← 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
Nostradamus22 decades - 2
Henry IV of France10 decades - 3
Catherine de' Medici22 decades - 4
Francis I of France0 decades - 5
John Calvin22 decades - 6
Michel de Montaigne22 decades - 7
Jacques Cartier22 decades - 8
Henry II of Francenot measured- - 9
François Rabelais22 decades - 10
Charles IX of France0 decades - 11
Francis II of France22 decades - 12
Henry III of France4 decades - 13
Margaret of Valois22 decades - 14
Mary Tudor, Queen of France22 decades - 15
Anne of Brittany22 decades - 16
Étienne de La Boétie3 decades - 17
Pierre de Ronsard21 decades - 18
Diane de Poitiers22 decades - 19
Mary of Lorraine15 decades - 20
Marguerite de Navarre0 decades - 21
Benvenuto Cellini22 decades - 22
Elisabeth of Valois22 decades - 23
Claude of France22 decades - 24
Jeanne d'Albret22 decades - 25
Ambroise Paré22 decades - 26
Jean Bodin22 decades - 27
Antoine of Navarre22 decades - 28
Louise Labé21 decades - 29
Henry I, Duke of Guise0 decades - 30
Jean de Valette Parisotnot measured- - 31
Francis, Duke of Anjounot measured- - 32
Gaspard II de Coligny0 decades - 33
Gabrielle d'Estrées22 decades - 34
Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France14 decades - 35
François Viète0 decades - 36
Charles III, Duke of Bourbonnot measured- - 37
Emanuele Filiberto I, Duke of Savoy17 decades - 38
Agrippa d'Aubigné8 decades - 39
Charles, Duke of Vendôme0 decades - 40
François de Malherbe18 decades - 41
Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully22 decades - 42
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard0 decades - 43
Louis, Prince of Condénot measured- - 44
Giambologna19 decades - 45
Louise of Savoy17 decades - 46
Francis, Duke of Guisenot measured- - 47
Renee of France22 decades - 48
Anne de Montmorency22 decades - 49
Germaine of Foix20 decades - 50
Louise of Lorraine22 decades - 51
Catherine of Navarre0 decades - 52
Charles III, Duke of Lorrainenot measured- - 53
Theodore Beza21 decades - 54
Peter Faber2 decades - 55
Margaret of France, Duchess of Berrynot measured- - 56
Claude of Lorraine, duke of Guise22 decades - 57
Matteo Bandello22 decades - 58
Balthasar Gérard0 decades - 59
Alessandro Farnesenot measured- - 60
Francis I, Duke of Lorraine0 decades - 61
Anne of Foix-Candalenot measured- - 62
Jean Nicot22 decades - 63
François Clouet17 decades - 64
Jacques Clément22 decades - 65
Joachim du Bellay9 decades - 66
Catherine de Bourbon22 decades - 67
John III of Navarre0 decades - 68
William Farel22 decades - 69
Antoine, Duke of Lorrainenot measured- - 70
Henry II, Duke of Lorraine5 decades - 71
Francis IIInot measured- - 72
Bernard Palissy22 decades - 73
Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly22 decades - 74
Diane de France, Duchess of Angoulême21 decades - 75
Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergnenot measured- - 76
Claude Garamond0 decades - 77
Michel de l'Hôpital20 decades - 78Clément Janequin10 decades
- 79
Antoinette de Bourbon21 decades - 80
Jean Clouet17 decades - 81
Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme22 decades - 82
Robert Estienne22 decades - 83
Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours22 decades - 84
Anna of Este0 decades - 85
Charles, Cardinal de Bourbonnot measured- - 86
Isaac Casaubon18 decades
- 87
Sebastian Castellio0 decades - 88
Charles II, Duke of Orléansnot measured- - 89
Carolus Clusius0 decades - 90
Christophe Plantin22 decades - 91
Ippolito II d'Este19 decades - 92
Blaise de Vigenère0 decades - 93
Oronce Finé14 decades - 94
Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgommerynot measured- - 95
Charles, Cardinal of Lorrainenot measured- - 96
Louise de Coligny21 decades - 97
Pierre Lescot22 decades - 98
Charlotte of Albret0 decades - 99
Francesco Primaticcio18 decades - 100
Charlotte of Bourbon1 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.