Who Was Alive

James VI and I

King of Scotland from 1566 to 1625, King of England and Ireland from 1603 to 1625

Born 19 June 1566 · died 27 March 1625 (Julian calendar), aged 58

Who was alive at the same time as James VI and I?

Drag across the timeline to see who was alive in any year and the age each person reached that year. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.

When James VI and I was born, William Shakespeare was 2, Galileo Galilei was 2, Francis Bacon was 5, Elizabeth I of England was 32 and Akbar was 23.

When James VI and I died, Galileo Galilei was 61, René Descartes was 29, Molière was 3, Rembrandt was 18 and Blaise Pascal was 1.

Born during James VI and I’s lifetime: René Descartes, Molière, Rembrandt, Blaise Pascal, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez and Thomas Hobbes.

Not quite contemporaries: Michelangelo died 2 years before James VI and I was born, John Locke was born 7 years after James VI and I died, Louis XIV of France was born 13 years after James VI and I died and Benedictus de Spinoza was born 7 years after James VI and I died.

Compare

All 57 contemporaries we track

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  4. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  5. Molière 1622 – 1673
  6. Rembrandt 1606 – 1669
  7. Blaise Pascal 1623 – 1662
  8. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  9. Elizabeth I of England 1533 – 1603
  10. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  11. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  12. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  13. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  14. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  15. John Milton 1608 – 1674
  16. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  17. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  18. Jean de La Fontaine 1621 – 1695
  19. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  20. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  21. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  22. Oliver Cromwell 1599 – 1658
  23. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  24. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  25. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  26. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  27. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  28. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  29. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  30. Pierre de Fermat 1607 – 1665
  31. Luís de Camões 1524–1525 – 1580
  32. Charles I of England 1600 – 1649
  33. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  34. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  35. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  36. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  37. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  38. Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  39. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  40. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  41. Abel Tasman 1603 – 1659
  42. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  43. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  44. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  45. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  46. François de La Rochefoucauld 1613 – 1680
  47. Aurangzeb 1618 – 1707
  48. Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  49. Louis XIII of France 1601 – 1643
  50. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  51. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  52. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  53. Evangelista Torricelli 1608 – 1647
  54. Pieter Brueghel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  55. Pius V 1504 – 1572
  56. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  57. Urban VIII 1568 – 1644