Who Was Alive
Andreas Vesalius
Attributed to Jan van Calcar, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Andreas Vesalius

Anatomist and physician

Born 31 December 1514 · died 16 October 1564, aged 49
Also known as Andries van Wesel

Who was alive at the same time as Andreas Vesalius?

  1. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452 – 1519
  2. Vasco da Gama, c. 1464 – 1524
  3. Erasmus, 1466 – 1536
  4. Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469 – 1527
  5. Albrecht Dürer, 1471 – 1528
  6. Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473 – 1543
  7. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  8. Ferdinand Magellan, c. 1480 – 1521
  9. Raphael, 1483 – 1520
  10. Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546
  11. Hernán Cortés, 1485 – 1547
  12. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  13. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  14. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  15. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  16. Andreas Vesalius, 1514 – 1564
  17. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  18. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  19. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  20. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  21. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  22. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  23. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  24. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616

Drag across the timeline, or use the arrow keys, to see who was alive in any year and the age each person reached that year. Dashed lines mark world events. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.

When Andreas Vesalius was born, Leonardo da Vinci was 62, Michelangelo was 39, Martin Luther was 31, Niccolò Machiavelli was 45 and Nicolaus Copernicus was 41.

When Andreas Vesalius died, William Shakespeare was under a year old, Galileo Galilei was under a year old, Elizabeth I was 31, Francis Bacon was 3 and Akbar was 22.

Born during Andreas Vesalius’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, Miguel de Cervantes, Elizabeth I, Francis Bacon, Akbar, Giordano Bruno and Michel de Montaigne.

Not quite contemporaries: Christopher Columbus died about 9 years before Andreas Vesalius was born, Johannes Kepler was born about 8 years after Andreas Vesalius died, Peter Paul Rubens was born about 13 years after Andreas Vesalius died and Caravaggio was born about 7 years after Andreas Vesalius died.

What happened in Andreas Vesalius’s lifetime

Where Andreas Vesalius’s contemporaries were born

Andreas Vesalius is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (78 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Andreas Vesalius

The 150 best-known contemporaries

162 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Andreas Vesalius. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1540.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Leonardo da Vinci 1452 – 1519
  3. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  4. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  5. Martin Luther 1483 – 1546
  6. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  7. Niccolò Machiavelli 1469 – 1527
  8. Nicolaus Copernicus 1473 – 1543
  9. Ferdinand Magellan c. 1480 – 1521
  10. Raphael 1483 – 1520
  11. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  12. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  13. Albrecht Dürer 1471 – 1528
  14. Vasco da Gama c. 1464 – 1524
  15. Hernán Cortés 1485 – 1547
  16. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  17. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  18. Erasmus 1466 – 1536
  19. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  20. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  21. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  22. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  23. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  24. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  25. Thomas More c. 1478 – 1535
  26. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  27. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  28. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  29. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  30. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  31. Henry VIII 1491 – 1547
  32. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  33. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  34. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  35. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  36. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  37. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  38. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  39. Babur 1483 – 1530
  40. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  41. Guru Nanak 1469 – 1539
  42. Paracelsus 1493 – 1541
  43. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  44. Anne Boleyn 1501 – 1536
  45. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  46. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  47. Huldrych Zwingli 1484 – 1531
  48. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  49. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  50. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  51. Hieronymus Bosch c. 1450 – 1516
  52. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  53. Pope Leo X 1475 – 1521
  54. Ludovico Ariosto 1474 – 1533
  55. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  56. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  57. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  58. Ferdinand II of Aragon 1452 – 1516
  59. Selim I 1470 – 1520
  60. Francisco Pizarro c. 1478 – 1541
  61. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  62. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  63. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  64. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  65. Pope Adrian VI 1459 – 1523
  66. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  67. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  68. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  69. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  70. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  71. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  72. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  73. Pope Clement VII 1478 – 1534
  74. Catherine of Aragon 1485 – 1536
  75. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  76. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  77. Ismail I 1487 – 1524
  78. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  79. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  80. Pedro Álvares Cabral 1467 – c. 1520
  81. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  82. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  83. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  84. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor 1459 – 1519
  85. Louis XII 1462 – 1515
  86. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  87. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  88. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  89. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  90. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  91. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  92. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  93. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  94. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  95. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  96. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  97. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  98. Lucrezia Borgia 1480 – 1519
  99. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  100. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  101. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  102. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  103. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  104. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  105. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  106. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  107. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  108. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  109. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  110. Giovanni Bellini c. 1430 – 1516
  111. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  112. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  113. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  114. Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 – 1543
  115. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  116. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  117. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  118. Hernando de Soto c. 1500 – 1542
  119. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  120. Luca Pacioli 1440s – 1517
  121. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  122. Atahualpa c. 1500 – 1533
  123. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  124. Afonso de Albuquerque 1453 – 1515
  125. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  126. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  127. Moctezuma II 1466 – 1520
  128. Marguerite de Navarre 1492 – 1549
  129. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  130. James V 1512 – 1542
  131. Michael Servetus 1511 – 1553
  132. Catherine Howard 1524 – 1542
  133. François Viète 1540 – 1603
  134. Benvenuto Cellini 1500 – 1571
  135. Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1527 – 1593
  136. Abraham Ortelius 1527 – 1598
  137. Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor 1527 – 1576
  138. Pietro Perugino 1448 – 1523
  139. Anne of Cleves 1515 – 1557
  140. Sofonisba Anguissola 1532 – 1625
  141. Juan Sebastián Elcano c. 1486 – 1526
  142. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu 1486 – 1534
  143. Thomas Cranmer 1489 – 1556
  144. Bronzino 1503 – 1572
  145. Matteo Ricci 1552 – 1610
  146. Feodor I of Russia 1557 – 1598
  147. Elizabeth Báthory 1560 – 1614
  148. Luis de Góngora 1561 – 1627
  149. Juan Ponce de León 1460 – 1521
  150. Manuel I of Portugal 1469 – 1521