Who was alive in 1540?

953 well-known people were alive in 1540, including Michelangelo, Martin Luther, Nicolaus Copernicus. 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)
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) — Polish mathematician and astronomer (1473-1543)
Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603) — Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603
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)
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) — French author, philosopher, and statesman (1533–1592)
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)
Charles V (1500–1558) — Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556 (1500–1558)
Nostradamus (1503–1566) — French seer and astrologer (1503–1566)
Francis Drake (1540–1596) — English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)
Henry VIII of England (1491–1547) — King of England from 1509 to 1547 (1491–1547)
Ivan the Terrible (1530–1584) — Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594) — Italian Renaissance composer (c. 1525–1594)
Luís de Camões (1524–1580) — 16th-century Portuguese poet
Philip II of Spain (1527–1598) — King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily; King consort of England, lived 1527-1598
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) — Roman Catholic saint (1515-1582)
Titian (1490–1576) — Italian painter (c.1490–1576)
Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) — Spanish Catholic priest and theologian (1491–1556)
Paracelsus (1493–1541) — Swiss physician, philosopher, theologian, and alchemist (c. 1493–1541)
Mary I (1516–1558) — Queen of England and Ireland from 1553 to 1558
Gregory XIII (1502–1585) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1572 to 1585 (1502–1585)
Edward VI of England (1537–1553) — king of England and Ireland from 1547 to 1553
Paul III (1468–1549) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1534 to 1549 (1468–1549)
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
Francisco Pizarro (1478–1541) — Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525–1569) — Flemish painter (1526–1569)
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)
Fuzuli (1480–1556) — 16th-century Azerbaijani poet
Pius IV (1499–1565) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1559 to 1565
Leo XI (1535–1605) — pope of the Catholic Church in April 1605 (1535-1605)
Jacopo Tintoretto (1519–1594) — Renaissance painter (1518/1519–1594)
Andreas Vesalius (1515–1564) — Flemish anatomist, physician and author (1514–1564)
Sixtus V (1521–1590) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1585 to 1590
Clement VIII (1536–1605) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1592 to 1605 (1536–1605)
Paul IV (1476–1559) — pope of catholic church 1555-1559
Julius III (1487–1555) — pope of the Catholic Church from 1550 to 1555
Urban VII (1521–1590) — pope of the Catholic Church in September 1590
William the Silent (1533–1584) — Dutch statesman and revolt leader (1533-1584)
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
Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) — Japanese samurai and warlord (1534–1582)
Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554) — Queen of England and Ireland in July 1553
Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) — Italian painter of the Renaissance (1528–1588)
Gregory XIV (1535–1591) — Pope from 1590 to 1591 (1535–1591)
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)
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) — Japanese samurai and daimyo (1537–1598)
Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585) — French poet (1524-1585)
Selim II (1524–1574) — 11th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1566–1574)
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
Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484–1566) — Spanish Dominican friar, historian, and social reformer (1474–1566)
Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) — French judge, writer and philosopher (1530–1563)
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
John Knox (1514–1572) — Scottish clergyman, writer and historian (1514–1572)
Catherine Howard (1523–1542) — fifth wife of Henry VIII of England
François Viète (1540–1603) — French mathematician (*1540 – †1603)
Michael Servetus (1511–1553) — Spanish physician and theologian
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (1527–1576) — King of the Romans, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia (1527-1576)
Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) — Flemish cartographer, geographer and cosmographer (1527–1598)
Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) — Florentine sculptor and goldsmith (1500–1571)
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527–1593) — Italian painter of the late Renaissance (1527–1593)
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625) — Italian painter (c.1532-1625)

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