16th Century - Significant People

Significant People

• Leonardo da Vinci, famous artist and inventor and scientist (1452 – 1519).
• Henry VII of England, founder of the Tudor dynasty. Introduced ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation which restored the kingdom after a state of virtual bankruptcy due to the effects of the Wars of the Roses (1457 – 1509).
• Ismail I (1487-1524) reunified Persia, established Safavid dynasty and declared Shia Islam as the state religion.
• Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (sometimes known as Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam) (October 27, 1466/1469, Rotterdam– July 12, 1536 Basel was a Dutch Renaissance humanist and Catholic Christian theologian.
• Zygmunt I the Old, King of Poland, established a conscription army and the bureaucracy needed to finance it (1467 – 1548).
• György Dózsa, leader of the peasants' revolt in Hungary (1470 – 1514)
• Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter and sculptor (1475 – 1564).
• Raphael, Italian painter, (1483 – 1520)
• Martin Luther, German religious reformer (1483 – 1546).
• Giovanni Battista Ramusio (20 July 1485 – 10 July 1557), diplomat and secretary of council of Ten of Venice Italy, author of Delle Navigationi et Viaggi. Third volume (terzo volume) containing plan La Terra de Hochelaga showing village of Hochelaga.
• King Henry VIII of England, founder of Anglicanism (1491 – 1547).
• Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII. She was the first Queen of England to be executed, and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. (c. 1501 - 1536)
• William Shakespeare, 1564–1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".
• Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (1491 – 1556).
• Paracelsus (11 November or 17 December 1493 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland – 24 September 1541 in Salzburg, Austria), Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist.
• King Francis I of France, considered the first Renaissance monarch of his Kingdom (1494 – 1547).
• Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Conqueror and legal reformer (1494 – 1566).
• Abbas I, the strongest king of Safavid dynasty (1571-1629).
• King Gustav I of Sweden, restored Swedish sovereignty and introduced Protestantism in Sweden (1496–1560).
• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the first to reign as King of Spain. Involved in almost constant conflict with France and the Ottoman Empire while promoting the Spanish colonization of the Americas (1500 – 1558).
• Cuauhtémoc, the last Tlatoani of the Aztec, led the native resistance against the Conquistadores (1502 – 1525).
• Michel Nostradamus, French astrologer and doctor, author of Les Propheties, a book of world prophecies (1503 – 1566).
• Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Somali Imam and general (1507 – 1543).
• Andrea Palladio (November 30, 1508 – August 19, 1580), one of the most influential architect of the Western architecture
• John Calvin, theologian, and reformer. Founder of Calvinism (1509 – 1564).
• Manus Ó Domhnaill (Manus O'Donnell), King of Tír Chonaill in Ulster. Irish Renaissance prince (died 1564).
• Andreas Vesalius, anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica (On the Workings of the Human Body).(1514–1564)
• Mary I of England. Attempted to counter the Protestant Reformation in her domains. Nicknamed Bloody Mary for her Religious persecution (1516 – 1558).
• Andrea Amati, (c. 1520 – c. 1578) was the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today.
• John Knox (c. 1510 – 1572) was a Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination.
• King Philip II of Spain. It was first said of his empire that "the sun did not set". Strong defender of Catholicism and self-proclaimed leader of Counter-Reformation (1527 – 1598).
• Ivan IV of Russia, first Russian tsar (1533–1584).
• William the Silent, William I of Orange-Nassau, main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish (1533–1584).
• Elizabeth I of England, central figure of the Elizabethan era (1533 – 1603). She was the granddaughter of the aforementioned Henry VII, daughter of Henry VIII and paternal half-sister of Mary I. Though some within her court thought of her merely as a bastard, because her father executed her supposedly criminal mother Anne Boleyn, her reign is still considered one of the greatest ever in England's history.
• Oda Nobunaga, daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. First ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1534 – 1582).
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi, daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. Second ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1536 – 1598).
• Edward VI of England, notable for further differentiating Anglicanism from the practices of the Roman Catholic Church (1537 – 1553).
• Lady Jane Grey, Queen regnant of England and Ireland. Notably deposed by popular revolt (1537 – 1554).
• Mary, Queen of Scots, First female head of the House of Stuart (1542 – 1587).
• Akbar the Great, third Mughal emperor, who led the Mughal Empire to its zenith (1542 – 1605)
• Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch politician and Grand Pensionary, played a pivotal role in organizing the Dutch revolt against Spain (1542 – 1619).
• Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral, respected as one of the greatest admirals in world history. (1545 – 1598).
• Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit who traveled to Macau, China in 1582, and died in Beijing, (1552 – 1610)
• King Henry IV of France and Navarre, ended the French Wars of Religion and reunited the kingdom under his command (1553 – 1610).
• Michael the Brave, ruler of Walachia, national symbol of Romanians for uniting the three provinces under his rule in 1600 (1558 – 1601)
• Wanli Emperor, Emperor of China during the Ming Dynasty, aided Korea in the Imjin War, (1563 – 1620)
• Sigismund III Vasa, the first and only monarch of the Polish–Swedish union; his long reign in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth coincided with the apex of the Commonwealth's prestige, power and economic influence (1566 – 1632).