Henry IV
1553 – 1610 · 57 years · Paris · Europe
Reign: 1589 – 1610 (Franks and France)
A Huguenot leader who converted to Catholicism to win the throne ("Paris is well worth a Mass"). His Edict of Nantes of 1598 ended the Wars of Religion; he was assassinated by the fanatic Ravaillac.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 16th century
Portrait: Frans Pourbus the Younger · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Miguel de Cervantes — Spanish novelist, 6 years older
- Elizabeth I — Queen of England, 20 years older
- William Shakespeare — English playwright and poet, 11 years younger
- Galileo Galilei — Italian physicist and astronomer, 11 years younger
- René Descartes — French philosopher and mathematician, 43 years younger
- Michelangelo — sculptor, painter and architect, 78 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Ivan the Terrible — first Tsar of Russia, 23 years older
- Yermak Timofeyevich — Cossack conqueror of Siberia, 21 years older
- False Dmitry I — pretender who claimed to be Tsarevich Dmitry, 28 years younger
- Michael I — first tsar of the Romanov dynasty, 43 years younger
- Vasily Shuisky — boyar tsar of the Time of Troubles who died in Polish captivity, 1 year older
- Boris Godunov — Tsar of Russia, 1 year older
Middle East
- Abbas the Great — Safavid Shah of Iran, 18 years younger
- Selim II — sultan who took Cyprus and lost at Lepanto, 29 years older
- Suleiman the Magnificent — Ottoman sultan, 59 years older
- Murad III — sultan who won the Caucasus from the Safavids, 7 years older
- Mehmed III — sultan who executed 19 brothers and won at Keresztes, 13 years younger
- Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf — Ottoman astronomer and engineer, 27 years older
Africa
- Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba — Queen of Ndongo and Matamba, 30 years younger
- Ahmed Baba — Timbuktu scholar, 3 years younger
- Ahmad al-Mansur — Sultan of Morocco, 4 years older
Asia
- Tokugawa Ieyasu — first Tokugawa shogun, 10 years older
- Akbar the Great — Mughal emperor, 11 years older
- Matteo Ricci — Jesuit missionary in China, 1 year older
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi — unifier of Japan, 16 years older
- Yi Sun-sin — Korean admiral, 8 years older
- Ashikaga Yoshiaki — last Ashikaga shogun, expelled by Nobunaga, 16 years older
Americas
- Bartolomé de las Casas — friar and defender of Native Americans, 69 years older
- Inca Garcilaso de la Vega — chronicler, son of a conquistador and an Inca princess, 14 years older
- Samuel de Champlain — French explorer, 14 years younger
- Pocahontas — Powhatan chief's daughter, 43 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 1555–1561 Saint Basil's Cathedral — aged 2, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1556 Shaanxi earthquake — aged 3, Asia
- 1556 Akbar and the Second Battle of Panipat — aged 3, Asia
- 1569 Union of Lublin — aged 16, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1571 Battle of Lepanto — aged 18, Europe
- 1572 St Bartholomew's Day Massacre — aged 19, Europe
- 1582 Gregorian calendar — aged 29, Europe
- 1582 Yermak's conquest of Sibir — aged 29, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada — aged 35, Europe
- 1591 Battle of Tondibi and fall of Songhai — aged 38, Africa
- 1592–1598 Imjin War — aged 39, Asia
- 1598–1613 Time of Troubles — aged 45, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1598 Edict of Nantes — aged 45, Europe
- 1600 Battle of Sekigahara — aged 47, Asia
- 1600 Eruption of Huaynaputina — aged 47, Americas
- 1600 East India Company founded — aged 47, Europe
- c. 1605–1694 Quilombo of Palmares — aged 52, Americas
- 1607 Founding of Jamestown — aged 54, Americas
- 1609 Jesuit reductions among the Guaraní — aged 56, Americas
- 1610 Galileo's telescopic discoveries — aged 57, Europe