← 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
Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine11 decades - 2
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen8 decades - 3
Andreas Gryphius22 decades - 4
Martin Opitz22 decades - 5
Friedrich Spee21 decades - 6
Abraham a Sancta Clara21 decades - 7
Simon Dach22 decades - 8
Paul Fleming16 decades - 9
Heinrich Matthias von Thurn2 decades - 10
Glückel of Hameln0 decades - 11
Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttelnot measured- - 12
Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg22 decades - 13
Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow22 decades - 14
Philipp von Zesen21 decades - 15
Christoph Cellarius8 decades - 16
Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau4 decades - 17
Johann von Rist21 decades - 18
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth7 decades - 19
Elizabeth of Hesse-Kassel, Duchess of Mecklenburg2 decades - 20
Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburgnot measured- - 21
Daniel Casper von Lohenstein7 decades - 22
Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburgnot measured- - 23
Georg Philipp Harsdorffer9 decades - 24
Hiob Ludolf16 decades - 25
Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrückennot 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.