Political Leaders of the Renaissance
The atlas holds 17 people and 238 moments here, from 1300 to 1600. The most recorded lives are Niccolò Machiavelli, Michel de Montaigne and Leonardo da Vinci.
Notable people
Niccolò Machiavelli
from 1469 to 1527
32 moments here
Florentine diplomat, civil servant, political theorist, playwright, and historian of the Italian Renaissance.…
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.…
Leonardo da Vinci
from 1452 to 1519
27 moments here
Italian Renaissance painter, draftsman, engineer, architect, anatomist, and natural philosopher.…
Giovanni Boccaccio
from 1313 to 1375
26 moments here
Italian writer, poet, and humanist, best known for the Decameron. His documented life moved between Florence, Naples, Romagna, papal Avignon and…
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…
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…
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…
Jacques Cartier
from 1491 to 1557
8 moments here
French navigator and explorer from Saint-Malo whose three Atlantic voyages of 1534, 1535–1536, and 1541–1542 surveyed the Gulf and River of Saint…
Francis Bacon
from 1561 to 1600
6 moments here
English philosopher, lawyer, statesman, Attorney General, and Lord Chancellor under James I.…
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…
Hernán Cortés
from 1485 to 1547
3 moments here
Spanish conquistador, commander, explorer, governor, and writer whose 1519–1521 campaign against the Aztec Empire helped establish Spanish rule in…
Marco Polo
in 1324
2 moments here
Venetian merchant, traveler, and author whose account describes journeys across Asia between 1271 and 1295.…
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
- 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
- 1313 Birth at Certaldo Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1314 Possible later return to Lucca Dante Alighieri
- 1319 Settled at Guido Novello's court in Ravenna Dante Alighieri
- 1321 Undertook an embassy to Venice Dante Alighieri
- 1321 Died in Ravenna Dante Alighieri
- 1321 Returned ill to Ravenna Dante Alighieri
- 1324 Buried at San Lorenzo Marco Polo
- 1324 Dies in Venice Marco Polo
- 1326 Move with family to Naples Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1341 Return to Florence Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1345 Residence at Ostasio da Polenta’s court Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1347 Guest of Francesco Ordelaffi Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1348 Black Death in Florence Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1350 First meeting with Petrarch near Florence Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1350 Mission to Ravenna for Dante’s daughter Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1351 Mission and meeting with Petrarch Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1351 Embassy to Ludwig of Bavaria Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1354 Papal embassy to Avignon Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1355 Return to Naples Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1355 Visit to Montecassino Abbey Giovanni Boccaccio
- 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
- 1362 Second disappointing stay in Naples Giovanni Boccaccio
- 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
- 1367 Embassy to the papal court in Rome Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1367 Venice visit Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1368 Final meeting with Petrarch Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1369 Campaigning in France Geoffrey Chaucer