Who Was Alive
John of the Cross
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

John of the Cross

Spanish mystic

Born 24 June 1542 · died 14 December 1591, aged 49
Also known as Saint John of the Cross

Who was alive at the same time as John of the Cross?

  1. Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473 – 1543
  2. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  3. Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546
  4. Hernán Cortés, 1485 – 1547
  5. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  6. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  7. François Rabelais, 1494 – 1553
  8. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  9. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  10. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  11. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  12. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  13. John of the Cross, 1542 – 1591
  14. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  15. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  16. Tycho Brahe, 1546 – 1601
  17. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  18. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  19. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  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 John of the Cross was born, Michelangelo was 67, Martin Luther was 58, Nicolaus Copernicus was 69, Elizabeth I was 8 and Hernán Cortés was 56 or 57.

When John of the Cross died, William Shakespeare was 27, Galileo Galilei was 27, Elizabeth I was 58, Francis Bacon was 30 and Johannes Kepler was 19.

Born during John of the Cross’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, Miguel de Cervantes, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens, Akbar and Thomas Hobbes.

Not quite contemporaries: René Descartes was born about 5 years after John of the Cross died, Rembrandt was born about 15 years after John of the Cross died, Albrecht Dürer died about 14 years before John of the Cross was born and Diego Velázquez was born about 8 years after John of the Cross died.

What happened in John of the Cross’s lifetime

Where John of the Cross’s contemporaries were born

John of the Cross 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 John of the Cross

The 150 best-known contemporaries

153 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as John of the Cross. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1567.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  4. Martin Luther 1483 – 1546
  5. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  6. Nicolaus Copernicus 1473 – 1543
  7. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  8. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  9. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  10. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  11. Hernán Cortés 1485 – 1547
  12. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  13. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  14. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  15. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  16. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  17. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  18. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  19. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  20. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  21. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  22. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  23. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  24. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  25. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  26. Henry VIII 1491 – 1547
  27. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  28. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  29. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  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. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  36. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  37. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  38. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  39. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  40. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  41. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  42. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  43. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  44. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  45. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  46. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  47. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  48. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  49. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  50. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  51. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  52. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  53. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  54. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  55. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  56. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  57. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  58. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  59. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  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. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  68. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  69. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  70. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  71. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  72. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  73. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  74. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  75. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  76. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  77. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  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. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  87. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  88. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  89. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  90. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  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. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  96. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  97. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  98. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  99. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  100. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  101. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  102. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  103. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  104. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  105. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  106. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  107. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  108. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  109. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  110. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  111. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  112. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  113. Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 – 1543
  114. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  115. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  116. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  117. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  118. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  119. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  120. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  121. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  122. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  123. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  124. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  125. Marguerite de Navarre 1492 – 1549
  126. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  127. James V 1512 – 1542
  128. Frans Hals 1580s – 1666
  129. Jusepe de Ribera 1591 – 1652
  130. Michael Servetus 1511 – 1553
  131. François Viète 1540 – 1603
  132. Marie de' Medici 1575 – 1642
  133. Benvenuto Cellini 1500 – 1571
  134. Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1527 – 1593
  135. Abraham Ortelius 1527 – 1598
  136. Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor 1527 – 1576
  137. Christian IV of Denmark 1577 – 1648
  138. Anne of Cleves 1515 – 1557
  139. Sofonisba Anguissola 1532 – 1625
  140. Thomas Cranmer 1489 – 1556
  141. Bronzino 1503 – 1572
  142. Matteo Ricci 1552 – 1610
  143. Feodor I of Russia 1557 – 1598
  144. Elizabeth Báthory 1560 – 1614
  145. Luis de Góngora 1561 – 1627
  146. Vincent de Paul 1581 – 1660
  147. Georgius Agricola 1494 – 1555
  148. Piri Reis c. 1470 – c. 1554
  149. Charles IX of Sweden 1550 – 1611
  150. Jean Bodin 1530 – 1596