← 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
Miguel de Cervantes22 decades - 2
Hernán Cortés22 decades - 3
Philip II of Spain22 decades - 4
Catherine of Aragon20 decades - 5
Teresa of Ávila22 decades - 6
Ignatius of Loyola22 decades - 7
Francisco Pizarro22 decades - 8
Francis Xavier22 decades - 9
Joanna of Castile3 decades - 10
Lope de Vega22 decades - 11
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor0 decades - 12
John of the Cross22 decades - 13
Bartolomé de las Casas22 decades - 14
Juan Sebastián Elcano14 decades - 15
Hernando de Soto22 decades - 16
Vasco Núñez de Balboa19 decades - 17
Michael Servetus22 decades - 18
Garcilaso de la Vega22 decades - 19
Luis de Góngora22 decades - 20
Francisco de Orellana22 decades - 21
Pedro de Alvarado22 decades - 22
John of Austria22 decades - 23
Carlos, Prince of Asturias22 decades - 24
Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy22 decades - 25
Pedro de Valdivia22 decades - 26
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca8 decades - 27
Eleanor of Austria12 decades - 28
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Albanot measured- - 29
Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugalnot measured- - 30
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado14 decades - 31
Diego de Almagro22 decades - 32
Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain22 decades - 33
Miguel López de Legazpi14 decades - 34
Leo Africanus15 decades - 35
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma21 decades - 36
Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empressnot measured- - 37
Francisco Suárez14 decades - 38
Bernal Díaz del Brawl22 decades - 39
Francisco de Vitoria21 decades - 40
Tomás Luis de Victoria14 decades - 41
Alonso de Ojeda22 decades - 42
Luis de León22 decades - 43
Diego Velazquez de Cuéllar10 decades - 44
Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugalnot measured- - 45Lope de Aguirre22 decades
- 46
Pánfilo de Narváez16 decades - 47
Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal22 decades - 48
Bernardino de Sahagún14 decades - 49
Henry II of Navarre0 decades - 50
Ruy López de Segura0 decades - 51
John of Ávila19 decades - 52
Diego Columbusnot measured- - 53
Eleanor of Toledonot measured- - 54
Gonzalo Pizarro22 decades - 55
Joseph of Anchieta13 decades - 56
Pedro de Mendoza0 decades - 57
Juan Díaz de Solís15 decades - 58
Ferdinand Columbus15 decades - 59
Sebastián de Belalcázar15 decades - 60
Diego de Landa19 decades - 61
Antonio de Mendoza0 decades - 62
Juan de Herrera22 decades - 63
Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal2 decades - 64
Juan de Zumárraga21 decades - 65
Andrés de Urdaneta19 decades - 66
Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz15 decades - 67
Juan de Grijalva22 decades - 68
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada0 decades - 69
Alonso de Ercilla22 decades - 70
Inés Suárez14 decades - 71
Juan Luis Vives6 decades - 72
Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lermanot measured- - 73
Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira4 decades - 74
Peter of Alcantara22 decades - 75
Francisco Hernández de Cordobanot measured- - 76
Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain0 decades - 77
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés13 decades - 78
Juan de Garay22 decades - 79
Thomas of Villanova22 decades - 80
Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa22 decades - 81
José de Acosta21 decades - 82
Petrus Gonsalvusnot measured- - 83
Alonso Berruguete22 decades - 84
Paschal Baylon18 decades - 85
Mateo Alemán21 decades - 86
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Jerónimo de Aguilar19 decades - 87
Juan de Mariana22 decades - 88
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés18 decades - 89
Antonio Péreznot measured- - 90
Diego, Prince of Asturias0 decades - 91
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa21 decades - 92
Luis de Molina22 decades
- 93
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda21 decades - 94
Ferdinand, Prince of Asturiasnot measured- - 95
Pedro Cieza de León14 decades - 96
Gonzalo Guerrero21 decades - 97
Philip William, Prince of Orangenot measured- - 98
Ferrante Gonzaga0 decades - 99
Juan de Oñate22 decades - 100
Cristóbal de Morales18 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.