← Fame through time1500-1599
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 coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Henry II of Francenot measured- - 2
Francis II of France22 decades - 3
Claude of France22 decades - 4
Jeanne d'Albret22 decades - 5
Antoine of Navarre22 decades - 6
Henry I, Duke of Guise0 decades - 7
Jean de Valette Parisotnot measured- - 8
Emanuele Filiberto I, Duke of Savoy17 decades - 9
Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully22 decades - 10
Louis, Prince of Condénot measured- - 11
Louise of Savoy17 decades - 12
Francis, Duke of Guisenot measured- - 13
Anne de Montmorency22 decades - 14
Jean Nicot22 decades - 15
Diane de France, Duchess of Angoulême21 decades - 16
Michel de l'Hôpital20 decades - 17
Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valettenot measured- - 18
François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguièresnot measured- - 19
Anne de La Tour d'Auvergne0 decades - 20
Jean, Cardinal of Lorrainenot measured- - 21
Anne d'Alençon0 decades - 22
Charles de Cossé, Count of Brissac0 decades - 23
Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron0 decades - 24
Charles II d'Amboisenot measured- - 25
Robrecht IV van der Marck0 decades
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.