseonnot measured-
- 38
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola16 decades - 39
Nikola Šubić Zrinski0 decades - 40
Peter Faber2 decades - 41
Robert Recorde5 decades - 42
Francis I, Duke of Lorraine0 decades - 43
Islam Shah Suri0 decades - 44
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada0 decades - 45
Daniele da Volterra22 decades - 46
François Clouet17 decades - 47
Jacopo Bassano19 decades - 48
Elizabeth of Austria4 decades - 49
Inés Suárez14 decades - 50
Anne Askew14 decades - 51
Ivan Fyodorov20 decades - 52
Hai Rui8 decades - 53
Devlet I Giraynot measured- - 54
George Buchanan22 decades - 55
Georg Joachim Rheticus4 decades - 56
Bernard Palissy22 decades - 57
Mary of Hungary10 decades - 58
Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly22 decades - 59
Sibylle of Clevesnot measured- - 60
Philibert de l'Orme22 decades - 61
Oda Nobuhide0 decades - 62
Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg22 decades - 63
Michel de l'Hôpital20 decades - 64
Primož Trubar0 decades - 65
Gracia Mendes Nasi0 decades - 66
Isabel Moctezuma0 decades - 67
Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara0 decades - 68
Isabella di Morra10 decades - 69
Gemma Frisius7 decades - 70
Bartolomeo Ammannati18 decades - 71
Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg0 decades - 72Thomas Culpeper3 decades
- 73
Fernão Mendes Pinto0 decades - 74
Pieter Aertsen0 decades - 75
Charles II, Duke of Orléansnot measured- - 76
Kamran Mirza0 decades - 77
Ferrante Gonzaga0 decades - 78
Ippolito II d'Este19 decades - 79
Francisco López de Gómara14 decades - 80
Guillaume Postel22 decades - 81
Diego Laynez17 decades - 82
Lope de Rueda22 decades - 83Semiz Ali Paşa0 decades
- 84
Christine of Saxonynot measured- - 85
Margaret Roper14 decades - 86
Juan de Valdés21 decades - 87
Giulia Gonzaga22 decades - 88
Bega Begum0 decades - 89
Francesco Salviati22 decades - 90
Diego de Almagro II11 decades - 91
Lorenzino de' Medici22 decades - 92
Cristóvão da Gama0 decades - 93
Margaret Paleologanot measured- - 94
Jean Goujon22 decades - 95
Marin Držić5 decades - 96Hwang Jini0 decades
- 97Jacques Arcadelt1 decades
- 98
Infante Edward, 4th Duke of Guimarãesnot measured- - 99
Pirro Ligorio22 decades - 100
Ashikaga Yoshiharu0 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.