Who Was Alive
Edmund Spenser
English School / Unidentified painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Edmund Spenser

English poet

Born 1552–1553 · died 13 January 1599 (Julian calendar), aged 46 or 47
Also known as Edmund Spencer, Ed. Sp., Edmund Spenſer

Who was alive at the same time as Edmund Spenser?

  1. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  2. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  3. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  4. François Rabelais, 1494 – 1553
  5. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  6. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  7. Nostradamus, 1503 – 1566
  8. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  9. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  10. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  11. Francis Drake, c. 1540 – 1596
  12. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  13. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  14. Tycho Brahe, 1546 – 1601
  15. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  16. Edmund Spenser, c. 1553 – 1599
  17. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  18. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  19. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  20. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  21. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  22. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  23. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  24. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650

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 Edmund Spenser was born, Michelangelo was 76 or 77, Elizabeth I was 18 or 19, Akbar was 9 or 10, Jacques Cartier was 60 or 61 and Suleiman the Magnificent was 57 or 58.

When Edmund Spenser died, William Shakespeare was 34, Galileo Galilei was 34, René Descartes was 2, Elizabeth I was 65 and Francis Bacon was 37.

Born during Edmund Spenser’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens, Thomas Hobbes and Lope de Vega.

Not quite contemporaries: Martin Luther died about 6 years before Edmund Spenser was born, Nicolaus Copernicus died about 9 years before Edmund Spenser was born, Rembrandt was born about 7 years after Edmund Spenser died and Hernán Cortés died about 5 years before Edmund Spenser was born.

What happened in Edmund Spenser’s lifetime

Where Edmund Spenser’s contemporaries were born

Edmund Spenser is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (79 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Edmund Spenser

The 150 best-known contemporaries

154 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Edmund Spenser. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1576.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  4. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  5. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  6. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  7. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  8. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  9. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  10. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  11. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  12. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  13. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  14. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  15. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  16. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  17. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  18. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  19. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  20. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  21. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  22. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  23. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  24. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  25. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  26. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  27. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  28. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  29. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  30. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  31. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  32. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  33. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  34. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  35. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  36. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  37. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  38. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  39. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  40. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  41. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  42. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  43. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  44. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  45. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  46. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  47. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  48. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  49. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  50. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  51. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  52. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  53. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  54. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  55. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  56. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  57. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  58. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  59. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  60. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  61. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  62. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  63. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  64. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  65. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  66. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  67. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  68. Gustavus Adolphus 1594 – 1632
  69. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  70. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  71. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  72. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  73. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  74. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  75. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  76. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  77. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  78. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  79. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  80. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  81. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  82. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  83. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  84. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  85. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  86. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  87. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  88. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  89. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  90. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  91. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  92. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  93. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  94. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  95. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  96. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  97. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  98. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  99. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  100. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  101. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  102. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  103. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  104. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  105. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  106. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  107. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  108. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  109. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  110. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  111. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  112. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  113. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  114. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  115. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  116. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  117. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  118. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  119. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  120. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  121. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  122. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  123. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  124. Mumtaz Mahal 1593 – 1631
  125. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  126. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  127. Frans Hals 1580s – 1666
  128. Jusepe de Ribera 1591 – 1652
  129. Michael Servetus 1511 – 1553
  130. François Viète 1540 – 1603
  131. Marie de' Medici 1575 – 1642
  132. Benvenuto Cellini 1500 – 1571
  133. Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1527 – 1593
  134. Abraham Ortelius 1527 – 1598
  135. Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor 1527 – 1576
  136. Christian IV of Denmark 1577 – 1648
  137. Anne of Cleves 1515 – 1557
  138. Sofonisba Anguissola 1532 – 1625
  139. George Herbert 1593 – 1633
  140. Pocahontas c. 1596 – 1617
  141. Thomas Cranmer 1489 – 1556
  142. Bronzino 1503 – 1572
  143. Matteo Ricci 1552 – 1610
  144. Feodor I of Russia 1557 – 1598
  145. Elizabeth Báthory 1560 – 1614
  146. Luis de Góngora 1561 – 1627
  147. Vincent de Paul 1581 – 1660
  148. Georgius Agricola 1494 – 1555
  149. Charles IX of Sweden 1550 – 1611
  150. Jean Bodin 1530 – 1596