← Fame through time1600-1609
The 1600s
Whose working lives fell in the 1600s. 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 1600s, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
James VI and I5 decades - 2
Caravaggio22 decades - 3
Johannes Kepler18 decades - 4
Guy Fawkes22 decades - 5
Jahangirnot measured- - 6
John Donne22 decades - 7
Mehmed III0 decades - 8
Ben Jonson22 decades - 9
Henry Hudson22 decades - 10
Samuel de Champlain17 decades - 11
False Dmitry I10 decades - 12
Pope Urban VIII22 decades - 13
Francis de Sales22 decades - 14
Claudio Monteverdi14 decades - 15
Sigismund III Vasa0 decades - 16
Abbas the Great13 decades - 17
Anne of Denmark6 decades - 18
Feodor II of Russianot measured- - 19
Pope Innocent X3 decades - 20
Tommaso Campanella22 decades - 21
Maurice, Prince of Orangenot measured- - 22
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavarianot measured- - 23
Inigo Jones22 decades - 24
Date Masamune0 decades - 25
Carlo Gesualdo20 decades - 26
Isabella Clara Eugenia5 decades - 27
Hasekura Tsunenaga0 decades - 28
Jan Brueghel the Elder0 decades - 29
Giambattista Basile15 decades - 30
Go-Yōzei0 decades - 31
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essexnot measured- - 32
Robert Catesby10 decades - 33Handan Sultan0 decades
- 34
Kuzma Minin18 decades - 35
William Laud22 decades - 36
Giambattista Marino12 decades - 37
Mulla Sadra4 decades - 38
Michael Praetorius15 decades - 39
Jane Frances de Chantal17 decades - 40
Cornelis Drebbelnot measured- - 41
John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg22 decades - 42Willem Janszoon0 decades
- 43
Sawney Bean0 decades - 44
Simon Marius15 decades - 45
Robert Fludd16 decades - 46
Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases9 decades - 47
Richard Burbage22 decades - 48
Sanada Yukimura0 decades - 49
Concino Concini9 decades - 50
Izumo no Okuni0 decades - 51
Sigismund Báthory0 decades - 52
Christina of Lorraine21 decades - 53
Karl I, Prince of Liechtensteinnot measured- - 54
Thomas Nashe20 decades - 55
Jagat Gosain0 decades - 56
Frederick IV, Elector Palatinenot measured- - 57
Emilia Lanier0 decades - 58
Cyril Lucaris0 decades - 59
Pedro Fernandes de Queirós14 decades - 60
Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah0 decades - 61
Honoré d'Urfé22 decades - 62
William Oughtred1 decades - 63
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz0 decades - 64
Jan Mourad Janszoonnot measured- - 65
Giovanni Baglione14 decades - 66
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kasselnot measured- - 67
Magdalena de Pazzi22 decades - 68Luís Vaz de Torres2 decades
- 69
Eleanor de' Medicinot measured- - 70
John, Duke of Saxe-Weimarnot measured- - 71
Johann Bayer8 decades - 72
Marie de Gournay15 decades - 73
Hans Lippershey1 decades - 74
John Smyth22 decades - 75Wei Zhongxian2 decades
- 76
Francis II, Duke of Lorraine0 decades - 77
Abul-Hasan ibn Mirza Ghiyas Begnot measured- - 78
Leonora Dori0 decades - 79Susenyos0 decades
- 80
Ranuccio I Farnese19 decades - 81
Ukita Hideie0 decades - 82
Thomas Campion19 decades - 83
Şehzade Mahmudnot measured- - 84
Giuseppe Cesari21 decades - 85
Yodo-dono0 decades - 86
Christina of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorpnot measured- - 87
Heinrich Matthias von Thurn2 decades - 88
Christian Inot measured- - 89
Edward Alleyn22 decades - 90
Charles of Lorraine, duke of Guisenot measured- - 91
Kobayakawa Hideaki0 decades - 92
Virginia de' Medici0 decades - 93
Alexander, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburgnot measured- - 94
Michał Sędziwójnot measured- - 95
Ambrosius Bosschaert0 decades - 96
Alessandro Tassoni22 decades - 97
Ibrahim Adil Shah II0 decades - 98
Reza Abbasi0 decades - 99
Willem Blaeu0 decades - 100
Fakhr-al-Din IInot measured-
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.