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
  26. 26Yasukeborn 1555 · Japan · Religious Figures1 decades
  27. 27Henry I of Portugal1512-1580 · Portugal · Religious Figures0 decades
  28. 28Reginald Pole1500-1558 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures22 decades
  29. 29John Fisher1469-1535 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures22 decades
  30. 30Francisco Suárez1548-1617 · Spain · Religious Figures14 decades
  31. 31Pietro Bembo1470-1547 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  32. 32Pope Gregory XV1554-1623 · Italy · Religious Figures6 decades
  33. 33Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany1549-1609 · Religious Figures18 decades
  34. 34Saint Cajetan1480-1547 · Religious Figures0 decades
  35. 35Peter Canisius1521-1597 · Netherlands · Religious Figures7 decades
  36. 36Camillus de Lellis1550-1614 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  37. 37Ruy López de Segura1530-1580 · Spain · Religious Figures0 decades
  38. 38John of Ávila1499-1569 · Spain · Religious Figures19 decades
  39. 39Alessandro Valignano1539-1606 · Italy · Religious Figures7 decades
  40. 40Joseph of Anchieta1534-1597 · Spain · Religious Figures13 decades
  41. 41Pope Innocent IX1519-1591 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  42. 42Pope Gregory XIV1535-1591 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  43. 43Diego de Landa1524-1579 · Spain · Religious Figures19 decades
  44. 44Peter Faber1506-1546 · France · Religious Figures2 decades
  45. 45Thomas Cajetan1469-1534 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  46. 46Albert of Mainz1490-1545 · Religious Figures0 decades
  47. 47Alessandro Farnese1520-1589 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  48. 48Federico Borromeo1564-1631 · Religious Figures22 decades
  49. 49Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg1546-1608 · Germany · Religious Figures22 decades
  50. 50Juan de Zumárraga1468-1548 · Spain · Religious Figures21 decades
  51. 51John George, Elector of Brandenburg1525-1598 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  52. 52Stephen Gardiner1483-1555 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures22 decades
  53. 53Caesar Baronius1538-1607 · Religious Figures22 decades
  54. 54Scipione Rebiba1504-1577 · Religious Figures8 decades
  55. 55Gioffre Borgia1481-1516 · Religious Figures0 decades
  56. 56Turibius of Mongrovejo1538-1606 · Religious Figures21 decades
  57. 57Paulo Miki1564-1597 · Japan · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  58. 58Matthew Parker1504-1575 · Religious Figures22 decades
  59. 59Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon1523-1590 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  60. 60Ippolito II d'Este1509-1572 · France · Religious Figures19 decades
  61. 61Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine1524-1574 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  62. 62Gerolamo Emiliani1486-1537 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  63. 63Diego Laynez1512-1565 · Spain · Religious Figures17 decades
  64. 64Vasco de Quiroga1470-1565 · Religious Figures22 decades
  65. 65Myles Coverdale1488-1569 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures7 decades
  66. 66John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg1562-1609 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  67. 67Antonio de Montesinos1475-1540 · Religious Figures11 decades
  68. 68Olaus Petri1493-1552 · Sweden · Religious Figures6 decades
  69. 69Tomás de Berlanga1487-1551 · Spain · Religious Figures17 decades
  70. 70George Abbot1562-1633 · Religious Figures19 decades
  71. 71Alonso de Aragón1470-1520 · Religious Figures22 decades
  72. 72Ippolito d'Este1479-1520 · Religious Figures0 decades
  73. 73Melchior Klesl1552-1630 · Religious Figures9 decades
  74. 74Ernest of Bavaria1554-1612 · Germany · Religious Figures19 decades
  75. 75Fernando Niño de Guevara1541-1609 · Spain · Religious Figures22 decades
  76. 76Andrew Avellino1521-1608 · Religious Figures0 decades
  77. 77Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte1532-1577 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  78. 78Giovanni de' Medici1543-1562 · Religious Figures20 decades
  79. 79Claudio Acquaviva1543-1615 · Spain · Religious Figures21 decades
  80. 80Jan Łaski1499-1560 · Religious Figures0 decades
  81. 81Johannes Magnus1488-1544 · Sweden · Religious Figures0 decades
  82. 82João Rodrigues1558-1633 · Religious Figures0 decades
  83. 83Richard Bancroft1544-1610 · Religious Figures11 decades
  84. 84Pál Tomori1475-1526 · Hungary · Religious Figures0 decades
  85. 85Gebhard Truchsess of Waldburg1547-1601 · Germany · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  86. 86Louis II of Lorraine, Cardinal of Guise1555-1588 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  87. 87Edmund Grindal1519-1583 · Religious Figures8 decades
  88. 88Ranuccio Farnese1530-1565 · Religious Figures0 decades
  89. 89Marco Antonio de Dominis1560-1624 · Religious Figures0 decades
  90. 90Henry Garnet1555-1606 · Religious Figures8 decades
  91. 91Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg1468-1540 · Germany · Religious Figures4 decades
  92. 92Innocenzo Cybo1491-1550 · Religious Figures16 decades
  93. 93Peter Binsfeld1545-1598 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  94. 94Francis Caracciolo1563-1608 · Religious Figures0 decades
  95. 95Laurentius Petri1499-1573 · Sweden · Religious Figures1 decades
  96. 96Simão Rodrigues1510-1579 · Religious Figures0 decades
  97. 97Hermogenes of Moscow1530-1612 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  98. 98Ercole Gonzaga1505-1563 · Religious Figures22 decades
  99. 99Nicolas of Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur1524-1577 · France · Religious Figures21 decades
  100. 100Michael Rohoza1540-1599 · Religious Figuresnot 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.