215,950 profiles ranked

← 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. 1Martin Luther1483-1546 · Germany · Religious Figures22 decades
  2. 2Thomas Müntzer1489-1525 · Germany · Religious Figures15 decades
  3. 3Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg1546-1608 · Germany · Religious Figures22 decades
  4. 4John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg1562-1609 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  5. 5Ernest of Bavaria1554-1612 · Germany · Religious Figures19 decades
  6. 6Gebhard Truchsess of Waldburg1547-1601 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  7. 7Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg1468-1540 · Germany · Religious Figures4 decades
  8. 8Peter Binsfeld1545-1598 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  9. 9Francis of Waldeck1488-1553 · Germany · Religious Figures19 decades
  10. 10Mark Sittich von Hohenems Altemps1533-1595 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  11. 11Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn1545-1617 · Germany · Religious Figures17 decades
  12. 12Ruprecht of the Palatinate1481-1504 · Germany · Religious Figures22 decades
  13. 13Philipp of Bavaria1576-1598 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  14. 14Philip of the Palatinate1480-1541 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  15. 15Henry of the Palatinate1487-1552 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  16. 16John of Cologne1500-1572 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  17. 17Sigismund of Brandenburg1538-1566 · Germany · Religious Figures18 decades
  18. 18Johann Gropper1503-1559 · Germany · Religious Figures7 decades
  19. 19John III of the Palatinate1488-1538 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  20. 20Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads1467-1531 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  21. 21Jakob II of Baden1471-1511 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  22. 22Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg1553-1626 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  23. 23Michael Helding1506-1561 · Germany · Religious Figures14 decades
  24. 24Salentin IX of Isenburg-Grenzau1532-1610 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  25. 25Sigmund Fugger von Kirchberg und Weißenhorn1542-1600 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
Show 34 more

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.