Claim profile
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.

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FieldAllHistorical FiguresWritersPoliticiansArtistsAcademicsReligious FiguresMusiciansScientistsModelsActors
  1. 1Pope Sixtus VPope Sixtus V1521–1590 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  2. 2Pope Paul VPope Paul V1552–1621 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  3. 3Pope Gregory XIIIPope Gregory XIII1502–1585 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  4. 4Pope Julius IIIPope Julius III1487–1555 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  5. 5Pope Pius VPope Pius V1504–1572 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures8 decades
  6. 6Pope Pius IVPope Pius IV1499–1565 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  7. 7Charles BorromeoCharles Borromeo1538–1584 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  8. 8Pope Marcellus IIPope Marcellus II1501–1555 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures19 decades
  9. 9Pope Urban VIIPope Urban VII1521–1590 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  10. 10Pope Paul IVPope Paul IV1476–1559 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures21 decades
  11. 11Pope Clement VIIIPope Clement VIII1536–1605 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures21 decades
  12. 12Aloysius GonzagaAloysius Gonzaga1568–1591 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  13. 13Robert BellarmineRobert Bellarmine1542–1621 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  14. 14Pietro BemboPietro Bembo1470–1547 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  15. 15Pope Gregory XVPope Gregory XV1554–1623 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures6 decades
  16. 16Pope Innocent IXPope Innocent IX1519–1591 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  17. 17Pope Gregory XIVPope Gregory XIV1535–1591 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  18. 18Camillus de LellisCamillus de Lellis1550–1614 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  19. 19Alessandro ValignanoAlessandro Valignano1539–1606 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures7 decades
  20. 20Thomas CajetanThomas Cajetan1469–1534 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0 decades

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.