Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

Chrétien de Troyes

County of Champagne, France

c. 1160 – c. 1191 (31 years old)

Great French medieval trouvère and poet who originated the Arthurian courtly romance, inventing the Holy Grail quest and the tragic romance of Lancelot and Guinevere.

Troyes, France

3 Full Record →

4

Military Leaders & Strategists

Henry II of England

Henry Plantagenet

Kingdom of France

1133 – 1189 (56 years old)

First Plantagenet King of England who established the English Common Law, the jury system, and the vast Angevin Empire.

Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, Anjou, France

4 Full Record →

Minamoto no Yoshitsune

源義経

Japan

1 – 1189 (30 years old)

Brilliant samurai commander of the Genpei War who led the Minamoto clan to total victory over the Taira at Ichi-no-Tani, Yashima, and Dan-no-ura.

Hiraizumi (Iwate), Japan

3 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

5

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

Ibn Tufail

أبو بكر محمد بن عبد الملك بن طفيل القيسي الأندلسي

Almoravid Empire

c. 1105 CE – c. 1185 CE (80 years old)

Andalusian Muslim philosopher and physician who authored the philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (The Self-Taught Philosopher), which inspired John Locke's tabula rasa and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.

Marrakesh, Morocco

5 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

10

🕯️ 870

Bhaskara II (Bhaskaracharya)

भास्कराचार्य

India

1114 CE – 1185 CE (71 years old)

Preeminent medieval Indian mathematician who authored the Siddhanta Shiromani and Lilavati, solving Pell's equation (Chakravala method) and discovering differential calculus principles.

Chalisgaon (Maharashtra), India

10 Full Record →

Abu Yaqub Yusuf

أبو يعقوب يوسف بن عبد المؤمن

🌐 Morroco

1135 – 1184 (49 years old)

Second Almohad Caliph, distinguished philosopher-monarch who commissioned the Giralda in Seville, assembled the greatest imperial library in the Mediterranean, and personally sponsored philosopher Averroes.

Tinmel (High Atlas), Morocco

3 Full Record →

Ahmad ibn Ali al-Rifa'i

أحمد بن علي الرفاعي

Irak

c. 1118 – 1182 (64 years old)

Venerated Iraqi Sufi master, jurist, and founder of the Rifa'iyya order who taught radical humility, service to animals and the afflicted, and legendary devotion to the Prophet.

Wasit, Iraq

3 Full Record →

Arts & Music

12

🕯️ 960

Saint Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen

Germany

1098 CE – 17 September 1179 (~81 years old)

Benedictine abbess, mystic, polymath, and composer whose luminous liturgical chants in Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum and allegorical morality play Ordo Virtutum mark the summit of medieval sacred music.

Bingen am Rhein, Germany

12 Full Record →

Hildegard of Bingen (Sibyl of the Rhine)

Military Leaders & Strategists

15

🕯️ 860

Hildegard of Bingen (Sibyl of the Rhine)

Hildegard von Bingen

Germany

c. 1098 CE – 17 September 1179 (~81 years old)

Twelfth-century visionary abbess, composer, naturalist, and Doctor of the Church. Authored Scivias detailing luminous cosmic revelations, composed transcendent liturgical music, and articulated the theology of Viriditas (divine greening power).

Bingen am Rhein, Germany

15 Full Record →

Nur ad-Din Zengi

الملك العادل نور الدين محمود زنكي

🌐 Zengid Dynasty

1118 – 1174 (56 years old)

Zengid ruler of Syria celebrated as 'The Just King' (al-Malik al-Adil) who united Damascus and Aleppo, defeated the Second Crusade, and commissioned the famous minbar built for the liberation of Jerusalem.

Damascus, Syria

3 Full Record →

Acharya Hemachandra

हेमचन्द्र

Solanki Dynasty

1088 – 1172 (84 years old)

Jain polymath, grammarian, and royal counselor who converted King Kumarapala of Gujarat, establishing animal protection laws and authoring encyclopedic works on grammar and philosophy.

Patan (Gujarat), India

3 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

Wang Chongyang

王重陽

Northern Song Dynasty

1113 – 1170 (57 years old)

Founder of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism who synthesized Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism and trained the legendary 'Seven Immortals of the North'.

Huyi (Xi'an), China

3 Full Record →

Shirkuh

أسد الدين شيركوه بن شاذي

Seljuk Empire

c. 1110 CE – 1169 (59 years old)

Kurdish general in the service of Nur ad-Din Zengi known as 'Lion of the Mountains', who led three military expeditions to conquer Egypt, paving the way for the Ayyubid Dynasty.

Cairo, Egypt

3 Full Record →

Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra

אברהם אבן עזרא

Taifa of Zaragoza

1089 – 1167 (78 years old)

Brilliant Andalusian polymath, poet, astronomer, and biblical commentator whose critical grammatical methodology shaped medieval Torah interpretation.

Calahorra, Spain

3 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

4

Basava

ಬಸವಣ್ಣ

🌐 Chalukya Empire

c. 1105 – c. 1167 (62 years old)

12th-century Kannada philosopher, statesman, and social reformer who rejected caste and gender discrimination, established the Anubhava Mantapa spiritual parliament, and pioneered the democratic 'Vachana' poetic philosophy.

Kudalasangama (Karnataka), India

4 Full Record →