← Fame through time1600-1699
The 17th century
Whose working lives fell in the 17th 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 17th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
George I of Great Britainnot measured- - 2
Frederick I of Prussianot measured- - 3
Sophia of Hanover2 decades - 4
Maurice, Prince of Orangenot measured- - 5
Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria5 decades - 6
Peter Minuit16 decades - 7
Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria22 decades - 8
Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine0 decades - 9
Charles III Philip, Elector Palatinenot measured- - 10
John George IV, Elector of Saxony21 decades - 11
William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel22 decades - 12
Countess Louise Juliana of Nassaunot measured- - 13
Bernhard I of Saxe-Meiningennot measured- - 14
Ernest Casimir I, Count of Nassau-Dietz13 decades - 15
Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfelsnot measured- - 16
Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausennot measured- - 17
Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth22 decades - 18
Maria Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorpnot measured- - 19
Magdalena Sibylla of Hesse-Darmstadtnot measured- - 20
Ferdinand Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Baden-Badennot measured- - 21
Christian I, Duke of Saxe-Merseburgnot measured- - 22
Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch0 decades - 23
Sophie of Solms-Laubachnot measured- - 24
Dodo zu Innhausen und Knyphausen0 decades - 25
Philip Louis II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg5 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.