Who Was Alive
Ben Jonson
After Abraham van Blijenberch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Ben Jonson

English playwright and poet

Born 11 June 1572 · died 6 August 1637 (Julian calendar), aged 65
Also known as Benjamin Jonson

Who was alive at the same time as Ben Jonson?

  1. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  2. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  3. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  4. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  5. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  6. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  7. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  8. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  9. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  10. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  11. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  12. Ben Jonson, 1572 – 1637
  13. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  14. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  15. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650
  16. Diego Velázquez, 1599 – 1660
  17. Oliver Cromwell, 1599 – 1658
  18. Rembrandt, 1606 – 1669
  19. John Milton, 1608 – 1674
  20. Jean de La Fontaine, 1621 – 1695
  21. Molière, 1622 – 1673
  22. Blaise Pascal, 1623 – 1662
  23. John Locke, 1632 – 1704
  24. Baruch Spinoza, 1632 – 1677

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 Ben Jonson was born, William Shakespeare was 8, Galileo Galilei was 8, Elizabeth I was 38, Francis Bacon was 11 and Johannes Kepler was under a year old.

When Ben Jonson died, Galileo Galilei was 73, René Descartes was 41, Molière was 15, John Locke was 4 and Rembrandt was 31.

Born during Ben Jonson’s lifetime: René Descartes, Molière, John Locke, Rembrandt, Blaise Pascal, Baruch Spinoza, Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez.

Not quite contemporaries: Isaac Newton was born about 6 years after Ben Jonson died, Michelangelo died about 8 years before Ben Jonson was born, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born about 9 years after Ben Jonson died and Matsuo Bashō was born about 7 years after Ben Jonson died.

What happened in Ben Jonson’s lifetime

Where Ben Jonson’s contemporaries were born

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

Compare Ben Jonson

The 150 best-known contemporaries

178 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Ben Jonson. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1605.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  4. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  5. Molière 1622 – 1673
  6. John Locke 1632 – 1704
  7. Rembrandt 1606 – 1669
  8. Blaise Pascal 1623 – 1662
  9. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  10. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  11. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  12. Baruch Spinoza 1632 – 1677
  13. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  14. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  15. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  16. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  17. John Milton 1608 – 1674
  18. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  19. Jean de La Fontaine 1621 – 1695
  20. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  21. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  22. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  23. Oliver Cromwell 1599 – 1658
  24. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  25. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  26. Christiaan Huygens 1629 – 1695
  27. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  28. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  29. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  30. Johannes Vermeer 1632 – 1675
  31. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  32. Pierre de Fermat 1607 – 1665
  33. Robert Boyle 1627 – 1691
  34. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  35. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  36. Charles I of England 1600 – 1649
  37. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  38. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  39. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 1632 – 1723
  40. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  41. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  42. Charles Perrault 1628 – 1703
  43. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  44. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  45. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  46. Abel Tasman 1603 – 1659
  47. Robert Hooke 1635 – 1703
  48. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  49. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  50. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  51. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  52. François de La Rochefoucauld 1613 – 1680
  53. Charles II of England 1630 – 1685
  54. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  55. John Dryden 1631 – 1700
  56. Aurangzeb 1618 – 1707
  57. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  58. Louis XIII 1601 – 1643
  59. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  60. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  61. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  62. Evangelista Torricelli 1608 – 1647
  63. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  64. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  65. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  66. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  67. James II of England 1633 – 1701
  68. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  69. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  70. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  71. Christina, Queen of Sweden 1626 – 1689
  72. Christopher Wren 1632 – 1723
  73. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  74. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  75. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  76. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  77. Pope Innocent XI 1611 – 1689
  78. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux 1636 – 1711
  79. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  80. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  81. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  82. Gustavus Adolphus 1594 – 1632
  83. Anthony van Dyck 1599 – 1641
  84. John III Sobieski 1629 – 1696
  85. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  86. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  87. Philip IV of Spain 1605 – 1665
  88. John Bunyan 1628 – 1688
  89. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  90. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  91. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  92. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  93. Cardinal Mazarin 1602 – 1661
  94. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  95. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  96. Francisco de Zurbarán c. 1598 – 1664
  97. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617 – 1682
  98. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  99. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  100. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  101. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  102. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  103. Pope Alexander VII 1599 – 1667
  104. Pope Clement IX 1600 – 1669
  105. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  106. Pope Innocent XII 1615 – 1700
  107. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  108. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  109. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  110. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  111. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  112. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  113. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  114. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  115. Giovanni Domenico Cassini 1625 – 1712
  116. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  117. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  118. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  119. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  120. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  121. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  122. Baltasar Gracián c. 1603 – 1658
  123. Osman II 1604 – 1622
  124. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  125. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  126. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  127. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  128. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  129. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  130. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  131. Murad IV 1612 – 1640
  132. Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire 1615 – 1648
  133. Alexis of Russia 1629 – 1676
  134. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  135. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  136. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  137. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  138. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  139. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  140. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  141. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  142. Shivaji 1627 – 1680
  143. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  144. Mumtaz Mahal 1593 – 1631
  145. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  146. Cyrano de Bergerac c. 1619 – 1655
  147. Jean-Baptiste Lully 1632 – 1687
  148. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  149. Frans Hals 1580s – 1666
  150. Jusepe de Ribera 1591 – 1652