Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Military Leaders & Strategists

11

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Rais Ali Bitchin

علي بتشين

Algeria

c. 1560 – 1645 (85 years old)

Supreme Admiral of the Algiers corsair fleet in the early 17th century, who married Princess Lalla Lalla-Houm and built the historic Ali Bitchin Mosque in the Casbah in 1622.

Algiers, Algeria

11 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

44

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Sultan Agung of Mataram

Sultan Agung Anyokrokusumo

Indonesia

1593 – 1645 (52 years old)

Third Sultan of Mataram who unified central and eastern Java, laid siege to Dutch Batavia twice in 1628 and 1629, created the Javanese calendar, and constructed the royal necropolis of Imogiri.

Bantul (Yogyakarta), Indonesia

44 Full Record →

Science

7

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Jean-Baptiste van Helmont

Jan Baptist van Helmont

Belgium

1580 – 1644 (64 years old)

Visionary Flemish physician and alchemist recognized as the founder of pneumatic chemistry, who coined the scientific word 'gas' and conducted the famous five-year willow tree experiment on plant mass.

Vilvoorde, Belgium

7 Full Record →

Prophets & Divine Messengers

54

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Guru Hargobind Ji (Sixth Sikh Guru & Master of Miri-Piri)

ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਜੀ

India

1595 – 1644 (48 years old)

Son of the martyred Guru Arjan, Guru Hargobind transformed the Sikh community by introducing the doctrine of Miri-Piri (temporal sovereignty and spiritual power), wearing two swords, raising the Akal Takht, and liberating fifty-two kings from Gwalior Fort.

Kiratpur Sahib, India

54 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

39

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John Pym

John Pym

Great Britain

c. 1584 – 1643 (59 years old)

Master parliamentarian and leader of the Long Parliament whose Grand Remonstrance and resistance to Charles I asserted parliamentary supremacy.

London, United Kingdom

39 Full Record →

Arts & Music

46

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Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi

Claudio Monteverdi

Italy

15 May 1567 (Baptism) – 29 November 1643 (~76 years old)

Revolutionary Italian composer who bridged the Renaissance and Baroque eras, pioneered the 'Seconda Pratica' making music servant to emotional text, composed the first operatic masterpiece (L'Orfeo), and transformed sacred music with his 1610 Vespers.

Venice, Italy

46 Full Record →

Sculpture

8

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Francois Duquesnoy

François Duquesnoy / Frans Duquesnoy

Belgium

1597 – 1643 (46 years old)

Brussels-born sculptor known in Rome as 'Il Fiammingo', who worked alongside Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Nicolas Poussin, championing an elegant classical ideal of marble sculpture.

Brussels, Belgium

8 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

43

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Cardinal Richelieu

Armand Jean du Plessis, cardinal-duc de Richelieu

France

1585-09-09 – 1642-12-04 (57 years old)

Pioneered modern realpolitik and centralized administrative statecraft, breaking Habsburg hegemony in Europe during the Thirty Years' War.

Paris, France

43 Full Record →

Politics

9

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Jean Nicolet

Jean Nicolet

France

1598 – 27 October 1642 (44 years old)

Early French explorer who arrived at Green Bay in 1634 wearing a damask Chinese robe, believing he had discovered the shortcut to Cathay.

Quebec City, Canada

9 Full Record →

Arts & Music

41

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Guido Reni

Guido Reni

Italy

1575 – 1642 (66 years old)

Premier Bolognese master of classical Baroque painting whose ceiling fresco 'Aurora' and celestial, idealized religious canvases earned him the title 'The Divine'.

Bologna, Italy

41 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

44

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Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei

Italy

15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642 (77 years old)

'Father of Modern Science' who improved the telescope to discover Jupiter's moons, Venusian phases, and lunar craters, formulated the law of falling bodies, and defended heliocentrism.

Florence, Italy

44 Full Record →

Politics

9

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Sully (Maximilien de Béthune)

Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully

France

1559 – 1641 (82 years old)

Invaluable chief minister, financier, and artillery commander to King Henry IV who restored France's devastated finances, famously declaring that agriculture and livestock were the two breasts that nourished the realm.

Nogent-le-Rotrou (Eure-et-Loir), France

9 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

40

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Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully

Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully

France

1559 – 1641 (82 years old)

Trusted Huguenot chief minister to King Henry IV who restored French royal finances, modernized agriculture and infrastructure, and coined 'Labourage et pâturage sont les deux mamelles de la France'.

Nogent-le-Rotrou, France

40 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

49

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Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot de Chantal

Jeanne de Chantal

France

1572 – 1641 (69 years old)

French noblewoman and mystic who co-founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary with Francis de Sales, pioneering contemplative religious life accessible to widows and frail women.

Annecy, France

49 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3,659

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Anthony van Dyck

Antoon van Dyck

Belgium

1599 – 1641 (42 years old)

Flemish Baroque virtuoso who transformed English portraiture as leading court painter to King Charles I.

London, United Kingdom

3,659 Full Record →

Arts & Music

37

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Domenico Zampieri

Domenichino

Italy

1581 – 1641 (59 years old)

Leading Bolognese classical Baroque painter whose 'The Last Communion of Saint Jerome' and frescoes in Sant'Andrea della Valle set the benchmark for expressive gestures.

Naples, Italy

37 Full Record →

Prophets & Divine Messengers

7

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Jerome Duquesnoy the Elder

Jérôme Duquesnoy l'Ancien / Hiëronymus Duquesnoy de Oude

Belgium

c. 1570 – 1641 (71 years old)

Flemish sculptor and court artist to Archdukes Albert and Isabella who cast Brussels' most iconic and beloved civic monument, the bronze Manneken Pis fountain, in 1619.

Brussels, Belgium

7 Full Record →

Arts & Music

48

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Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens

Germany

28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640 (62 years old)

Supreme master of the Flemish Baroque who synthesized Venetian color, Roman monumental dynamism, and northern realism, orchestrating colossal mythological canvases and negotiating peace treaties across Europe.

Antwerp, Belgium

48 Full Record →