Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

42

🕯️ 1,370

Sejong the Great (King of Joseon Korea)

세종대왕 (世宗大王)

South Korea

15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450 (52 years old)

Fourth King of the Joseon Dynasty revered as Korea's greatest monarch. Personally invented the Hangul phonetic alphabet in 1443 so common citizens could read and write, and sponsored world-pioneering rain gauges, celestial globes, and sundials.

Hanseong (Seoul), South Korea

42 Full Record →

Religion

5

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Abu al-Qasim al-Zaytuni

أبو القاسم الزيتوني

Tunisia

c. 1380 AD – 1450 AD (~70 years old)

Pillar of 15th-century scholarship at the Ez-Zitouna Mosque University in Tunis, master of the variant Quranic recitations and trusted legal consultant to Hafsid Sultan Abu Amr Uthman.

Tunis, Tunisia

5 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

42

🕯️ 880

Ulugh Beg (Mirza Muhammad Taraghay)

میرزا محمد طارق الغ‌بیگ

Iran

22 March 1394 – 27 October 1449 (55 years old)

Timurid ruler and astronomer who constructed the colossal Samarkand Observatory with its 40-meter meridian sextant, producing the Zij-i Sultani star catalog of 1,018 stars.

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

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Religious Figures & Theologians

37

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Ahmad ibn Ali Ibn Hajar

ابن حجر العسقلاني

Egypt

1372 – 1449 (76 years old)

Supreme Hadith scholar of late medieval Islam, Chief Shafi'i Judge of Egypt, and author of 'Fath al-Bari', the peerless commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari.

Cairo, Egypt

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Arts & Music

43

🕯️ 985

Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

Italy

1377 – 15 April 1446 (~69 years old)

Florentine architectural genius who engineered the majestic dome of Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore) without scaffolding and mathematically discovered the principles of linear perspective.

Florence, Italy

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Arts & Music

40

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Robert Campin

Robert Campin

France

c. 1375 – 1444 (69 years old)

First great master of Early Netherlandish painting alongside Van Eyck, whose 'Mérode Altarpiece' brought sacred events into realistic contemporary domestic interiors.

Tournai, Belgium

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Religious Figures & Theologians

36

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Joseph Albo

יוסף אלבו

Spain

c. 1380 – c. 1444 (64 years old)

Aragonese Jewish philosopher and apologist whose 'Book of Principles' (Sefer Ha-Ikkarim) distilled Jewish dogmatic theology into three essential fundamentals.

Soria, Spain

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Philosophy & Thought

31

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Zeami Motokiyo

世阿弥 元清

Japan

c. 1363 – c. 1443 (80 years old)

Greatest playwright and aesthetic philosopher in Japanese history, who transformed Noh theatre into a supreme Zen art form and authored 'Fushikaden' (The Flowering Spirit), articulating the aesthetic concepts of Yugen (subtle grace) and Monomane.

Sado Island (Niigata), Japan

31 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

32

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Al-Maqrizi

تقي الدين المقريزي

Egypt

1364 – 1442 (78 years old)

Preeminent Egyptian Mamluk historian, topographer, and economic theorist whose 'Al-Khitat' provided the definitive architectural and urban history of Cairo and whose 'Ighathat al-Umma' analyzed economic inflation.

Cairo, Egypt

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Arts & Music

39

🕯️ 960

Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck

Belgium

c. 1390 – 9 July 1441 (~51 years old)

Greatest master of Early Netherlandish painting who perfected the oil painting technique, celebrated worldwide for the Ghent Altarpiece and the Arnolfini Portrait with its astonishing microscopic realism.

Bruges, Belgium

39 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

40

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Mohamed ibn Omar al-Houari

محمد بن عمر الهواري

Algeria

c. 1350 – 1439 (89 years old)

Venerated Algerian Islamic scholar, ascetic, and saint from the Houara Berber tribe who taught in Tlemcen and Fez before settling in Oran, becoming the eternal patron saint of the city.

Oran (Old Town), Algeria

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Religious Figures & Theologians

16

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Al-Burzuli

أبو القاسم البرزلي

Tunisia

c. 1360 – 1438 (~78 years old)

15th-century Grand Mufti of Tunis and pupil of Ibn Arafa whose massive legal compendium Jami' Masa'il al-Ahkam compiled centuries of North African and Andalusian fatwas.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Politics

5

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Abu Faris Abd al-Aziz al-Mutawakkil

أبو فارس عبد العزيز المتوكل

Tunisia

1361 AD – 1434 AD (73 years old)

Long-reigning Hafsid Sultan (1394–1434 AD) whose forty-year reign represents the golden zenith of Hafsid civilization, builder of the grand Bimaristan hospital and medersas of Tunis.

Tunis, Tunisia

5 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

12

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Abu Firas Abd al-Aziz al-Hafsi

أبو فارس عبد العزيز المتوكل

Tunisia

1361 – 1434 (73 years old)

One of the greatest Hafsid Sultans of Tunis (1394–1434) who repelled Christian crusader assaults, restored the monumental Roman aqueduct of Zaghouan, and founded colleges and hospitals.

Tunis, Tunisia

12 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

39

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Le Loi

Lê Lợi (Lê Thái Tổ)

Vietnam

1385 – 1433 (48 years old)

Vietnamese national hero and founder of the Later Le Dynasty who led the ten-year Lam Son Uprising against Ming Chinese occupation, immortalized by the Legend of the Returned Sword at Hoan Kiem Lake.

Tho Xuan (Thanh Hoa), Vietnam

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Military Leaders & Strategists

39

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Zheng He

郑和 (三宝太监)

China

1371 – c. 1433 CE (62 years old)

Ming Dynasty grand admiral and diplomat who commanded seven epic treasure fleet voyages across the Indian Ocean from Southeast Asia to Arabia and East Africa, decades before Columbus.

Nanjing (Jiangsu), China

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Religious Figures & Theologians

32

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Sayyid Nur al-Din Nematollah Vali

شاه نعمت‌الله ولی

Syria

c. 1330 – c. 1431 (101 years old)

Revered Persian Sufi master, poet, and founder of the Nimatullahi order who spent decades traveling through Mecca, Samarkand, and Herat before creating a vibrant center in Mahan.

Mahan, Iran

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan

Italy

1364 – c. 1430 (65 years old)

Italian-born French author celebrated as Europe's first professional female writer, whose 1405 masterwork The Book of the City of Ladies defended women's intellect and moral equality in the Querelle des Femmes.

Poissy (Yvelines), France

4 Full Record →