215,950 profiles ranked

← 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. 1Cardinal Richelieu1585-1642 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  2. 2Cardinal Mazarin1602-1661 · France · Religious Figures20 decades
  3. 3Pope Benedict XIII1649-1730 · Italy · Religious Figures20 decades
  4. 4Rose of Lima1586-1617 · Religious Figures22 decades
  5. 5Pope Urban VIII1568-1644 · Religious Figures22 decades
  6. 6Francis de Sales1567-1622 · France · Religious Figures22 decades
  7. 7Vincent de Paul1581-1660 · France · Religious Figures22 decades
  8. 8Sabbatai Zevi1626-1676 · Turkey · Religious Figures20 decades
  9. 9Pope Clement XI1649-1721 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  10. 10Pope Innocent XI1611-1689 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  11. 11Pope Clement IX1600-1669 · Italy · Religious Figures20 decades
  12. 12Pope Alexander VII1599-1667 · Italy · Religious Figures22 decades
  13. 13Patriarch Nikon of Moscow1605-1681 · Religious Figures22 decades
  14. 14Pope Innocent XIII1655-1724 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  15. 15Pope Innocent X1574-1655 · Italy · Religious Figures3 decades
  16. 16François Fénelon1651-1715 · France · Religious Figures22 decades
  17. 17Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet1627-1704 · France · Religious Figures22 decades
  18. 18Margaret Mary Alacoque1647-1690 · France · Religious Figures18 decades
  19. 19Avvakum1620-1682 · Religious Figures5 decades
  20. 20Jean-Baptiste de La Salle1651-1719 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  21. 21Pope Clement XII1652-1740 · Religious Figures2 decades
  22. 22Pope Innocent XII1615-1700 · Italy · Religious Figures8 decades
  23. 23Pope Alexander VIII1610-1691 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  24. 24Pope Clement X1590-1676 · Italy · Religious Figures0 decades
  25. 25Jean Meslier1664-1729 · France · Religious Figures22 decades
  26. 26Nicolas Steno1638-1686 · Denmark · Religious Figures2 decades
  27. 27James Ussher1581-1656 · Religious Figures10 decades
  28. 28Jean François Paul de Gondi1613-1679 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  29. 29André-Hercule de Fleury1653-1743 · France · Religious Figures0 decades
  30. 30Josaphat Kuntsevych1580-1623 · Religious Figures0 decades
  31. 31Jean Eudes1601-1680 · France · Religious Figures19 decades
  32. 32Urbain Grandier1590-1634 · France · Religious Figures22 decades
  33. 33Henri, Prince of Condé1588-1646 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  34. 34Ferdinand Verbiest1623-1688 · Religious Figures4 decades
  35. 35Titus Oates1649-1705 · Religious Figures22 decades
  36. 36Cornelius Jansen1585-1638 · Religious Figures12 decades
  37. 37Joseph Vaz1651-1711 · India · Religious Figures1 decades
  38. 38Oliver Plunkett1629-1681 · Religious Figures1 decades
  39. 39Andrzej Bobola1591-1657 · Religious Figures0 decades
  40. 40Fidelis of Sigmaringen1577-1622 · Germany · Religious Figures7 decades
  41. 41François de Laval1623-1708 · Religious Figures21 decades
  42. 42John Ogilvie1579-1615 · Religious Figures19 decades
  43. 43Juan de Palafox y Mendoza1600-1659 · Spain · Religious Figures22 decades
  44. 44Claude de la Colombière1641-1682 · France · Religious Figures1 decades
  45. 45Christoph Bernhard von Galen1606-1678 · Netherlands · Religious Figures14 decades
  46. 46Leopoldo de' Medici1617-1675 · Religious Figures22 decades
  47. 47Sigismund Francis, Archduke of Austria1630-1665 · Religious Figures5 decades
  48. 48Francesco Barberini1597-1679 · Religious Figures22 decades
  49. 49Roque González de Santa Cruz1576-1628 · Religious Figures11 decades
  50. 50Maximilian Henry of Bavaria1621-1688 · Germany · Religious Figures2 decades
  51. 51Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua1587-1626 · Religious Figures0 decades
  52. 52Cornelius a Lapide1567-1637 · Religious Figures10 decades
  53. 53Louis, Duke of Vendôme1612-1669 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  54. 54Bernardino Spada1594-1661 · Religious Figures20 decades
  55. 55Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua1594-1627 · Religious Figures0 decades
  56. 56John Albert Vasa1612-1634 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  57. 57Antonio Barberini1607-1671 · France · Religious Figures22 decades
  58. 58Stanisław Papczyński1631-1701 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  59. 59Diego Luis de San Vitores1627-1672 · Spain · Religious Figures0 decades
  60. 60Louis Antoine de Noailles1651-1729 · Religious Figures0 decades
  61. 61Ferdinand of Bavaria1577-1650 · Religious Figures17 decades
  62. 62Bernard of Corleone1605-1667 · Religious Figures9 decades
  63. 63William Sancroft1617-1693 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures7 decades
  64. 64Francesco Maria de' Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro1660-1711 · Religious Figures0 decades
  65. 65Lothair Francis of Schönborn1655-1729 · Germany · Religious Figures13 decades
  66. 66William Juxon1582-1663 · Religious Figures8 decades
  67. 67Marko Krizin1589-1619 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  68. 68Johann Philipp von Schönborn1605-1673 · Germany · Religious Figures20 decades
  69. 69Henri II, Duke of Nemours1625-1659 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  70. 70António de Andrade1580-1634 · Religious Figures0 decades
  71. 71Christian William of Brandenburg1587-1665 · Germany · Religious Figures12 decades
  72. 72Count Palatine Francis Louis of Neuburg1664-1732 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  73. 73John Sarkander1576-1620 · Religious Figures0 decades
  74. 74Karol Ferdynand Vasa1613-1655 · Sweden · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  75. 75Michael de Sanctis1591-1625 · Religious Figures22 decades
  76. 76Francis Ferdinand de Capillas1607-1648 · Spain · Religious Figures0 decades
  77. 77Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy1613-1684 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  78. 78Decio Azzolino1623-1689 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  79. 79Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg1566-1633 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  80. 80Zaya Pandita1599-1662 · Religious Figures0 decades
  81. 81Philippe Couplet1623-1693 · France · Religious Figures0 decades
  82. 82Ambrose Barlow1585-1641 · Religious Figures0 decades
  83. 83John Southworth1592-1654 · Religious Figures3 decades
  84. 84Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili, 1st Prince of San Martino al Cimino and Valmontone1622-1666 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  85. 85Paris von Lodron1586-1653 · Austria · Religious Figures5 decades
  86. 86Gian Carlo de' Medici1611-1663 · Religious Figures6 decades
  87. 87Antonio Marcello Barberini1569-1646 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  88. 88Nicolas Barré1621-1686 · France · Religious Figures9 decades
  89. 89Carlo Camillo II Massimo1620-1677 · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  90. 90Charles of Austria, Bishop of Wroclaw1590-1624 · Religious Figures15 decades
  91. 91Philip Howard1629-1694 · United Kingdom · Religious Figures22 decades
  92. 92Antonio de' Medici1576-1621 · Religious Figures0 decades
  93. 93Jean-François de Gondi1584-1654 · France · Religious Figures20 decades
  94. 94Francesco Negri1623-1698 · Religious Figures22 decades
  95. 95Stephen Pongracz1582-1619 · Hungary · Religious Figures0 decades
  96. 96François Pallu1626-1684 · Religious Figures11 decades
  97. 97Frederick of Hesse-Darmstadt1616-1682 · Germany · Religious Figures0 decades
  98. 98Louis III of Lorraine, cardinal of Guise1575-1621 · France · Religious Figuresnot measured-
  99. 99Michele Mazzarino1605-1648 · France · Religious Figures7 decades
  100. 100Noël Chabanel1613-1649 · France · Religious Figures4 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.