With Date of Death (Sorted by Birth Date Ascending)
1. Omar Khayyam
Born in a wealthy province of Seljuk-ruled Persia, Omar Khayyam was educated well as a youth and became fascinated by science, especially astronomy and mathematics. He built an observatory and created the Jalalaean Calender that was far more accurate than the Julian Calender in use by his European ...
2. Hildegard von Bingen
Soundtrack | Breath of God
Vision - Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen (2009) is a film about her.
3. Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi
Writer | The Interpreted Dream
Jalaluddin Rumi, Scholar in Religious Sciences and famed Sufi Mystic Poet, was born on September 29th 1207 A.D. in Balkh (modern day Afghanistan). Escaping Mongol invasions he travelled extensively to Muslim lands, Bagdad, Mecca, Damascus, Malatia (Turkey). Married Gevher Khatun of Samarquand and ...
4. Dante Alighieri
Writer | The Trophy Case: Judgement
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 into the lower nobility of Florence, to Alighiero di Bellincione d'Alighiero, a moneylender. A precocious student, Dante's education focused on rhetoric and grammar. He also became enamored with a young girl, Beatrice Portinari, whose death in 1290 threw a grieving ...
5. Philippe de Vitry
Composer | Aranymadár
7. Joan of Arc
Writer | HBO First Look
Songs about her include: "Joan of Arc, They Are Calling You" co-written by Al Bryan; "Joan of Arc" by Leonard Cohen; "Joan of Arc" by Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall; "Joan of Arc" by Madonna, MoZella, Toby Gad, and Symbolyc One; and "Joan of Arc" and "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orléans)" by Andy ...
8. Leonardo Da Vinci
Art Department | The Queen's Palaces
The archetypal "Renaissance Man," Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest scientific minds as well as one of the greatest visual artists the human race has ever produced. The illegitimate son of a wealthy Florentine notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo was born in ...
9. Niccolò Machiavelli
Writer | Monna Vanna
Born into a time of extreme political upheaveal, Niccolò Machiavelli was a member of the old Florentine nobility. He received a proper humanistic Renaissance education, and as a young man began the climb up the perilous political ladder of Italy. In 1502 he was sent to Romagna as an envoy to Cesare...
10. Albrecht Dürer
Art Department | Unser Sandmännchen
Known as a painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and art theorist.
11. Ludovico Ariosto
Writer | The Madness of Roland
Alberto Savinio named his two children after two characters in Ariosto's poem "Orlando Furioso" (1516).
12. Michelangelo Buonarotti
Art Department | Yksitoista ihmisen kuvaa
Michelangelo Buonarotti was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese. He is known for his work on Yksitoista ihmisen kuvaa (2012) and Michelangelo (1963). He died on February 18, 1564 in Rome.
13. Raphael
Art Department | Parajanov: The Last Spring
14. Martin Luther
Soundtrack | Gangs of New York
Martin Luther was the founder of the Lutheran Church in the 16th Century. As a composer he also wrote such well known Christian hymns as "A Mighty Fortess Is Our God".
15. Henry VIII
Soundtrack | L'âge des ténèbres
Father of Queen Mary I, who has been played by Jeanne Delvair, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Yvette Pienne, Ann Tyrrell, Sheila Allen, Françoise Christophe, Nicola Pagett, Inge Keller, Jane Lapotaire, Lara Belmont, Sarah Bolger, Bláthnaid McKeown, Constance Stride, Miranda French, Daisy Ashford, Lily ...
16. Marguerite de Navarre
Writer | Hry lásky sálivé
17. Pietro Aretino
Writer | Der Kaufmann von Venedig
18. Agnolo Firenzuola
Writer | Neskolko lyubovnykh istoriy
19. Francois Rabelais
Writer | Kraft Television Theatre
French satirist. Author of "Gargantua and Pantagruel", the famous medieval epic satire about giants. To date, it has never been filmed or dramatized for television.
20. Hans Sachs
Writer | Aufruhr im Schlaraffenland
21. Michel de Nostredame
Writer | Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen
An apothecary before he began to practice the occult, Michel de Nostredame spent the early part of his career battling outbreaks of the bubonic plague in southern France, and northern Italy. Historians attribute his higher-than-average survival rates to his then-radical practice of personal hygiene...
22. Anton Francesco Grazzini
Writer | Neskolko lyubovnykh istoriy
23. Giorgio Vasari
Writer | Raphael Superstar
24. Thoinot Arbeau
Soundtrack | The Wicker Man
25. Michel de Montaigne
Writer | Un conte de Michel de Montaigne
26. Torquato Tasso
Writer | La Gerusalemme liberata
27. Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe was born on December 14, 1546 in Knutstorp Castle, Scania, Denmark, Denmark-Norway as Tyge Ottesen Brahe. He died on October 24, 1601 in Prague, Habsburg Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire [now Czech Republic].
28. Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra
Writer | Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes' baptism occurred on October 9, 1547, at Alcala de Henares, Spain, so it is reasonable to assume he was born around that time, and Alcala de Henares has long claimed itself as his birthplace. The son of Rodrigo de Cervantes, an itinerant and not-too-successful surgeon, Miguel ...
29. Edward de Vere
Writer | Looking for Desdemona
The 17th Earl of Oxford, hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain of England, scion of the noble house of Vere (his ancestor Aubrey received titles and estates from William the Conqueror in 1066). Poet, playwright, and courtier to Queen Elizabeth I, he received his classical education at Cambridge and ...
30. Félix Lope de Vega
Writer | Qartuli baletis ostatebi
He literally flogged himself to atone for what he believed were his sins.
31. Christopher Marlowe
Writer | Doctor Faustus
Born the son of a shoe-maker two months before the birth of another famous playwright, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe achieved fame as an Elizabethan dramatist as well as an atheist. He was killed in a tavern brawl by a former friend, allegedly over a bill. There is now some evidence that...
32. William Shakespeare
Writer | M the Movie
William Shakespeare's birthdate is assumed from his baptism on April 25. His father John was the son of a farmer who became a successful tradesman; his mother Mary Arden was gentry. He studied Latin works at Stratford Grammar School, leaving at about age 15. About this time his father suffered an ...
33. Claudio Monteverdi
Soundtrack | Liberal Arts
34. Honoré d'Urfé
Writer | Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon
35. Michael Praetorius
Soundtrack | Jagten
36. Michelangelo da Caravaggio
Actor | Five Revolutionary Painters
Michelangelo da Caravaggio was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan, Duchy of Milan, Holy Roman Empire as Michelangelo Merisi. He was an actor, known for Five Revolutionary Painters (1959) and Canvas (1966). He died on July 18, 1610 in Porto Ecole, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Holy Roman Empire.
37. Johannes Kepler
German astronomer who discovered three major laws of planetary motion, conventionally designated as follows: (1) the planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus; (2) the time necessary to traverse any arc of a planetary orbit is proportional to the area of the sector between the ...
38. Ben Jonson
Soundtrack | Sense and Sensibility
Benjamin Jonson was born 1571 as the posthumous son of a Protestant minister. His mother then moved him to Westminster, where she married a bricklayer. He attended a free parish school as a boy, and thanks to the sponsorship of the headmaster, was able to attend Westminster Grammar School. ...
39. Guido Reni
Art Department | Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum
Painter. Works include the Paoline Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Aldobrandini wings of the Vatican.
40. Peter Paul Rubens
Art Department | Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum
Peter Paul Rubens was born on June 28, 1577 in Siegen, Nassau-Dillenburg, Holy Roman Empire. He is known for his work on Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum (2002) and Visnews (1962). He died on May 30, 1640 in Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands [now Belgium].
41. John Fletcher
Writer | Whatever Next?
Principal dramatist for the King's Men folllowing the death of William Shakespeare.
42. Francisco de Quevedo
Writer | La hora bruja
43. Girolamo Frescobaldi
Soundtrack | Il racconto dei racconti - Tale of Tales
44. Gerbrand Adraenszoon Bredero
Writer | De klucht van de koe
45. Heinrich Schütz
Soundtrack | Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
46. Stefano Landi
Music Department | Aires 06
47. Joost Van den Vondel
Writer | Adam in Ballingschap
49. René Descartes
René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye, Indre-et-Loire, France. He is known for his work on The Thirteenth Floor (1999) and Venus Blue (1998). He died on February 11, 1650 in Stockholm, Sweden.
50. Francisco de Zurbarán
Art Department | Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum
Baroque painter. Works are part of the collections of the Alte Pinakothek, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hermitage, the Kunsthistorisches, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Galleries of Scotland, the National ...