215,950 profiles ranked

← 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. 1Martin Luther1483-1546 · Germany · Religious Figures22 decades
  2. 2Erasmus1466-1536 · Netherlands · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  3. 3Ignatius of Loyola1491-1556 · Spain · Religious Figures22 decades
  4. 4Pope Leo X1475-1521 · Religious Figures22 decades
  5. 5Francis Xavier1506-1552 · Spain · Religious Figures22 decades
  6. 6Pope Clement VII1478-1534 · Religious Figures22 decades
  7. 7Pope Paul III1468-1549 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  8. 8Pope Gregory XIII1502-1585 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  9. 9Pope Sixtus V1521-1590 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  10. 10Thomas Wolsey1473-1530 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures21 decades
  11. 11Thomas Cranmer1489-1556 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures22 decades
  12. 12Pope Paul V1552-1621 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  13. 13Pope Pius V1504-1572 · Italy · Religious Figures8 decades
  14. 14Thomas Müntzer1489-1525 · Germany · Religious Figures15 decades
  15. 15Philip Neri1515-1595 · Religious Figures22 decades
  16. 16Charles Borromeo1538-1584 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  17. 17Pope Julius III1487-1555 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  18. 18Robert Bellarmine1542-1621 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  19. 19Pope Leo XI1535-1605 · Religious Figures0 decades
  20. 20Pope Pius IV1499-1565 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  21. 21Aloysius Gonzaga1568-1591 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  22. 22Pope Urban VII1521-1590 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  23. 23Pope Marcellus II1501-1555 · Italy · Religious Figures19 decades
  24. 24Pope Clement VIII1536-1605 · Italy · Religious Figures21 decades
  25. 25Pope Paul IV1476-1559 · Italy · Religious Figures21 decades
Show 75 more

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.