Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

36

🕯️ 0

Gustav I of Sweden (Gustav Vasa)

Gustav I (Gustav Eriksson Vasa)

Sweden

1496 – 1560 (64 years old)

Founding father of modern Sweden who led the War of Liberation against Danish rule, introduced the Protestant Reformation, and created hereditary kingship.

Uppsala, Sweden

36 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

40

🕯️ 0

Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon

Germany

1497 – 1560 (63 years old)

Intellectual partner of Martin Luther, author of the historic 'Augsburg Confession' (1530), and systematic theologian whose 'Loci Communes' grounded Protestant dogma.

Wittenberg, Germany

40 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

42

🕯️ 0

Joachim du Bellay

Joachim du Bellay

France

c. 1522 – 1560 (38 years old)

French Renaissance poet and Pléiade theorist whose manifesto Défense et illustration and elegiac sonnets Les Regrets defined modern French poetic identity.

Paris, France

42 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

36

🕯️ 0

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Carlos I of Spain)

Carlos I de España y V del Sacro Imperio

Belgium

1500 – 1558 (58 years old)

Ruler of the Habsburg Empire on which 'the sun never set', sovereign of Spain, the Low Countries, and the Holy Roman Empire.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain

36 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

43

🕯️ 0

Caupolican

Kallpolikan (Flint Polisher)

Chile

c. 1515 – c. 1558 (43 years old)

Legendary Mapuche supreme war chief (Toqui) celebrated in Alonso de Ercilla's epic 'La Araucana', who won leadership by carrying a colossal tree trunk on his shoulders for two days and two nights, leading the Mapuche in epic resistance against Spanish conquest.

Santiago, Chile

43 Full Record →

Military

1

🕯️ 0

Caupolicán

Kallfülikan

Historical Chile

c. 1515 – c. 1558 (43 years old)

Formidable Mapuche Toqui renowned for his legendary strength and leadership in the Arauco War, immortalized in Alonso de Ercilla's epic poem 'La Araucana' for his defiant martyrdom.

Cañete, Arauco, Chile

1 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

42

🕯️ 0

Galvarino

Kalwarin

Chile

c. 1520 – 1557 (37 years old)

Fabled Mapuche warrior whose hands were both amputated by Spanish governor Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza to terrorize his people; returning to the Mapuche council, Galvarino strapped steel blades to his severed wrists to lead the frontline charge at the Battle of Millarapue.

Coronel (Biobio), Chile

42 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

24

🕯️ 0

Mohammed ash-Sheikh

محمد الشيخ السعدي

Morocco

c. 1490 – 1557 (~67 years old)

First Sultan of a reunified Saadian Morocco, who drove the Portuguese out of Agadir, conquered Fez, and preserved Moroccan imperial sovereignty between Spain and the Ottoman Empire.

Marrakesh, Morocco

24 Full Record →

Military

1

🕯️ 0

Lautaro

Leftraru

Historical Chile

c. 1534 – 1557-04-29 (23 years old)

Legendary Mapuche military genius who escaped Spanish captivity to become Toqui, mastering cavalry tactics and annihilating Spanish conquistador armies at Tucapel and Marigueñu.

Sagrada Familia, Curicó, Chile

1 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

39

🕯️ 0

Lautaro

Leftraru (Swift Hawk)

Chile

c. 1534 – 1557 (23 years old)

Genius Mapuche military commander (Toqui) who escaped Spanish captivity as Pedro de Valdivia's page, studied Spanish cavalry tactics, and returned to lead the Mapuche in destroying Spanish colonial forces, celebrated as the greatest indigenous strategist of South America.

Concepcion, Chile

39 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

23

🕯️ 0

Ahmad al-Araj

أحمد الأعرج السعدي

Morocco

c. 1486 – 1557 (~71 years old)

Elder Saadian prince who captured Marrakesh in 1524, making it the capital of the emerging dynasty and liberating the Atlantic coastlines from European dominance.

Marrakesh, Morocco

23 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

23

🕯️ 0

Hasan Corso

حسن كورسو

France

1518 – 1556 (38 years old)

Corsican-born commander who was adopted by Salah Reis, rose to Agha of the Janissaries, and was elected governor by the people and garrison of Algiers in 1556.

Algiers, Algeria

23 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

37

🕯️ 0

Íñigo López de Loyola

Íñigo López de Loyola

Spain

1491 – 1556 (64 years old)

Spanish Basque knight, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and author of the 'Spiritual Exercises' who transformed global Catholic mission, education, and spirituality.

Rome, Italy

37 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

22

🕯️ 0

Salah Reis

صالح ريس

Egypt

1488 – 1556 (68 years old)

Legendary naval admiral and Beylerbey of Algiers (1552–1556) who commanded Hayreddin Barbarossa's right wing at the Battle of Preveza and expelled Spanish forces from Peñón de Vélez.

Algiers, Algeria

22 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

41

🕯️ 0

Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer

Great Britain

1489 – 1556 (66 years old)

Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI, chief architect of the English Reformation, and compiler of the immortal 'Book of Common Prayer'.

Oxford, United Kingdom

41 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

5

🕯️ 0

Fuzuli

Məhəmməd Füzuli

Iraq

c. 1494 – 1556-01-01 (62 years old)

Supreme sixteenth-century poet and philosopher of Azerbaijani literature whose heartbreaking poetic masterpiece 'Dâstân-ı Leylî vü Mecnûn' codified the Azerbaijani literary language.

Karbala, Iraq

5 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

30

🕯️ 0

Salah Rais

صالح ريس

Egypt

c. 1488 – 1556 (68 years old)

Famed 16th-century naval strategist and Dey of Algiers who expanded Algerian sovereign territory across the Sahara and defeated Portuguese and Spanish fleets across North Africa.

Algiers, Algeria

30 Full Record →

Prophets & Divine Messengers

13

🕯️ 0

Gemma Frisius

Gemma Frisius

Netherlands

1508 – 1555 (46 years old)

Pioneering mathematician, astronomer, and instrument-maker at the University of Leuven who invented surveying by triangulation and was the first to propose using clocks to determine longitude at sea.

Leuven, Belgium

13 Full Record →