Historical figures of the Renaissance
The atlas holds 45 people and 720 moments here, from 1300 to 1600. The most recorded lives are Petrarch, Albrecht Dürer and Elizabeth I. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Philosophers.
Notable people
Leonardo da Vinci
from 1452 to 1519
27 moments here
Italian Renaissance painter, draftsman, engineer, architect, anatomist, and natural philosopher.…
Lope de Vega
from 1562 to 1599
12 moments here
Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist of the Spanish Golden Age. Born and died in Madrid, Lope de Vega studied in Madrid and Alcalá, served in naval…
Marco Polo
in 1324
2 moments here
Venetian merchant, traveler, and author whose account describes journeys across Asia between 1271 and 1295.…
Martin Luther
from 1483 to 1546
29 moments here
German Augustinian friar, priest, theologian, professor, translator, and leading figure of the Protestant Reformation.…
Michelangelo
from 1475 to 1564
29 moments here
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet.…
Michel de Montaigne
from 1533 to 1592
31 moments here
French Renaissance writer, magistrate, diplomat, and two-term mayor of Bordeaux, best known for the Essais.…
Miguel de Cervantes
from 1547 to 1597
17 moments here
Spanish novelist, playwright, poet, soldier, purchasing agent and tax collector, best known for Don Quixote.…
Mimar Sinan
from 1521 to 1538
6 moments here
Mimar Sinan was the Ottoman Empire’s chief architect and a military engineer under Süleyman I, Selim II, and Murad III.…
Niccolò Machiavelli
from 1469 to 1527
32 moments here
Florentine diplomat, civil servant, political theorist, playwright, and historian of the Italian Renaissance.…
Nicolaus Copernicus
from 1473 to 1543
15 moments here
Renaissance astronomer, canon, physician, administrator, and economist whose heliocentric model placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the…
Peter Paul Rubens
from 1577 to 1600
5 moments here
Flemish Baroque painter, designer, humanist, collector, and diplomat. Rubens was born at Siegen, spent formative years in Cologne and Antwerp, worked…
Petrarch
from 1304 to 1374
38 moments here
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) was an Italian scholar, poet, cleric, diplomat, and foundational humanist.…
Pope Paul III
from 1468 to 1549
19 moments here
Alessandro Farnese, Pope Paul III, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1534 until 1549.…
Raphael
from 1483 to 1520
14 moments here
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raphael, was an Italian High Renaissance painter and architect.…
René Descartes
in 1596
2 moments here
French philosopher, mathematician, and natural philosopher whose methodic doubt, mind-body distinction, analytic techniques, and mechanical account…
Suleiman the Magnificent
from 1521 to 1566
13 moments here
Ottoman sultan from 1520 to 1566, known in Ottoman tradition as Kanuni, the Lawgiver. Born at Trabzon and educated for dynastic rule, Suleiman…
Thomas Hobbes
in 1588
1 moment here
English philosopher and political theorist, best known for Leviathan (1651). Hobbes’s documented movements include study at Oxford, European travel…
Thomas More
from 1478 to 1535
22 moments here
English lawyer, humanist author, royal councillor, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Lord Chancellor under…
Timur
in 1395
1 moment here
Timur, also known as Tamerlane, was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and founder of the Timurid Empire.…
Vasco da Gama
from 1460 to 1503
8 moments here
Portuguese mariner, explorer and nobleman whose voyages connected Portugal and India by sea around southern Africa.…
William Shakespeare
from 1564 to 1599
8 moments here
English playwright, poet, actor, and theatrical shareholder. Surviving records place Shakespeare principally in Stratford-upon-Avon and London, with…
Moments
- 1348 Black Death in Florence Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1348 At Parma during the plague Petrarch
- 1349 Detours to Sardinia Ibn Battuta
- 1349 Canonry possession at Padua Petrarch
- 1350 First meeting with Petrarch near Florence Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1350 Mission to Ravenna for Dante’s daughter Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1350 Lands at Gibraltar Ibn Battuta
- 1350 Passes through Marbella Ibn Battuta
- 1350 Reaches Málaga Ibn Battuta
- 1350 Shelters at Sohail Castle Ibn Battuta
- 1350 Stays in Ronda Ibn Battuta
- 1350 Visits Granada Ibn Battuta
- 1350 Jubilee visit to Rome Petrarch
- 1351 Mission and meeting with Petrarch Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1351 Return to Vaucluse Petrarch
- 1351 Embassy to Ludwig of Bavaria Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1353 Peace embassy to Venice Petrarch
- 1353 Settlement in Milan Petrarch
- 1354 Papal embassy to Avignon Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1354 Meeting Charles IV at Mantua Petrarch
- 1355 Return to Naples Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1355 Visit to Montecassino Abbey Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1356 Diplomatic mission at Basel Petrarch
- 1356 Embassy at Prague Petrarch
- 1359 English campaign in France Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1359 Embassy to Bernabò Visconti’s court Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1360 Captured at the siege of Reims Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1361 Return visit to Ravenna Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1361 Withdrawal to Certaldo Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1361 Oration before the French king Petrarch
- 1362 Second disappointing stay in Naples Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1362 Residence at Palazzo Molina Petrarch
- 1362 Arrival in Nasrid Granada Ibn Khaldun
- 1363 Naples visit during spiritual crisis Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1363 Visit to Petrarch in Venice Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1363 Proceeding to Certaldo Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1364 Diplomatic visit to Seville Ibn Khaldun
- 1365 Embassy to Urban V at Avignon Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1365 Residence at Pavia Petrarch
- 1367 Embassy to the papal court in Rome Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1367 Venice visit Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1368 Final meeting with Petrarch Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1368 Meeting the emperor at Udine Petrarch
- 1369 Campaigning in France Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1370 Military expedition to Picardy Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1370 Illness at Ferrara Petrarch
- 1372 Final diplomatic speech in Venice Petrarch
- 1373 Diplomatic visit to Florence Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1373 Diplomatic visit to Genoa Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1373 Return to Arquà Petrarch