Philosophers of the Renaissance
The atlas holds 16 people and 289 moments here, from 1300 to 1600. The most recorded lives are Petrarch, Niccolò Machiavelli and Giordano Bruno.
Notable people
Petrarch
from 1304 to 1374
38 moments here
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) was an Italian scholar, poet, cleric, diplomat, and foundational humanist.…
Niccolò Machiavelli
from 1469 to 1527
32 moments here
Florentine diplomat, civil servant, political theorist, playwright, and historian of the Italian Renaissance.…
Giordano Bruno
from 1548 to 1600
31 moments here
Italian Renaissance philosopher, Dominican friar, writer, and cosmological theorist. Born at Nola, Bruno studied and lived in Italy, Switzerland,…
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.…
Martin Luther
from 1483 to 1546
29 moments here
German Augustinian friar, priest, theologian, professor, translator, and leading figure of the Protestant Reformation.…
Desiderius Erasmus
from 1466 to 1536
27 moments here
Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, theologian, editor, and author. Erasmus was born in the Burgundian Netherlands, educated in the Low…
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…
Dante Alighieri
from 1300 to 1321
19 moments here
Florentine poet, prose writer, philosopher, and statesman whose Divine Comedy became a foundational work of Italian and European literature.…
Geoffrey Chaucer
from 1359 to 1400
16 moments here
English poet, courtier, diplomat, and civil servant, best known for The Canterbury Tales. His documented career included military service in France,…
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…
Galileo Galilei
from 1564 to 1592
10 moments here
Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, mathematician, and natural philosopher. Born in Pisa, Galileo was educated in Tuscany, taught mathematics at…
Johannes Kepler
from 1571 to 1600
8 moments here
German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher, and music theorist. Kepler’s documented life moved from Württemberg schooling…
Francis Bacon
from 1561 to 1600
6 moments here
English philosopher, lawyer, statesman, Attorney General, and Lord Chancellor under James I.…
René Descartes
in 1596
2 moments here
French philosopher, mathematician, and natural philosopher whose methodic doubt, mind-body distinction, analytic techniques, and mechanical account…
Ibn Khaldun
from 1362 to 1364
2 moments here
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was a Tunis-born historian, jurist, political official, teacher, and author of the Muqaddimah.…
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…
Moments
- 1300 Observed Jubilee crowds in Rome Dante Alighieri
- 1300 Embassy to San Gimignano Dante Alighieri
- 1300 Resided in the Palazzo della Signoria as prior Dante Alighieri
- 1301 Joined the embassy to Pope Boniface VIII Dante Alighieri
- 1302 Received news of exile in Siena Dante Alighieri
- 1302 Met fellow exiles at San Godenzo Dante Alighieri
- 1303 Guest of Bartolomeo della Scala in Verona Dante Alighieri
- 1303 Served with Scarpetta Ordelaffi in Forlì Dante Alighieri
- 1304 Birth at Arezzo Petrarch
- 1305 Childhood at Incisa Petrarch
- 1306 Concluded the Peace of Castelnuovo Dante Alighieri
- 1306 Received Malaspina authority in Sarzana Dante Alighieri
- 1307 Stayed with the Guidi in Casentino Dante Alighieri
- 1308 Stayed in Lucca Dante Alighieri
- 1311 Documented at Poppi Castle Dante Alighieri
- 1312 Returned to Verona under Cangrande Dante Alighieri
- 1312 Childhood at Pisa Petrarch
- 1312 Schooling at Carpentras Petrarch
- 1314 Possible later return to Lucca Dante Alighieri
- 1316 Law studies at Montpellier Petrarch
- 1319 Settled at Guido Novello's court in Ravenna Dante Alighieri
- 1320 Arrival for studies at Bologna Petrarch
- 1321 Journey through Venice Petrarch
- 1321 Undertook an embassy to Venice Dante Alighieri
- 1321 Died in Ravenna Dante Alighieri
- 1321 Returned ill to Ravenna Dante Alighieri
- 1322 Return to Bologna Petrarch
- 1326 Return to Avignon Petrarch
- 1330 Service at Lombez Petrarch
- 1333 Manuscript discovery at Liège Petrarch
- 1333 Visit to Cologne Petrarch
- 1333 Visit to Ghent Petrarch
- 1333 Visit to Paris Petrarch
- 1336 Ascent of Mont Ventoux Petrarch
- 1337 First Roman visit Petrarch
- 1337 Move to Vaucluse Petrarch
- 1341 Residence at Parma after coronation Petrarch
- 1341 Visit to Naples before coronation Petrarch
- 1341 Poet laureate at Rome Petrarch
- 1345 Stay at Verona Petrarch
- 1348 At Parma during the plague Petrarch
- 1349 Canonry possession at Padua Petrarch
- 1350 Jubilee visit to Rome Petrarch
- 1351 Return to Vaucluse Petrarch
- 1353 Peace embassy to Venice Petrarch
- 1353 Settlement in Milan Petrarch
- 1354 Meeting Charles IV at Mantua Petrarch
- 1356 Diplomatic mission at Basel Petrarch
- 1356 Embassy at Prague Petrarch
- 1359 English campaign in France Geoffrey Chaucer