Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Arts & Music

56

🕯️ 930

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Pieter Bruegel de Oude

Netherlands

c. 1525–1530 – 9 September 1569 (~44 years old)

Pioneering Netherlandish Renaissance master celebrated for his panoramic seasonal landscapes, biting allegorical satires (Netherlandish Proverbs), and affectionate, vivid depictions of peasant celebrations and labor.

Brussels, Belgium

56 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

19

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Sidi Abderrahman El Majdoub

عبد الرحمن المجذوب

Morocco

1506 – 1568 (62 years old)

16th-century Sufi ecstatic and sage whose rhymed vernacular quatrains (Ruba'iyat) encapsulated Moroccan popular wisdom, moral ethics, and spiritual introspection.

Meknes, Morocco

19 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

41

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Guaicaipuro

Guaicaipuro

Venezuela

c. 1530 – c. 1568 (38 years old)

Cacique of the Teques and Caracas tribes who formed an indigenous confederation across northern Venezuela that repeatedly defeated Spanish conquistadors, driving them out of the Caracas valley for nearly a decade.

Caracas, Venezuela

41 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

31

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King Myeongjong of Joseon

조선 명종 (이환)

South Korea

1534 – 1567 (33 years old)

Thirteenth monarch of the Joseon Kingdom of Korea who struggled against conservative factionalism, patronized Neo-Confucian scholarship under Yi Hwang (Toegye), and established royal state grain relief.

Nowon-gu (Seoul), South Korea

31 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

1

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Marin Držić

Marin Držić

Republic of Ragusa

c. 1508 – 1567-05-02 (59 years old)

Peerless Renaissance comedic playwright of the Republic of Dubrovnik, author of the theatrical masterpieces 'Dundo Maroje' and 'Novela od Stanca', celebrated for sharp social satire.

Venice, Italy

1 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

36

🕯️ 1,410

Suleiman I (The Magnificent / Kanuni Sultan Süleyman)

سليمان اول / Kanunî Sultan Süleyman

Turkey

6 November 1494 – 6 September 1566 (71 years old)

Tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1520–1566). Known in the West as "the Magnificent" and in the East as "the Lawgiver" (Kanuni). Oversaw the golden age of Ottoman military supremacy, arts, and monumental architecture.

Szigetvár, Hungary

36 Full Record →

Art

10

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Lambert Lombard

Lambert Lombard

Belgium

c. 1505 – 1566 (61 years old)

Universal Renaissance artist, architect, and humanist who directed the artistic revival of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and trained Frans Floris and Willem Key in classical archaeology.

Liège, Belgium

10 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

41

🕯️ 920

Bartolomé de las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas

Spain

11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566 (81 years old)

16th-century Spanish Dominican friar and Bishop of Chiapas who renounced his colonial encomienda to become the 'Protector of the Indians', authoring A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies to denounce colonial genocide.

Madrid, Spain

41 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

11

🕯️ 0

Louise Labé

Louise Charly (dite Labé)

France

c. 1524 – 1566 (42 years old)

Pioneering Renaissance poet of the Lyon School known as 'La Belle Cordière' whose impassioned sonnets and feminist manifesto in Débat de Folie et d'Amour voiced female sexual agency and intellectual autonomy.

Parcieux (Ain), France

11 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

14

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Rais Dragut (Turgut Reis)

طرغود باشا (درغوث)

Algeria

1485 – 1565 (80 years old)

Legendary Mediterranean admiral, described by contemporary European chroniclers as 'a drawn sword over the seas', key ally of Hayreddin Barbarossa in Algiers.

Tripoli / Algiers honored, Libya

14 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

39

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Turgut Reis (Dragut Rais)

Turgut Reis / Dragut

Turkey

1 – 1565 (80 years old)

Ottoman admiral, privateer, and Bey of Tripoli described by contemporaries as 'a living drawn sword', who captured Tripoli and commanded at the Great Siege of Malta.

Tripoli, Libya

39 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

43

🕯️ 890

Andreas Vesalius

Andreas van Wesel

Belgium

31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564 (49 years old)

Brilliant anatomist whose 1543 masterpiece De Humani Corporis Fabrica founded modern human anatomy through direct cadaver dissection, correcting over 200 errors in Galen's texts.

Zakynthos, Greece

43 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

44

🕯️ 910

John Calvin (Jean Cauvin)

Jean Cauvin

France

10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564 (54 years old)

Systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation who established Geneva as the spiritual bastion of Reformed Christianity. Authored the Institutes of the Christian Religion, articulating doctrines of divine sovereignty, grace, and civic duty.

Geneva, Switzerland

44 Full Record →

Arts & Music

40

🕯️ 999

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Italy

6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564 (88 years old)

Titan of the High Renaissance revered as 'Il Divino', whose colossal masterpieces—the marble David, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, The Last Judgment, and the dome of St. Peter's Basilica—define the pinnacle of Western art.

Rome, Italy

40 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

11

🕯️ 0

Maurice Scève

Maurice Scève

France

c. 1501 – c. 1564 (63 years old)

Leading Renaissance poet of the Lyon humanist school whose hermetic 1544 canzoniere Délie, objet de plus haute vertu was the first French poetic cycle modeled on Petrarch, celebrating idealized love for Pernette du Guillet.

Lyon, France

11 Full Record →

Music

9

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Adrian Willaert

Adrian Willaert

Belgium

c. 1490 – 1562 (72 years old)

Flemish musical genius who was appointed Maestro di Cappella of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, creating the Venetian polychoral style (cori spezzati) and mentoring Andrea Gabrieli and Cipriano de Rore.

Venice, Italy

9 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

38

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Menno Simons

Menno Simons

Netherlands

c. 1496 – 1561 (65 years old)

Former Catholic priest who revitalized and unified the peaceful Anabaptist movement, teaching adult believer's baptism, radical non-violence, and giving his name to the Mennonites.

Bad Oldesloe, Germany

38 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

32

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Sayyida al-Hurra

السيدة الحرة (عائشة العلمي)

Spain

c. 1485 – c. 1561 (76 years old)

Legendary Andalusian-Moroccan queen and governor of Tetouan who commanded western Mediterranean naval fleets in strategic alliance with Hayreddin Barbarossa to avenge the fall of Granada.

Chefchaouen, Morocco

32 Full Record →