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Curated category

16th-century Roman Catholics

  • MichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni arrived in the world on the 6th of March 1475 within the small town of Caprese.
  • Ferdinand MagellanIn 1495, a young man named Ferdinand Magellan entered the service of King John II of Portugal. He served as a page to Queen Eleanor, consort of that monarch.
  • Henry VIIIHenry VIII was born on the 28th of June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, Kent. He entered the world as the third child and second son of King…
  • Galileo GalileiIn the year 1564, a boy named Galileo was born in Pisa to Vincenzo Galilei and Giulia Ammannati. His father worked as a lutenist and music theorist who…
  • Charles V, Holy Roman EmperorThe year 1500 marked the arrival of Charles in the Prinsenhof of Ghent, a Flemish city within the Habsburg Netherlands. A poet at the court reported that…
  • Catherine HowardCatherine Howard entered the world in Lambeth around 1523, born into a family that held high rank but little money. Her father was Lord Edmund Howard, the…
  • RaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in March 1483 or the 6th of April 1483.
  • Tomás Fernández de MedranoIn the year 1589, a document dated October 20 confirmed that Tomás Fernández de Medrano and his brothers were recognized as diviseros of Valdeosera.
  • François RabelaisThe estate of La Devinière in Seuilly, near Chinon, stands as the likely birthplace of François Rabelais. Most scholars accept 1483 as his year of birth…
  • John DowlandJohn Dowland remains a figure shrouded in biographical uncertainty, with his birthplace contested between London and Dublin.
  • Gil VicenteThe year 1465 stands as the commonly accepted date for Gil Vicente's birth, though scholars have argued fiercely over this number for centuries.
  • Luís de CamõesLuís Vaz de Camões, born around 1524 in Lisbon, emerged from a noble family with deep roots in the Kingdom of Galicia. His father, Simão Vaz de Camões…
  • Benvenuto CelliniBenvenuto Cellini was born in Florence on the 3rd of November 1500. His father Giovanni worked as a musician and built musical instruments for a living.
  • Fernão Mendes PintoFernão Mendes Pinto was born in about 1509 within the quiet town of Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal. He emerged from a family that struggled financially or…