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1533, Feb 281546-15921592, Sep 13
one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight; his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts" or "Trials") contains some of the most influential essays ever written.
 Contemporaries
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Michel de Montaigne1533, Feb 281546
 
15921592, Sep 13

King Henry VIII1491, Jun 281509
 
15471547, Jan 28
  King of England from 1509 until his death and Supreme Head of the Church of England from 1536 to...
Edward Hall14971518
 
15471547
 an English lawyer, Member of Parliament, and historian, best known for his The Union of the Tw...
Bernard Etxepare1475 ca1512
 
1549unknown
 a Basque writer of the 16th century, most famous for a collection of poems titled Linguæ Vasconu...
Francisco Xerez14951514
 
15491565 ca
 a Spanish explorer-turned-historian, the personal secretary of conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He...
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca1490 ca1520
 
15491557 ca
 a Spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. D...
Peter Ashtonunknown1540
 
1549unknown
 a translator. Ashton translated into English, in 1546, the Turcicarum rerum Commentarius of Paulu...
Eoghan Carrach O Siadhailunknown1500
 
1550unknown
 an Gaelic-Irish poet. Eoghan Carrach was a member of the Ó Siadhail family of Tír Chonaill (now...
Richard Sherry1506 ca1522
 
15501555+
 an English schoolteacher and author. He was born about 1506 in the neighbourhood of London. In 15...
William Lamb [1]1493 ca1537
 
15501550
 a Scottish cleric, lawyer, and author. William Lamb wrote Ane Resonyng of ane Scottis and Ingl...
Fearghus O Fearghailunknown1550
 
 
1550unknown
 an Irish scribe, fl. c. 1550. Fearghus mac Rudhraighe Ó Fearghail was a member of one of the thr...
Francois Rabelais1483-14941534
 
15521553, Apr 9
 a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has h...
Francis Xavier1506, Apr 71534
 
15521552, Dec 3
 a Navarrese Roman Catholic missionary, born in Javier (Xavier in Navarro-Aragonese), Kingdom of N...
Erasmus Reinhold1511, Oct 221536
 
15531553, feb 19
 a German astronomer and mathematician, considered to be the most influential astronomical pedagog...
Ignatius of Loyola1491, Oct 231508
 
15551556, Jul 31
 a Spanish priest and theologian, who founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus (Jes...
Miles Huggardeunknown1533
 
1557unknown
 an English religious pamphleteer and opponent of the Protestant Reformation. He has been describe...
Nicholas Brighamunknown1550
 
 
15581558
 a Latin scholar and antiquarian, who gave up literature to practise in the law courts, and who fl...
Louis Maigretunknown1530
 
1559unknown
 the author of the Tretté de la Grammaire française, which was published in 1550. This was the f...
Jean de Beaugueunknown1540
 
1559unknown
 a French soldier who served in Scotland in the 1540s during the war of the Rough Wooing. He wrote...
Robert Burrantunknown1540
 
1559unknown
 an English translator. He authored works such as an edition of Sir David Lindsays Tragical Death ...
Joachim du Bellay1522 ca1547
 
 
15591560, Jan 1
 a French poet, critic, and a member of the Pléiade. In 1548 appeared the Art poétique of Thomas...
John Angelunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 a chaplain to King Philip and Queen Mary I, is said to have been a 'person of singular zeal and l...
Anthony Aschamunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 an English astrologer who wrote various treatises about astronomical and astrological matters. As...
William Bavandunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 an English writer. Bavand, having been educated at Oxford, became a student in the Middle Temple,...
Robert Brahamunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 an English editor. In 1555, he edited The Auncient Historic and onely trewe and syncere Cronicle ...
John Brettunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 a messenger for Mary I of England when she tried to have the Marian exiles returned to England. V...
John Gwynnethunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 a Welsh Catholic divine and musician. He was educated at Oxford. In due course he was ordained pr...
Tadhg O Cobhthaighunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 an Irish poet. Ó Cobhthaigh was a member of a hereditary bardic family based in what is now Coun...
Sabina Welserinunknown1550
 
 
1559unknown
 the author of a German cookbook, Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin, which she dated 1553 in her br...
Philip Melanchthon1497, Feb 161514
 
15601560, Apr 19
 a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protes...
Alan Balatineunknown1530
 
1560unknown
 a supposed historian mentioned by Edward Hall in the list of the English writers from whose works...
Michelangelo1475, Mar 61490
 
15641564, Feb 18
 an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted a...
Lewys Morgannwgunknown1520
 
1565unknown
 a Welsh language poet from Morgannwg, south Wales. He lived at St. Bride's Major Lewys was one of...
Suleiman I1494, Nov 61520
 
15661566, Sep 7
  the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan and Caliph (Sunni Islam) of the Ottoman Empire/Caliphate, ...
Michel de Nostradamus1503, Dec 141521
 
15661566, Jul 2
 a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since beco...
Philibert de l'Orme1514 ca1540
 
15671570, Jan 8
 a French architect, one of the great masters of the French Renaissance; also wrote two books on a...
Benvenuto Cellini1500, Nov 31519
 
15691571, Feb 13
 an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, draftsman, soldier, musician, and artist who also wrote a famous ...
Giorgio Vasari1511, Jul 301530
 
15691574, Jun 27
 an Italian painter, architect, writer and historian, most famous today for his Lives of the Most ...
Jeronimo de Vivarunknown1540
 
1569unknown
 a Spanish historian of the early conquest and settlement of the Kingdom of Chile, and author of C...
William Baldwinunknown1547
 
 
1569unknown
 an English author. From the West Country, England, Baldwin studied logic and philosophy at Oxford...
John Phillipunknown1550
 
 
1569unknown
 an English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan era. He is known for his play The Commodye of Pa...
John Barthletunknown1560
 
 
1569unknown
 an English theological writer. Barthlet was a minister of the Church of England, and held strongl...
Robert Fillsunknown1560
 
 
1569unknown
 an English-French translator who translated works from French into English. In 1562, Fills publis...
Goddred Gylbyunknown1560
 
 
1569unknown
 an English translator. These is very little that is known about his life. A son of Anthony Gilby,...
Thomas Harmanunknown1560
 
 
1569unknown
 A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, vulgarly called vagabonds was first published in 1566 b...
Abraham Hartwell the Elderunknown1560
 
 
1569unknown
 an English poet, who wrote in Latin. When Richard Shacklock published a translation of a letter w...
John Rollandunknown1560
 
 
1569unknown
 a Scottish poet who appears to have been a priest of the diocese of Glasgow, and to have been kno...
Aonghus Fionn O Dalaighunknown1520
 
1570unknown
 an Irish poet. Thought to have been born in County Meath, Aonghus Fionn was the head of the branc...
Arthur ap Huwunknown1555
 
 
1570unknown
 a clergyman, patron of Welsh poets, and a translator of religious literature into Welsh. He was a...
John Knox1513 ca1546
 
15721572, Nov 24
 a Scottish clergyman, theologian, and writer who was a leader of the Protestant Reformation and i...
Isabella Whitney1547 ca1567
 
 
1573unknown
 the earliest identified woman to have published secular poetry in the English language. She has b...
Donald Monrounknown1526
 
1574unknown
 a Scottish clergyman, who wrote an early and historically valuable description of the Hebrides an...
Jean Bullant15151537
 
15741578, Oct 13
 a French architect and sculptor who built the tombs of Anne de Montmorency, Grand Connétable of ...
Paulus Juusten1516/201563
 
 
15751575, Aug 22
 the first bishop of Viipuri, and later, bishop of Turku for the Lutheran Finish Church from 1563 ...
John Awdelyunknown1559
 
 
1577unknown
 an English printer in London, known as a writer of popular and miscellaneous works. Many of his p...
Edward Cradockunknown1570
 
 
1579unknown
 an English theologian and alchemist. In 1571 he published The Shippe of assured Safetie, wherein ...
Alonso de Contrerasunknown1580
 
 
1580unknown
 a Spanish sailor (captain of a frigate), soldier (captain of infantry and then of cavalry), priva...
George Buchanan1506, Feb1529
 
15821582, Sep 28
  a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the...
Jan Kochanowski15301559
 
 
15841584, Aug 22
 a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polis...
Donnchadh O Cobhthaighunknown1584
 
 
1584unknown
 an Irish poet. He was the author of a penitential composition, Acht mar uisge d'éis a leata ("Ju...
Mathghamhain O hIfearnainunknown1585
 
 
1585unknown
 early modern Irish poet, fl. 1585. Ó hIfearnáin was living in the Shronell district of County T...
Sir Philip Sidney1554, Nov 301572
 
 
15861586, Oct 17
 an English poet, courtier, scholar, and soldier, who is remembered as one of the most prominent f...
Muircheartach O Cobhthaighunknown1586
 
 
1586unknown
 an Irish poet. A member of the Ó Cobhthaigh clan of poets from County Westmeath. He is known as ...
John Bellendenunknown1533
 
1587unknown
 a Scottish writer of the 16th century. At the request of James V he translated Hector Boece's His...
Mary Stuart1542, Dec 81558
 
 
15871587, Feb 8
 reigned over Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. As Mary was an infant when she inher...
Christopher Boroughunknown1579
 
 
1587unknown
 an English adventurer, navigator and translator and the chronicler of one of the most interesting...
Francois Hotman1524, Aug 231542
 
15891590, Feb 12
 a French Protestant lawyer and writer, associated with the legal humanists and with the monarchom...
Thomas Brasbridge15471570
 
 
15891593
 an English divine and author. At Oxford he studied both divinity and medicine, and remained to te...
Jaques De Lavardinunknown1570
 
 
1589unknown
 a lord in Plessis-Bourrot, squire and noble of the king of France, known for the translation of t...
Thomas Barbarunknown1580
 
 
1589unknown
 an English divine. His name is attached to the ‘Book of Discipline,’ and he belonged to the p...
Thomas Bowesunknown1580
 
 
1589unknown
 an English translator. Bowes was educated at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1579–80...
Thomas D'Oylyunknown1580
 
 
1589unknown
 an English antiquary. He became a member of the Society of Antiquaries. Two of his contributions ...
Bertrand de Loqueunknown1580
 
 
15891600+
 a Protestant minister, said to be the same person as François de Saillans, who was born in Valen...
George Etherege [2]unknown1580
 
 
1589unknown
 an English classical scholar and physician. He lived with his family in ‘an ancient decayed pal...
Diarmait O Cobhthaighunknown1580
 
 
1589unknown
 a member of a hereditary bardic family, based in what is now County Westmeath but was once the he...
Morus Dwyfechunknown1520
 
1590unknown
 a Welsh-language poet. There is very little information available concerning the details of his l...
Pilip Ballach O Duibhgeannainunknown1579
 
 
1590unknown
 an Irish historian. A member of the Clan Ó Duibhgeannáin and a hereditary historian, Pilip was ...
Pasquillunknown1589
 
 
1590unknown
 the pseudonym adopted by a defender of the Anglican hierarchy in an English political and theolog...
William Webbeunknown1568
 
 
1591unknown
 an English critic and translator. Little is known about him except that he attended Trinity Colle...
Christopher Carleill1551 ca1573
 
15931593
 an English military and naval commander. In 1588, he was appointed constable of Carrickfergus, Co...
Christopher Marlowe1564, Feb1587
 
15931593, May 30
 an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe was the foremost Eliza...
Thomas Kyd1558, Nov1580
 
15941594, Aug
 an English playwright, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important fi...
Thomas Edwards [1]unknown1587
 
15951595
 writer, poet
Edmund Spenser1552/531578
 
15961599, Jan 13
 an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory ce...
Thomas Hudsonunknown1580
 
15991605 ca
 a musician and poet from the north of England present at the Scottish court of King James VI at t...
Thomas Nashe15671588
 
15991601 ca
 considered the greatest of the English Elizabethan pamphleteers, also a playwright, poet, and sat...
Philip Barrowunknown1590
 
1599unknown
 an English medical writer. Barrow was the son of John Barrow, of Suffolk. He obtained from the un...
Anthony Chuteunknown1590
 
15991595
 an Elizabethan poet and pamphleteer. Very little is known about him. In 1593, Chute published Bea...
William Clerkeunknown1590
 
1599unknown
 an English writer. Clerke matriculated as a sizar of Trinity College, Cambridge, in June 1575, be...
Robert Gwinunknown1590
 
1599unknown
 a Welsh Roman Catholic priest and author. Gwin, who appears to have been alive in 1591, wrote sev...
Simon Kellwayeunknown1590
 
1599unknown
 Wrote Defense Against The Plague in 1593
Giordano Bruno1548, Jan 11572
 
16001600, Feb 17
 an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, poet, and cosmological theorist. He is re...
Richard Stanihurst15471582
 
16021618
 an Irish alchemist, translator, poet and historian, born in Dublin. Richard was sent to Peter Whi...
Queen Elizabeth I1533, Sep 71558
 
16031603, Mar 24
 Queen of England and Ireland (and Supreme Governor of the Church of England ) from 17 November 15...
Edward Hakeunknown1570
 
1604unknown
 an English satirist, educated under John Hopkins, known for being the part-author of the metrica...
John Dee1527, Jul 131546
 
16051609 ca
 an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher, imperialist, and adviser to...
Sir Geoffrey Fenton1539 ca1567
 
16081608, Oct 19
 an English writer, Privy Councillor, and Principal Secretary of State in Ireland. Geoffrey is sai...
Nicholas Fauntunknown1572
 
1608unknown
 an English clerk of the signet, agent of the Crown, and politician. Early in 1581 he spent three ...
Al-Masfiwiunknown1570
 
1609unknown
 a poet in the time of Ahmad al-Mansur. The surviving poetry of al-Masfiwi can be found in Manahil...
William Phistonunknown1571
 
1609unknown
 an English translator and author. He describes himself as "a student of London", and had some lea...
Thomas Faleunknown1590
 
1609unknown
 an English mathematician. His only known publication is Horologiographia. (1593). It is dedicated...
Anthony Shirley15651590
 
16091637
 an English traveller, whose imprisonment in 1603 by King James I caused the English House of Comm...
Thomas Bell15511573
 
1610unknown
 an English Roman Catholic priest, and later an anti-Catholic writer. He was mentioned in 1592 as ...
William Fowler1560 ca1581
 
16121612
 a Scottish poet, writer, courtier, and translator. Fowler was part of a literary circle around Ki...
Richard Hakluyt15531583
 
16121616, Nov 23
 an English writer. He is known for promoting the British colonisation of North America by the Eng...
William Shakespeare1564 ca1585
 
16131616
 an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English lan...
Vincenzo Scamozzi1548, Sep 21568
 
16141616, Aug 7
 an Italian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venic...
Mary Sidney1561, Oct 271575
 
16151621, Sep 25
 one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her poetry and literary patronag...
Miguel de Cervantes1547, Sep 291569
 
16161616, Apr 22
 a Spanish writer who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of...
Franz Schmidt15551573
 
16171634
 an executioner in Hof from 1573 to April 1578, and from 1 May 1578 till the end of 1617 execution...
Sir Walter Raleigh1554 ca1569
 
16181618, Oct 29
 an English landed gentleman, writer, poet, soldier, politician, courtier, spy, and explorer. He i...
Thomas Harriot1560 ca1580
 
16211621, Jul 2
 an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. He is sometimes credited with...
Pedro Paez15641589
 
16221622, May 25
 a Spanish Jesuit missionary in Ethiopia. Páez is considered by many experts on Ethiopia to be th...
John Brinsley the Elderunknown1581
 
1624unknown
 an English schoolmaster, known for his educational works. His best-known work is Ludus Literarius...
Ericus Erici Sorolainen15461583
 
16251625
  a Finnish Lutheran bishop, a Bishop of Turku from 1583 to 1625 as the successor to Paulus Juuste...
Francis Bacon1561, Jan 221579
 
16261626, Apr 9
 an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist and author. He served both...
George Silverunknown1550
 
1629unknown
 a gentleman of England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, who is known for his writin...
Johannes Buxtorf1564, Dec 251589
 
16291629, Sep 13
 a celebrated Hebraist, member of a family of Orientalists; professor of Hebrew for thirty-nine ye...
Oliver Almondunknown1590
 
1629unknown
 a Roman Catholic priest and writer, born in the diocese of Oxford. He is believed by Foley to hav...
Thomas Beardunknown1590
 
16291632
 an English clergyman and theologian, of Puritan views. He is known as the author of The Theatre o...
Randle Cotgraveunknown1590
 
16321634
 an English lexicographer who in 1611 compiled and published A Dictionarie of the French and En...
Henry Wotton1568, Mar 301588
 
16331639, Dec
 an English author, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1614 and 1625. Of 2...
Galileo Galilei1564, Feb 151581
 
16381642, Jan 8
 an Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician who played a major rol...
Charles de Valois1573, Apr 281589
 
16431650, Sep 24
 a French royal bastard, count of Auvergne, duke of Angoulême, and memoirist. Charles de Valois w...
Anthony Knivetunknown1591
 
1649unknown
 an English sailor who fell into Portuguese hands in Brazil, lived for a while with a native Brazi...
Anthony Jenkinson15291550
 
 
1661610/1611
 one of the first Britons to explore Muscovy and present day Russia. Jenkinson was a traveller and...
George Hartgillunknown1590
 
 
168unknown
 an English astronomer. Hartgill was in considerable repute during Elizabeth I's reign, from his k...
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