← 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
Charles II of Spain18 decades - 2
Philip III of Spain19 decades - 3
Mehmed III0 decades - 4
Mehmed IV2 decades - 5
Mustafa I0 decades - 6
Mustafa II0 decades - 7
Abbas II of Persia0 decades - 8
Taichang Emperornot measured- - 9
Go-Kōmyōnot measured- - 10
John George III of Saxony22 decades - 11
Charles II, Elector Palatinenot measured- - 12
George II Rákóczi0 decades - 13
Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadtnot measured- - 14
John Adolphus, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorpnot measured- - 15
Frederick VII, Margrave of Baden-Durlach0 decades - 16
Infante Carlos of Spainnot measured- - 17
John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbachnot measured- - 18
Suleiman II0 decades - 19
George Frederick of Waldeck-Eisenberg22 decades - 20
Radu Mihnea0 decades - 21
Frederick Casimir Kettlernot measured- - 22
Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania4 decades - 23
Helena Fourment0 decades - 24
Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenbergnot measured- - 25
George Ducas0 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.