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
Henry V of England1386–1422 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politicians1 decades - 2
Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York1411–1460 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politiciansnot measured— - 3
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James III of Scotland1451–1488 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politicians0 decades - 4
James II of Scotland1430–1460 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politicians0 decades - 5
Richard Neville1428–1471 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politicians21 decades - 6
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Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire1457–1539 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politiciansnot measured— - 7
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence1449–1478 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politiciansnot measured— - 8
Margaret of York1446–1503 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politicians11 decades - 9
William Caxton1422–1492 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politicians22 decades - 10
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham1455–1483 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politiciansnot measured— - 11
Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers1405–1469 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politiciansnot measured— - 12
John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk1415–1461 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politiciansnot measured— - 13DLDavid Lindsay, 1st Duke of Montrose1440–1495 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politiciansnot measured—
- 14
Thomas Flamankdied 1497 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Politicians0 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.