← 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
Isaac Newton22 decades - 2
René Descartes22 decades - 3
John Locke22 decades - 4
Louis XIV of France22 decades - 5
Oliver Cromwell22 decades - 6
Molière22 decades - 7
Charles I of England12 decades - 8
Rembrandt22 decades - 9
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz15 decades - 10
Baruch Spinoza16 decades - 11
Blaise Pascal22 decades - 12
James VI and I5 decades - 13
Caravaggio22 decades - 14
Charles II of England12 decades - 15
Aurangzeb20 decades - 16
Shah Jahan16 decades - 17
Johannes Kepler18 decades - 18
Cardinal Richelieunot measured- - 19
Thomas Hobbes22 decades - 20
Johannes Vermeer3 decades - 21
John Milton22 decades - 22
James II of England3 decades - 23
Peter Paul Rubens22 decades - 24
William III of England2 decades - 25
Diego Velázquez20 decades - 26
George I of Great Britainnot measured- - 27
Miyamoto Musashi2 decades - 28
Charles II of Spain18 decades - 29
Daniel Defoe22 decades - 30
Philip IV of Spain20 decades - 31
Guy Fawkes22 decades - 32
Jean de La Fontaine22 decades - 33
Jahangirnot measured- - 34
Robert Hooke22 decades - 35
Shivaji14 decades - 36
Philip III of Spain19 decades - 37
Charles Perrault22 decades - 38
John Donne22 decades - 39
Alexis of Russia21 decades - 40
Gian Lorenzo Bernini13 decades - 41
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz21 decades - 42
Michael of Russia19 decades - 43
Christina, Queen of Swedennot measured- - 44
Pocahontas22 decades
- 45
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek7 decades - 46
Artemisia Gentileschi18 decades - 47
Jean Racine22 decades - 48
Pierre Corneille22 decades - 49
Mumtaz Mahal9 decades - 50
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperornot measured- - 51
Kangxi Emperor4 decades - 52
Marie de' Medici22 decades - 53
Ahmed I2 decades - 54
Christiaan Huygens7 decades - 55
John III Sobieski10 decades - 56
Cardinal Mazarin20 decades - 57
Prince Eugene of Savoy22 decades - 58
Pope Benedict XIII20 decades - 59
Mehmed III0 decades - 60
Francisco Quevedo22 decades - 61
Murad IV4 decades - 62
Abel Tasman8 decades - 63
Ivan V of Russia3 decades - 64
Ivan Mazepa14 decades - 65
William Penn22 decades - 66
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperornot measured- - 67
Cyrano de Bergerac0 decades - 68
Ben Jonson22 decades - 69
Christopher Wren22 decades - 70
Robert Boyle22 decades - 71
Kösem Sultan0 decades - 72
Mehmed IV2 decades - 73
Henry Hudson22 decades - 74
Samuel de Champlain17 decades - 75
Anne of Austrianot measured- - 76
Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empirenot measured- - 77
Pedro Calderón de la Barca22 decades - 78
Rose of Lima22 decades - 79
False Dmitry I10 decades - 80
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John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlboroughnot measured- - 81
John Bunyan22 decades - 82
Pierre de Fermat8 decades - 83
Pope Urban VIII22 decades - 84
Mustafa I0 decades - 85
Frederick I of Prussianot measured- - 86
Francis de Sales22 decades - 87
Claudio Monteverdi14 decades - 88
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor22 decades - 89
Louis XIII of France22 decades - 90
Mary II of England0 decades - 91
John Smith22 decades - 92
Jean-Baptiste Colbert22 decades - 93
Matsuo Bashō0 decades - 94
Henry Morgan22 decades - 95
Anthony van Dyck4 decades - 96
Samuel Pepys22 decades - 97
Nicolas Poussin22 decades - 98
Vincent de Paul22 decades - 99
Maria Theresa of Spain22 decades - 100
Sigismund III Vasa0 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.