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
Tomás de Torquemada1420–1498 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians22 decades - 2
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Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba1453–1515 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians15 decades - 3
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Enrique III of Castile1379–1406 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians0 decades - 4
Juan Pacheco1419–1474 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politiciansnot measured— - 5
Juan Rodríguez Fonseca1451–1524 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians0 decades - 6
Francisco de Carvajal1464–1548 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians21 decades - 7
Pelinor1450–1505 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians7 decades - 8
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 1st Duke of the Infantado1417–1479 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians1 decades - 9
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Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones1440–1515 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politiciansnot 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.