Historical figures of the Renaissance
The atlas holds 42 people and 670 moments here, from 1300 to 1600. The most recorded lives are François Rabelais, Galileo Galilei and Ibn Battuta. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Philosophers.
Notable people
François Rabelais
from 1520 to 1553
11 moments here
French Renaissance writer, physician, humanist, and Catholic priest. His birth date is disputed, with scholarship placing it between 1483 and 1494;…
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…
Ibn Battuta
from 1333 to 1350
10 moments here
Maghrebi Muslim jurist, traveller, explorer, and author from Tangier. Between 1325 and 1354 he journeyed through North and East Africa, the Middle…
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…
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…
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.…
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.…
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.…
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…
Ferdinand Magellan
from 1517 to 1519
3 moments here
Portuguese navigator and naval officer who served Portugal in the Indian Ocean, Malacca, and Morocco before relocating to Spain in 1517.…
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…
René Descartes
in 1596
2 moments here
French philosopher, mathematician, and natural philosopher whose methodic doubt, mind-body distinction, analytic techniques, and mechanical account…
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.…
Diego Velázquez
in 1599
1 moment here
Spanish Baroque painter and court artist to Philip IV of Spain. Born in Seville, he trained there before establishing his long-term home and career…
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…
Timur
in 1395
1 moment here
Timur, also known as Tamerlane, was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and founder of the Timurid Empire.…
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