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
Frederick I1425–1476 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians22 decades - 2
Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken1385–1459 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politiciansnot measured— - 3
Margaret of Bavaria, Marchioness of Mantua1442–1479 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians0 decades - 4
Henriette, Countess of Montbéliard1384–1444 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians1 decades - 5
Simon of Utrecht1400–1437 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians1 decades - 6
Catherine of Guelders1439–1497 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians0 decades - 7COCatherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg1400–1450 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians0 decades
- 8
Hans Boner1450–1523 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians2 decades - 9
Johannes von Baysen1390–1459 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians4 decades - 10
Heinrich Rubenow1400–1463 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians7 decades - 11JVJohann von Wallenrode1370–1419 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians0 decades
- 12
Gregory of Heimburg1400–1472 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians16 decades
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.