1500–1599
The 16th century
Whose working lives fell in the 16th 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 16th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
Nostradamus1503–1566 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 2
John Calvin1509–1564 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 3
Jean Bodin1530–1596 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 4
François Viète1540–1603 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 5
Theodore Beza1519–1605 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics21 decades - 6
Étienne Dolet1509–1546 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 7
Blaise de Vigenère1523–1596 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 8
Oronce Finé1494–1555 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 9
Isaac Casaubon1559–1614 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics18 decades
- 10
Philippe de Mornay1549–1623 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics3 decades - 11
Pierre Charron1541–1603 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics1 decades - 12JPJacques Pelletier du Mans1517–1583 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics12 decades
- 13
Jacques Cujas1522–1590 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 14
Petrus Gyllius1490–1555 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 15
Muretus1526–1585 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics16 decades - 16
François Vatable1495–1547 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics7 decades - 17
Guillaume du Vair1556–1621 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 18
Georges d'Armagnac1501–1585 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 19
Jacques Besson1540–1573 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 20
Denis Godefroy1549–1622 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 21
Jean de Coras1515–1572 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 22
Gérard Roussel1500–1550 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 23
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François Baudouin1520–1573 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 24
Hugues Doneau1527–1591 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 25
Denis Lambin1519–1572 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 26
Jean Errard1554–1610 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 27
Barnabé Brisson1531–1591 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 28JTJean Tixier de Ravisi1492–1522 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 29NBNicolas Barnaud1538–1604 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 30CDClaude Dupuy1545–1594 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 31
Johannes Buteo1492–1572 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 32
François Douaren1509–1559 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 33
Francis of Foix-Candale1512–1594 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 34
Claude D'Espence1511–1571 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 35JAJacques Aleaume1562–1627 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot 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.