← 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
Charles IX of Sweden0 decades - 2
Gustav I of Sweden0 decades - 3
John III of Swedennot measured- - 4
Eric XIV of Sweden0 decades - 5
Margaret Leijonhufvudnot measured- - 6
Gunilla Bielke0 decades - 7
Princess Elizabeth of Swedennot measured-
- 8
Princess Sophia of Sweden0 decades
- 9
Magnus, Duke of Östergötlandnot measured- - 10Gustav of Saxe-Lauenburgnot measured-
- 11Erik Nilsson (Gyllenstierna)not 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.