← 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
Catherine of Aragon20 decades - 2
John of Austria22 decades - 3
Pedro de Valdivia22 decades - 4
Eleanor of Austria12 decades - 5
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Albanot measured- - 6
Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain22 decades - 7
Leo Africanus15 decades - 8
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma21 decades - 9
Alonso de Ojeda22 decades - 10
Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal22 decades - 11
Diego Columbusnot measured- - 12
Eleanor of Toledonot measured- - 13
Antonio de Mendoza0 decades - 14
Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lermanot measured- - 15
Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain0 decades - 16
Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa22 decades - 17
Antonio Péreznot measured- - 18
Philip William, Prince of Orangenot measured- - 19
Ferrante Gonzaga0 decades - 20
Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafrancanot measured- - 21
Luis de Velasco, 1st Marquess of Salinas0 decades - 22
Luis de Velasconot measured- - 23
Gaspar de Zúñiga, 5th Count of Monterreynot measured- - 24
Blasco Núñez Vela15 decades - 25
Martín Enríquez de Almanzanot measured-
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.