Who Was Alive
Walter Raleigh
anonymous, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Walter Raleigh

English writer

Born 1550–1554 · died 18–29 October 1618 (Julian calendar)
Also known as Sir Walter Ralegh, Sir Walter Raleigh, Walter Ralegh

Who was alive at the same time as Walter Raleigh?

  1. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  2. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  3. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  4. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  5. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  6. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  7. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  8. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  9. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  10. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  11. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  12. Walter Raleigh, c. 1552 – 1618
  13. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  14. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  15. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  16. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  17. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  18. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  19. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  20. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650
  21. Diego Velázquez, 1599 – 1660
  22. Oliver Cromwell, 1599 – 1658
  23. Rembrandt, 1606 – 1669
  24. John Milton, 1608 – 1674

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 Walter Raleigh died, Galileo Galilei was 54, René Descartes was 22, Rembrandt was 12, Francis Bacon was 57 and Johannes Kepler was 46.

Born during Walter Raleigh’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Rembrandt, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez.

Not quite contemporaries: Martin Luther died about 4 years before Walter Raleigh was born, Molière was born about 4 years after Walter Raleigh died, Nicolaus Copernicus died about 7 years before Walter Raleigh was born and John Locke was born about 14 years after Walter Raleigh died.

What happened in Walter Raleigh’s lifetime

Where Walter Raleigh’s contemporaries were born

Walter Raleigh 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 Walter Raleigh

The 150 best-known contemporaries

182 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Walter Raleigh. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1586.

  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. Rembrandt 1606 – 1669
  7. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  8. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  9. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  10. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  11. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  12. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  13. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  14. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  15. John Milton 1608 – 1674
  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. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  22. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  23. Oliver Cromwell 1599 – 1658
  24. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  25. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  26. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  27. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  28. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  29. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  30. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  31. Pierre de Fermat 1607 – 1665
  32. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  33. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  34. Charles I of England 1600 – 1649
  35. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  36. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  37. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  38. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  39. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  40. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  41. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  42. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  43. Abel Tasman 1603 – 1659
  44. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  45. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  46. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  47. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  48. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  49. François de La Rochefoucauld 1613 – 1680
  50. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  51. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  52. Louis XIII 1601 – 1643
  53. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  54. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  55. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  56. Evangelista Torricelli 1608 – 1647
  57. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  58. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  59. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  60. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  61. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  62. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  63. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  64. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  65. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  66. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  67. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  68. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  69. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  70. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  71. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  72. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  73. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  74. Pope Innocent XI 1611 – 1689
  75. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  76. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  77. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  78. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  79. Gustavus Adolphus 1594 – 1632
  80. Anthony van Dyck 1599 – 1641
  81. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  82. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  83. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  84. Philip IV of Spain 1605 – 1665
  85. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  86. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  87. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  88. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  89. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  90. Cardinal Mazarin 1602 – 1661
  91. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  92. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  93. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  94. Francisco de Zurbarán c. 1598 – 1664
  95. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617 – 1682
  96. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  97. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  98. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  99. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  100. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  101. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  102. Pope Alexander VII 1599 – 1667
  103. Pope Clement IX 1600 – 1669
  104. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  105. Pope Innocent XII 1615 – 1700
  106. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  107. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  108. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  109. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  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. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  116. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  117. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  118. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  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. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  134. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  135. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  136. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  137. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  138. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  139. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  140. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  141. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  142. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  143. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  144. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  145. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  146. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  147. Mumtaz Mahal 1593 – 1631
  148. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  149. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  150. Frans Hals 1580s – 1666