Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Arts & Music

9

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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Italy

6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564 (88 years old)

Titan of the High Renaissance revered as 'Il Divino', whose colossal masterpieces—the marble David, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, The Last Judgment, and the dome of St. Peter's Basilica—define the pinnacle of Western art.

Rome, Italy

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Religious Figures & Theologians

3

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Menno Simons

Menno Simons

Lordship of Friesland

c. 1496 – 1561 (65 years old)

Former Catholic priest who revitalized and unified the peaceful Anabaptist movement, teaching adult believer's baptism, radical non-violence, and giving his name to the Mennonites.

Bad Oldesloe, Germany

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

5

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Gustav I of Sweden (Gustav Vasa)

Gustav I (Gustav Eriksson Vasa)

Kalmar Union (Sweden)

1496 – 1560 (64 years old)

Founding father of modern Sweden who led the War of Liberation against Danish rule, introduced the Protestant Reformation, and created hereditary kingship.

Uppsala, Sweden

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Religious Figures & Theologians

6

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Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon

Palatinate

1497 – 1560 (63 years old)

Intellectual partner of Martin Luther, author of the historic 'Augsburg Confession' (1530), and systematic theologian whose 'Loci Communes' grounded Protestant dogma.

Wittenberg, Germany

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Literature & Poetry

5

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Joachim du Bellay

Joachim du Bellay

Kingdom of France

c. 1522 – 1560 (38 years old)

French Renaissance poet and Pléiade theorist whose manifesto Défense et illustration and elegiac sonnets Les Regrets defined modern French poetic identity.

Paris, France

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

5

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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Carlos I of Spain)

Carlos I de España y V del Sacro Imperio

Habsburg Netherlands (Belgium)

1500 – 1558 (58 years old)

Ruler of the Habsburg Empire on which 'the sun never set', sovereign of Spain, the Low Countries, and the Holy Roman Empire.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain

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Resistance & Human Rights

3

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Caupolican

Kallpolikan (Flint Polisher)

Chile

c. 1515 – c. 1558 (43 years old)

Legendary Mapuche supreme war chief (Toqui) celebrated in Alonso de Ercilla's epic 'La Araucana', who won leadership by carrying a colossal tree trunk on his shoulders for two days and two nights, leading the Mapuche in epic resistance against Spanish conquest.

Santiago, Chile

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Resistance & Human Rights

5

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Galvarino

Kalwarin

Wallmapu (Chile)

c. 1520 – 1557 (37 years old)

Fabled Mapuche warrior whose hands were both amputated by Spanish governor Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza to terrorize his people; returning to the Mapuche council, Galvarino strapped steel blades to his severed wrists to lead the frontline charge at the Battle of Millarapue.

Coronel (Biobio), Chile

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Resistance & Human Rights

3

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Lautaro

Leftraru (Swift Hawk)

Wallmapu (Chile)

c. 1534 – 1557 (23 years old)

Genius Mapuche military commander (Toqui) who escaped Spanish captivity as Pedro de Valdivia's page, studied Spanish cavalry tactics, and returned to lead the Mapuche in destroying Spanish colonial forces, celebrated as the greatest indigenous strategist of South America.

Concepcion, Chile

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Religious Figures & Theologians

5

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Íñigo López de Loyola

Íñigo López de Loyola

Crown of Castile

1491 – 1556 (64 years old)

Spanish Basque knight, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and author of the 'Spiritual Exercises' who transformed global Catholic mission, education, and spirituality.

Rome, Italy

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Religious Figures & Theologians

4

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Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer

Kingdom of England

1489 – 1556 (66 years old)

Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI, chief architect of the English Reformation, and compiler of the immortal 'Book of Common Prayer'.

Oxford, United Kingdom

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Arts & Music

3,787

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Lucas Cranach the Elder

Lucas Maler / Lucas Cranach der Ältere

Germany

1472 – 1553 (81 years old)

Leading German Renaissance master and official artist of the Protestant Reformation, close ally of Martin Luther.

Weimar, Germany

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Literature & Poetry

8

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François Rabelais (Alcofribas Nasier)

François Rabelais

France

c. 1494 – 9 April 1553 (~59 years old)

French Renaissance giant, physician, and humanist whose colossal satirical novels Gargantua and Pantagruel revolutionized world prose with boundless comedic exuberance, grotesque body humor, and the utopian humanist creed 'Do as thou wilt'.

Paris, France

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Religious Figures & Theologians

4

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Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta

Francisco de Javier

🌐 Kingdom of Navarre

1506 – 1552 (46 years old)

Navarrese co-founder of the Jesuits and supreme missionary of the early modern era who baptized tens of thousands across India, the Moluccas, and Japan.

Old Goa, India

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

8

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Guru Angad Dev Ji (Second Sikh Guru & Master of Gurmukhi)

ਗੁਰੂ ਅੰਗਦ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ

India

1504 – 1552 (47 years old)

Originally named Bhai Lehna, Guru Angad became the second Sikh Guru after proving selfless devotion to Guru Nanak; he standardized and popularized the Gurmukhi script, opening education, scripture, and physical fitness to all castes.

Khadur Sahib, India

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Religious Figures & Theologians

3

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Martin Bucer

Martin Butzer

France

1491 – 1551 (59 years old)

Pioneering Protestant reformer of Strasbourg whose tireless ecumenical diplomacy sought to reconcile Luther and Zwingli and who shaped the English Reformation under Edward VI.

Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Humanitarian & Peace

14

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Saint John of God

João Cidade de Deus

Portugal

1495 – 1550 (55 years old)

Fondateur portugais de l'Ordre des Frères Hospitaliers de Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, révolutionnaire des soins hospitaliers et du traitement digne des malades mentaux.

Granada, Spain

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

3

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Queen Idia

Idia (First Iyoba of Benin)

Benin Empire

c. 1475 CE – c. 1550 CE (75 years old)

Celebrated warrior queen and spiritual strategist of the Benin Empire, the first Iyoba (Queen Mother), immortalized worldwide by the famous 16th-century ivory pendant mask chosen as the symbol of FESTAC 77.

Benin City (Edo State), Nigeria

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