Who Was Alive
Henry II of France
Workshop of François Clouet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Henry II of France

King of France

Born 31 March 1519 · died 10 July 1559, aged 40
Also known as Henry II

Who was alive at the same time as Henry II of France?

  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. Thomas More, c. 1478 – 1535
  9. Ferdinand Magellan, c. 1480 – 1521
  10. Raphael, 1483 – 1520
  11. Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546
  12. Hernán Cortés, 1485 – 1547
  13. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  14. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  15. François Rabelais, 1494 – 1553
  16. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  17. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  18. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  19. Henry II of France, 1519 – 1559
  20. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  21. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  22. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  23. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  24. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600

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 Henry II of France was born, Leonardo da Vinci was 66, Michelangelo was 44, Martin Luther was 35, Niccolò Machiavelli was 49 and Nicolaus Copernicus was 46.

When Henry II of France died, Michelangelo was 84, Elizabeth I was 25, Akbar was 16, Suleiman the Magnificent was 64 and Giordano Bruno was 11.

Born during Henry II of France’s lifetime: Miguel de Cervantes, Elizabeth I, Akbar, Giordano Bruno, Michel de Montaigne, Tycho Brahe, Francis Drake and Ivan the Terrible.

Not quite contemporaries: William Shakespeare was born about 5 years after Henry II of France died, Galileo Galilei was born about 5 years after Henry II of France died, Christopher Columbus died about 13 years before Henry II of France was born and Francis Bacon was born about 2 years after Henry II of France died.

What happened in Henry II of France’s lifetime

Where Henry II of France’s contemporaries were born

Henry II of France 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 Henry II of France

The 147 best-known contemporaries

147 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Henry II of France. All of them are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1539.

  1. Leonardo da Vinci 1452 – 1519
  2. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  3. Martin Luther 1483 – 1546
  4. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  5. Niccolò Machiavelli 1469 – 1527
  6. Nicolaus Copernicus 1473 – 1543
  7. Ferdinand Magellan c. 1480 – 1521
  8. Raphael 1483 – 1520
  9. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  10. Albrecht Dürer 1471 – 1528
  11. Vasco da Gama c. 1464 – 1524
  12. Hernán Cortés 1485 – 1547
  13. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  14. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  15. Erasmus 1466 – 1536
  16. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  17. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  18. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  19. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  20. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  21. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  22. Thomas More c. 1478 – 1535
  23. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  24. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  25. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  26. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  27. Henry VIII 1491 – 1547
  28. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  29. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  30. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  31. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  32. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  33. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  34. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  35. Babur 1483 – 1530
  36. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  37. Guru Nanak 1469 – 1539
  38. Paracelsus 1493 – 1541
  39. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  40. Anne Boleyn 1501 – 1536
  41. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  42. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  43. Huldrych Zwingli 1484 – 1531
  44. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  45. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  46. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  47. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  48. Pope Leo X 1475 – 1521
  49. Ludovico Ariosto 1474 – 1533
  50. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  51. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  52. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  53. Selim I 1470 – 1520
  54. Francisco Pizarro c. 1478 – 1541
  55. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  56. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  57. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  58. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  59. Pope Adrian VI 1459 – 1523
  60. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  61. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  62. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  63. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  64. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  65. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  66. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  67. Pope Clement VII 1478 – 1534
  68. Catherine of Aragon 1485 – 1536
  69. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  70. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  71. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  72. Ismail I 1487 – 1524
  73. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  74. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  75. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  76. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  77. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  78. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  79. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  80. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  81. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  82. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  83. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  84. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  85. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  86. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  87. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  88. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  89. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  90. Lucrezia Borgia 1480 – 1519
  91. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  92. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  93. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  94. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  95. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  96. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  97. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  98. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  99. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  100. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  101. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  102. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  103. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  104. Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 – 1543
  105. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  106. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  107. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  108. Hernando de Soto c. 1500 – 1542
  109. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  110. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  111. Atahualpa c. 1500 – 1533
  112. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  113. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  114. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  115. Moctezuma II 1466 – 1520
  116. Marguerite de Navarre 1492 – 1549
  117. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  118. James V 1512 – 1542
  119. Michael Servetus 1511 – 1553
  120. Catherine Howard 1524 – 1542
  121. François Viète 1540 – 1603
  122. Benvenuto Cellini 1500 – 1571
  123. Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1527 – 1593
  124. Abraham Ortelius 1527 – 1598
  125. Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor 1527 – 1576
  126. Pietro Perugino 1448 – 1523
  127. Anne of Cleves 1515 – 1557
  128. Sofonisba Anguissola 1532 – 1625
  129. Juan Sebastián Elcano c. 1486 – 1526
  130. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu 1486 – 1534
  131. Thomas Cranmer 1489 – 1556
  132. Bronzino 1503 – 1572
  133. Matteo Ricci 1552 – 1610
  134. Feodor I of Russia 1557 – 1598
  135. Juan Ponce de León 1460 – 1521
  136. Manuel I of Portugal 1469 – 1521
  137. Georgius Agricola 1494 – 1555
  138. Jane Seymour 1508 – 1537
  139. Piri Reis c. 1470 – c. 1554
  140. Charles IX of Sweden 1550 – 1611
  141. Baldassare Castiglione 1478 – 1529
  142. Vasili III of Russia 1479 – 1533
  143. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa 1486 – 1535
  144. Jean Bodin 1530 – 1596
  145. Joseph of Anchieta 1534 – 1597
  146. Tomás Luis de Victoria c. 1548 – 1611
  147. Philip Sidney 1554 – 1586