← 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
Anne Hathaway21 decades - 2
John Foxe21 decades - 3
Richard Hooker22 decades - 4
William Farel22 decades - 5
Theodor de Bry21 decades - 6
Nicholas Ridley17 decades - 7
Balthasar Hubmaier16 decades - 8
Peter Martyr Vermigli20 decades - 9
Anton Praetorius0 decades - 10
Isabella Andreini22 decades - 11
Matthias Flacius22 decades - 12
Juan de Valdés21 decades - 13
Fausto Sozzini10 decades - 14
Andreas Osiander20 decades - 15
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero19 decades - 16
Ferenc Dávid0 decades - 17
Luis de Granada22 decades - 18
Caspar Schwenckfeld6 decades - 19
Johann von Staupitz0 decades - 20
Melchior Hoffman19 decades - 21
Johannes Brenz0 decades - 22
Conrad Grebel7 decades - 23
Thomas Erastus0 decades - 24
Jeremias II of Constantinople0 decades - 25
George Spalatin0 decades - 26
Zacharias Ursinus10 decades - 27
Edmund Bonner8 decades - 28
Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen0 decades - 29
Bernardino Ochino22 decades - 30
Juan de Ribera22 decades - 31
Joachim Vadian19 decades - 32
Wolfgang Capito0 decades - 33
Nicolaus von Amsdorf0 decades - 34
Pierre Viret22 decades - 35
Alfonso de Valdés17 decades - 36Thomas Helwys0 decades
- 37
George Wishart15 decades - 38
John Whitgift17 decades - 39
William Kempe10 decades - 40
Franciscus Gomarus0 decades - 41
Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert0 decades - 42
John Bale22 decades - 43
Jakob Andreae8 decades - 44
Robert Persons5 decades - 45
John Jewel9 decades - 46
Robert Armin4 decades - 47
Michael Baius0 decades - 48Robert Browne22 decades
- 49
Cornelis Cort0 decades - 50
Girolamo Zanchi0 decades - 51
Marie Dentière0 decades - 52
Jurij Dalmatin0 decades - 53
Ólafur Egilsson0 decades - 54
John Hooper22 decades - 55
Johannes Buxtorf0 decades - 56
Francesco Andreini18 decades - 57
Leo Jud0 decades - 58Bernhard Rothmann0 decades
- 59Pierre Robert Olivétan0 decades
- 60James Burbage16 decades
- 61
Conrad Lycosthenes0 decades - 62
Johannes Mathesius13 decades - 63
Konrad Pellikan0 decades - 64
Theodore Bibliander1 decades - 65
Gáspár Heltai0 decades - 66Christiern Pedersen0 decades
- 67
Urbanus Rhegius0 decades - 68Corderius20 decades
- 69Sanatan Goswami0 decades
- 70Thomas Abel0 decades
- 71Hans Denck13 decades
- 72
Jean Duvet13 decades - 73
Leonardus Lessius0 decades - 74Guido de Bres0 decades
- 75
Johann Jakob Wick3 decades - 76
Paul Fagius9 decades - 77
George Cassander0 decades - 78Erasmus Alberus20 decades
- 79
Pavao Skalićnot measured- - 80
Oswald Myconius2 decades - 81
Matthäus Zell4 decades - 82
Giorgio Ghisi15 decades - 83
Mutio Vitelleschi20 decades - 84
Richard Tarlton1 decades - 85
John Frithnot measured- - 86
Franciscus Juniusnot measured- - 87
William Whitakernot measured- - 88
John Stonenot measured- - 89Alfonso de Zamora22 decades
- 90Marcin Czechowic0 decades
- 91Gopala Bhatta Goswaminot measured-
- 92
Bartolomé de Medina21 decades - 93
Marco Dente13 decades - 94Nicolas Cop14 decades
- 95
Julius von Pflug0 decades - 96
Hans Glasernot measured- - 97
Immanuel Tremellius0 decades - 98
Ludwig Lavater0 decades - 99Tomás Sáncheznot measured-
- 100Jérôme-Hermès Bolsecnot 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.