Who Was Alive
Catherine de' Medici
Attributed to Germain Le Mannier, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Catherine de' Medici

French regent

Born 13 April 1519 · died 5 January 1589, aged 69
Also known as Catherine of Medici Ji, Catharine de' Medici, Catherine de Medicis

Who was alive at the same time as Catherine de' Medici?

  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. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  13. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  14. Catherine de' Medici, 1519 – 1589
  15. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  16. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  17. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  18. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  19. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  20. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  21. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  22. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  23. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  24. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679

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 Catherine de' Medici was born, Leonardo da Vinci was 66, Michelangelo was 44, Martin Luther was 35, Niccolò Machiavelli was 49 and Nicolaus Copernicus was 46.

When Catherine de' Medici died, William Shakespeare was 24, Galileo Galilei was 24, Elizabeth I was 55, Francis Bacon was 27 and Johannes Kepler was 16.

Born during Catherine de' Medici’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, Miguel de Cervantes, Elizabeth I, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens and Akbar.

Not quite contemporaries: René Descartes was born about 7 years after Catherine de' Medici died, Christopher Columbus died about 13 years before Catherine de' Medici was born, Diego Velázquez was born about 10 years after Catherine de' Medici died and Oliver Cromwell was born about 10 years after Catherine de' Medici died.

What happened in Catherine de' Medici’s lifetime

Where Catherine de' Medici’s contemporaries were born

Catherine de' Medici 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 Catherine de' Medici

The 150 best-known contemporaries

183 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Catherine de' Medici. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1554.

  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. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  15. Vasco da Gama c. 1464 – 1524
  16. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  17. Hernán Cortés 1485 – 1547
  18. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  19. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  20. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  21. Erasmus 1466 – 1536
  22. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  23. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  24. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  25. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  26. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  27. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  28. Thomas More c. 1478 – 1535
  29. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  30. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  31. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  32. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  33. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  34. Henry VIII 1491 – 1547
  35. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  36. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  37. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  38. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  39. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  40. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  41. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  42. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  43. Babur 1483 – 1530
  44. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  45. Guru Nanak 1469 – 1539
  46. Paracelsus 1493 – 1541
  47. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  48. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  49. Anne Boleyn 1501 – 1536
  50. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  51. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  52. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  53. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  54. Huldrych Zwingli 1484 – 1531
  55. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  56. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  57. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  58. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  59. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  60. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  61. Pope Leo X 1475 – 1521
  62. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  63. Ludovico Ariosto 1474 – 1533
  64. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  65. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  66. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  67. Selim I 1470 – 1520
  68. Francisco Pizarro c. 1478 – 1541
  69. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  70. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  71. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  72. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  73. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  74. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  75. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  76. Pope Adrian VI 1459 – 1523
  77. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  78. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  79. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  80. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  81. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  82. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  83. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  84. Pope Clement VII 1478 – 1534
  85. Catherine of Aragon 1485 – 1536
  86. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  87. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  88. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  89. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  90. Ismail I 1487 – 1524
  91. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  92. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  93. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  94. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  95. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  96. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  97. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  98. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  99. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  100. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  101. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  102. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  103. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  104. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  105. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  106. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  107. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  108. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  109. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  110. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  111. Lucrezia Borgia 1480 – 1519
  112. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  113. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  114. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  115. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  116. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  117. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  118. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  119. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  120. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  121. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  122. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  123. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  124. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  125. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  126. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  127. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  128. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  129. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  130. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  131. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  132. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  133. Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 – 1543
  134. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  135. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  136. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  137. Hernando de Soto c. 1500 – 1542
  138. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  139. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  140. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  141. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  142. Atahualpa c. 1500 – 1533
  143. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  144. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  145. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  146. Moctezuma II 1466 – 1520
  147. Marguerite de Navarre 1492 – 1549
  148. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  149. James V 1512 – 1542
  150. Michael Servetus 1511 – 1553