Historical Archives & Public Figures

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

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Politics

8

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

42

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Murad IV (Conqueror of Baghdad)

مراد رابع / Murad-ı Rabi

Turkey

1612 – 1640 (27 years old)

Fierce Ottoman Sultan who restored absolute imperial authority, banned alcohol and coffee, and personally recaptured Baghdad in 1638.

Sultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey

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Sadr al-Din Muhammad al-Shirazi (Mulla Sadra)

Religious Figures & Theologians

48

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Sadr al-Din Muhammad al-Shirazi (Mulla Sadra)

ملاصدرا (صدرالدین محمد شیرازی)

Iran

c. 1571 CE (979 AH) – c. 1640 CE (1050 AH) (69 years old)

Persian philosopher and theologian who revolutionized Islamic metaphysics by founding Transcendent Theosophy (Hikmat al-Muta'aliyah). Formulated the primacy of existence (Asalat al-Wujud) and substantial motion (al-Harakah al-Jawhariyyah).

Basra, Iraq

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

9

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Cornelius Jansen

Netherlands

1585 – 1638 (52 years old)

Influential Flemish-Dutch Catholic theologian and Bishop of Ypres whose monumental posthumous treatise Augustinus ignited the Jansenist theological and political controversy across seventeenth-century Europe.

Ypres, Belgium

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Art

6

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Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Pieter Brueghel de Jonge

Belgium

1564 – 1638 (74 years old)

Prolific Flemish painter who brilliantly preserved, replicated, and disseminated the peasant genre scenes and fantastic apocalyptic visions of his legendary father Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Antwerp, Belgium

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Art

6

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Adriaen Brouwer

Belgium

c. 1605 – 1638 (33 years old)

Brilliant, bohemian painter of seventeenth-century low-life tavern scenes whose expressive brushwork and raw psychological realism earned the passionate admiration of Rubens and Rembrandt.

Antwerp, Belgium

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Literature & Poetry

38

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Benjamin Jonson

Great Britain

1572 – 1637 (65 years old)

Towering Jacobean playwright, poet, and literary theorist who popularized the comedy of humours in Volpone and The Alchemist and eulogized Shakespeare.

London, United Kingdom

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Politics

6

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Yusuf Dey

يوسف داي

Libya

c. 1560 AD – 1637 AD (77 years old)

Influential Dey of Tunis who governed for twenty-seven years of prosperity, building the first Ottoman-style mosque with an octagonal minaret in Tunis and expanding the medina's souks.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

23

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Youssef Dey

يوسف داي

Tunisia

c. 1560 – 1637 (~77 years old)

Dey of Tunis from 1610 to 1637 who established the permanent administrative boundaries of the Regency of Tunis and built the landmark Youssef Dey Mosque in the Medina.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Literature & Poetry

44

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Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio

Lope de Vega

Spain

25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635 (72 years old)

Titanic Spanish playwright dubbed by Cervantes 'El Monstruo de la Naturaleza' (The Monster of Nature) for his astonishing output of over 1,500 plays, including Fuenteovejuna and The Dog in the Manger.

Madrid, Spain

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