Who Was Alive
William the Silent
Adriaen Thomasz. Key, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William the Silent

Dutch leader

Born 24 April 1533 · died 10 July 1584, aged 51
Also known as William the Taciturn, William of Orange, Willem de Zwijger

Who was alive at the same time as William the Silent?

  1. Erasmus, 1466 – 1536
  2. Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473 – 1543
  3. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  4. Thomas More, c. 1478 – 1535
  5. Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546
  6. Hernán Cortés, 1485 – 1547
  7. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  8. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  9. François Rabelais, 1494 – 1553
  10. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  11. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  12. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  13. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  14. William the Silent, 1533 – 1584
  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. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  21. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  22. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  23. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  24. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640

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 William the Silent was born, Michelangelo was 58, Martin Luther was 49, Nicolaus Copernicus was 60, Hernán Cortés was 47 or 48 and Jacques Cartier was 41.

When William the Silent died, William Shakespeare was 20, Galileo Galilei was 20, Elizabeth I was 50, Francis Bacon was 23 and Johannes Kepler was 12.

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

Not quite contemporaries: Leonardo da Vinci died about 14 years before William the Silent was born, René Descartes was born about 12 years after William the Silent died, Niccolò Machiavelli died about 6 years before William the Silent was born and Ferdinand Magellan died about 12 years before William the Silent was born.

What happened in William the Silent’s lifetime

Where William the Silent’s contemporaries were born

William the Silent 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 William the Silent

The 150 best-known contemporaries

160 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as William the Silent. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1559.

  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. Erasmus 1466 – 1536
  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. Thomas More c. 1478 – 1535
  22. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  23. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  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. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  31. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  32. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  33. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  34. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  35. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  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. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  44. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  45. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  46. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  47. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  48. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  49. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  50. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  51. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  52. Ludovico Ariosto 1474 – 1533
  53. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  54. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  55. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  56. Francisco Pizarro c. 1478 – 1541
  57. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  58. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  59. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  60. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  61. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  62. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  63. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  64. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  65. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  66. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  67. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  68. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  69. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  70. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  71. Pope Clement VII 1478 – 1534
  72. Catherine of Aragon 1485 – 1536
  73. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  74. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  75. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  76. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  77. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  78. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  79. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  80. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  81. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  82. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  83. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  84. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  85. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  86. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  87. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  88. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  89. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  90. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  91. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  92. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  93. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  94. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  95. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  96. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  97. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  98. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  99. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  100. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  101. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  102. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  103. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  104. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  105. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  106. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  107. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  108. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  109. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  110. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  111. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  112. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  113. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  114. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  115. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  116. Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 – 1543
  117. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  118. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  119. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  120. Hernando de Soto c. 1500 – 1542
  121. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  122. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  123. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  124. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  125. Atahualpa c. 1500 – 1533
  126. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  127. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  128. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  129. Marguerite de Navarre 1492 – 1549
  130. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  131. James V 1512 – 1542
  132. Michael Servetus 1511 – 1553
  133. Catherine Howard 1524 – 1542
  134. François Viète 1540 – 1603
  135. Marie de' Medici 1575 – 1642
  136. Benvenuto Cellini 1500 – 1571
  137. Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1527 – 1593
  138. Abraham Ortelius 1527 – 1598
  139. Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor 1527 – 1576
  140. Christian IV of Denmark 1577 – 1648
  141. Anne of Cleves 1515 – 1557
  142. Sofonisba Anguissola 1532 – 1625
  143. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu 1486 – 1534
  144. Thomas Cranmer 1489 – 1556
  145. Bronzino 1503 – 1572
  146. Matteo Ricci 1552 – 1610
  147. Feodor I of Russia 1557 – 1598
  148. Elizabeth Báthory 1560 – 1614
  149. Luis de Góngora 1561 – 1627
  150. Vincent de Paul 1581 – 1660