1400–1499
The 15th century
Whose working lives fell in the 15th 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 15th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
Louis XII of France1462–1515 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 2
Charles VII of France1403–1461 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 3
Charles VI of France1368–1422 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures4 decades - 4
Richard II of England1367–1400 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 5
Edward IV of England1442–1483 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 6
Margaret of Anjou1430–1482 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 7
.jpg)
Isabeau of Bavaria1370–1435 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 8
René of Anjou1409–1480 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures3 decades - 9
Isabella of Valois1389–1409 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 10
Charles1459–1496 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures11 decades - 11
Louis II of Naples1377–1417 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 12
René II of Lorraine1451–1508 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures15 decades - 13
Francis1470–1495 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 14
Louis III of Naples1403–1434 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured— - 15
.jpg?width=1200)
Charles de Valois, Duc de Berry1446–1472 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures9 decades - 16
Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy1435–1472 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures21 decades - 17
.png?width=1200)
Francis I, Duke of Brittany1414–1450 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 18
Peter II, Duke of Bourbon1438–1503 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures3 decades - 19
%2C_G.20427_(1_of_2).jpg?width=1200)
John, Count of Angoulême1399–1467 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 20
Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Guyenne1397–1415 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures5 decades - 21
Marie of Berry, Duchess of Auvergne1375–1434 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 22
Philibert I, Duke of Savoy1465–1482 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 23
Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine1448–1473 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures11 decades - 24
Philippa of Guelders1464–1547 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures8 decades - 25JOJohn of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne1450–1500 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures21 decades
- 26
Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol1418–1475 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured— - 27
Margaret of Lorraine1463–1521 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 28
Elizabeth of Nevers1439–1483 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 29
Antoinette de Maignelais1434–1470 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures6 decades - 30LVLouis VIII, Duke of Bavaria1403–1445 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured—
- 31
Peter II, Count of Saint-Pol1440–1482 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured— - 32
Joan of Valois, Duchess of Bourbon1435–1482 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 33
Marie I de Coucy, Countess of Soissons1366–1405 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured— - 34
Charlotte de Bourbon1388–1422 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures19 decades - 35
John I, Count of Foix1382–1436 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 36
.jpg?width=1200)
Olivier le Daim1428–1484 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures1 decades - 37
Catherine of Alençon1396–1462 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures3 decades - 38
Jean II de Brosse1423–1482 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 39
Marie of Armagnacdied 1473 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 40JIJean I de Foix-Grailly, Earl of Kendal1425–1485 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades
- 41JVJohn VII, Count of Harcourt1369–1452 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades
- 42IOIsabella of Brittany1411–1444 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades
- 43
Mathieu de Foix-Comminges1385–1453 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures11 decades - 44JDJoana, delfina d'Alvèrnia1414–1436 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot 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.