Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

31

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Alvaro I of Kongo

Álvaro I Nimi a Lukeni lua Mvemba

Congo

c. 1530 CE – 1587 (57 years old)

Manikongo (King) of the Kingdom of Kongo who reclaimed his throne from the devastating Jaga invasions with Portuguese assistance and Europeanized Kongo's royal court ceremonies.

Mbanza Kongo, Angola

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

35

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Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart (Mairi Stiùbhart)

Scotland

1542 – 1587 (44 years old)

Queen of Scotland and Queen Consort of France whose tragic life, imprisonment, and execution made her an immortal romantic martyr.

London, United Kingdom

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

8

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Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle

Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle

France

1517 – 1586 (69 years old)

Powerful cardinal and minister of state who served Emperor Charles V and King Philip II, becoming the first Archbishop of Mechelen and Primate of the Netherlands during the turbulent eve of the Dutch Revolt.

Besançon, France

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Literature & Poetry

40

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Pierre de Ronsard

Pierre de Ronsard

France

1524 – 1585 (61 years old)

Acclaimed as the 'Prince of Poets' and leader of the French Renaissance Pléiade, renowned for 'Mignonne, allons voir si la rose' and Sonnets pour Hélène.

La Riche (Tours), France

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Arts & Music

43

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Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis

Great Britain

c. 1505 – 1585 (80 years old)

Father of English church music who composed through four turbulent Tudor monarchies, immortalized by his 40-part choral masterpiece 'Spem in alium'.

Greenwich, Great Britain

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Science

8

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Rembert Dodoens

Rembert Dodoens

Belgium

1517 – 1585 (67 years old)

Flemish Renaissance physician and botanist whose 1554 Cruydeboeck became one of the most widely translated botanical compendiums in world history, establishing botanical classification based on plant properties.

Leiden, Netherlands

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Literature & Poetry

12

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Sidi Lakhdar Ben Khlouf

سيدي لخضر بن خلوف

Algeria

1494 – 1585 (lived to ~125 in tradition) (91 years old)

Patron saint and epic warrior-poet who fought against the Spanish invasion at the Battle of Mazagran in 1558 and composed the foundational poems of Algerian Melhoun.

Sidi Lakhdar (Mostaganem), Algeria

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Religious Figures & Theologians

46

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Carlo Borromeo

Carlo Borromeo

Italy

1538 – 1584 (46 years old)

Archbishop of Milan, cardinal, and leading figure of the Catholic Counter-Reformation who finalized the Council of Trent and fearlessly nursed plague victims in Milan.

Milan, Italy

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Sculpture

8

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Jacques du Broeucq

Jacques du Broeucq

Belgium

c. 1505 – 1584 (79 years old)

Pioneering Renaissance sculptor and architect who introduced High Renaissance classicism to the Low Countries, serving Queen Mary of Hungary and mentoring Giambologna.

Mons, Belgium

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

36

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Ivan IV of Russia (Ivan the Terrible)

Иван IV Васильевич (Иван Грозный)

Russia

1530 – 1584 (53 years old)

First crowned Tsar of all Russia who conquered the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, opening Siberia and building Saint Basil's Cathedral.

Moscow, Russia

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Religious Figures & Theologians

54

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Teresa of Ávila (Saint Teresa of Jesus)

Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada

Spain

28 March 1515 – 4 October 1582 (67 years old)

Spanish mystic, monastic reformer, and the first woman proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. Overcame institutional opposition to found the Discalced Carmelites and authored spiritual masterpieces including The Interior Castle.

Alba de Tormes, Spain

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

49

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Zhang Juzheng

張居正

China

1525-05-24 – 1582-07-09 (57 years old)

Greatest statesman of the Ming Dynasty; instituted the 'Single Whip Law' (Yitiao Bianfa) simplifying all taxes into single silver payments and restored Ming fiscal solvency.

Beijing, China

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

39

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Oda Nobunaga (First Great Unifier of Japan)

織田 信長 (Oda Nobunaga)

Japan

23 June 1534 – 21 June 1582 (47 years old)

The first of Japan's "Three Great Unifiers" of the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Overthrew the Ashikaga Shogunate, revolutionized samurai tactics with volley-fire matchlock firearms at the Battle of Nagashino, and dismantled feudal economic barriers.

Honnō-ji Temple (Kyoto), Japan

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Literature & Poetry

41

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Wu Cheng'en

吳承恩

China

c. 1500 – c. 1582 (82 years old)

Ming dynasty novelist and poet widely attributed as the author of Journey to the West, the mythical fantasy immortalizing the Monkey King Sun Wukong.

Huai'an, China

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

41

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King Bayinnaung

ဘုရင့်နောင် ကျော်ထင်နော်ရထာ

Taungoo Kingdom

1516 – 1581 (65 years old)

Third king of the Toungoo Dynasty who assembled the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, conquering Siam, Lan Na, and Lan Xang (Laos) across three decades of military campaigns.

Bago (Pegu), Myanmar

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

42

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Guru Ram Das Ji (Fourth Sikh Guru & Founder of Amritsar)

ਗੁਰੂ ਰਾਮ ਦਾਸ ਜੀ

Pakistan

1534 – 1581 (46 years old)

Born as an impoverished orphan selling boiled chickpeas in Lahore, Bhai Jetha rose through immaculate humility to become Guru Ram Das; he founded the holy city of Amritsar (Ramdaspur) and composed the four sacred stanzas of the Sikh marriage covenant.

Goindwal Sahib, India

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

8

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Alexander Utendal

Alexander Utendal

Belgium

c. 1530 – 1581 (51 years old)

Flemish Renaissance composer and Kapellmeister to Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria at Innsbruck, celebrated for expressive penitential psalms and innovative contrapuntal motets.

Innsbruck, Austria

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Literature & Poetry

45

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Surdas

सूरदास

India

1478 – 1581 (103 years old)

Sixteenth-century blind Hindu poet, musician, and Bhakti saint (1478–1581) whose lyrical devotional hymns in 'Sur Sagar' immortalized the childhood and divine love of Krishna in the Braj Bhasha dialect.

Parsoli (Govardhan, Uttar Pradesh), India

45 Full Record →