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Who was alive in 1520?
1,047 well-known people were alive in 1520, including Michelangelo, Martin Luther, Niccolò Machiavelli. Here are the 80 most notable:
- Michelangelo (1475–1564) — Italian artist and architect (1475-1564)
- Martin Luther (1483–1546) — German priest and theologian (1483–1546)
- Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) — Italian diplomat and political and military theorist (1469–1527)
- Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) — Polish mathematician and astronomer (1473-1543)
- Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521) — Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain
- Raphael (1483–1520) — Italian painter and architect (1483–1520)
- Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) — German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist (1471-1528)
- Vasco da Gama (1460–1525) — Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
- Hernán Cortés (1485–1547) — Spanish conquistador
- Jacques Cartier (1492–1557) — Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
- Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566) — the tenth and greatest Sultan of Ottoman Empire (1520–1566)
- Erasmus (1466–1536) — Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian (1466-1536)
- Mimar Sinan (1490–1588) — 16th-century Ottoman chief architect and civil engineer
- John Calvin (1509–1564) — French Protestant reformer (1509-1564)
- François Rabelais (1494–1553) — 16th-century French writer and humanist (1494–1553)
- Thomas More (1478–1535) — English statesman, lawyer and philosopher (1478–1535)
- Charles V (1500–1558) — Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556 (1500–1558)
- Nostradamus (1503–1566) — French seer and astrologer (1503–1566)
- Henry VIII of England (1491–1547) — King of England from 1509 to 1547 (1491–1547)
- Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) — Roman Catholic saint (1515-1582)
- Babur (1483–1531) — founder of the Mughal Empire (1526–1530)
- Titian (1490–1576) — Italian painter (c.1490–1576)
- Guru Nanak (1469–1539) — First Sikh Guru and founder of Sikhism
- Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) — Spanish Catholic priest and theologian (1491–1556)
- Paracelsus (1493–1541) — Swiss physician, philosopher, theologian, and alchemist (c. 1493–1541)
- Anne Boleyn (1501–1536) — second wife of Henry VIII of England (died 1536)
- Mary I (1516–1558) — Queen of England and Ireland from 1553 to 1558
- Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) — Protestant Reformation leader in Switzerland, Swiss Reformed Church founder (1484-1531)
- Gregory XIII (1502–1585) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1572 to 1585 (1502–1585)
- Paul III (1468–1549) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1534 to 1549 (1468–1549)
- Leo X (1475–1521) — pope from 1513 to 1521 (1475-1521)
- Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533) — Italian poet (1474–1533)
- Francis I of France (1494–1547) — King of France from 1515 to 1547 (1494-1547)
- Pius V (1504–1572) — 16th‑century Italian pope and Catholic saint, leading Counter‑Reformation reformer
- Selim I (1470–1520) — 9th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520
- Francisco Pizarro (1478–1541) — Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
- Francis Xavier (1506–1552) — Spanish Catholic saint and missionary (1506–1552)
- Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) — Italian painter, architect, writer and historian (1511-1574)
- Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589) — queen-consort and regent of France (1519–1589)
- Adrian VI (1459–1523) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1522 to 1523 (1459–1523)
- Fuzuli (1480–1556) — 16th-century Azerbaijani poet
- Pius IV (1499–1565) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1559 to 1565
- Clement VII (1478–1534) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1523 to 1534 (1478–1534)
- Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) — first wife of Henry VIII of England (1485–1536)
- Jacopo Tintoretto (1519–1594) — Renaissance painter (1518/1519–1594)
- Ismail I (1487–1524) — founder and first shah of Safavid Iran
- Andreas Vesalius (1515–1564) — Flemish anatomist, physician and author (1514–1564)
- Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467–1520) — Portuguese military commander and explorer (c.1467/8 – c.1521)
- Paul IV (1476–1559) — pope of catholic church 1555-1559
- Julius III (1487–1555) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1550 to 1555
- Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) — German reformer (1497-1560)
- Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576) — Italian Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer (1501-1576)
- Humayun (1508–1556) — second Mughal emperor from 1530 to 1540 and 1555 to 1556
- Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503–1564) — Holy Roman Emperor of the Habsburg dynasty and king of Bohemia, Croatia and Hungary (1503–1564)
- Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) — Italian architect (1508–1580)
- Hayreddin Barbarossa (1478–1546) — Turkish admiral (1478–1546)
- Marcellus II (1501–1555) — pope of the Catholic Church and bishop of Rome from 9 April to 1 May 1555
- Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594) — Flemish geographer, cosmographer and cartographer (1512–1594)
- Henry II of France (1519–1559) — King of France from 1547 to 1559 (1519–1559)
- Innocent IX (1519–1591) — pope of the Catholic Church in 1591 (1519–1591)
- Juana I of Castile (1479–1555) — Queen of Castile from 1504 and of Aragon from 1516
- Gustav I of Sweden (1496–1560) — King of Sweden from 1523 to 1560
- Tulsidas (1511–) — Hindu saint and poet (1532–1623), author of the Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa
- Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) — German artist and printmaker (1497–1543)
- Hernando de Soto (1500–1542) — Spanish explorer and conquistador
- Atahualpa (1500–1533) — Last Incan emperor
- Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484–1566) — Spanish Dominican friar, historian, and social reformer (1474–1566)
- Margaret of Valois-Angoulême (1492–1549) — queen consort of Navarre (1492–1549)
- James V of Scotland (1512–1542) — King of Scotland from 1513 to 1542
- Moctezuma II (1466–1520) — 9th tlatoani of Tenochtitlan and ruler of the Aztec Triple Alliance (1466-1520)
- John Knox (1514–1572) — Scottish clergyman, writer and historian (1514–1572)
- Michael Servetus (1511–1553) — Spanish physician and theologian
- Pietro Perugino (1448–1523) — Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school (1448-1523)
- Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) — Florentine sculptor and goldsmith (1500–1571)
- Anne of Cleves (1515–1557) — Queen consort of England (1515–1557)
- Juan Ponce de León (1460–1521) — Spanish explorer and conquistador
- Juan Sebastián Elcano (1486–1526) — Castillian Basque sailor, explorer, and circumnavigator with the Magellan Expedition
- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) — 15th century Indian Vaishnavite saint
- Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) — leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury
- Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) — German mineralogist (1494-1555)
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