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The Medieval Era
Caliphs, monks, poets, and conquerors who carried learning and power through the middle centuries.
Medieval era
Ibn al-Haytham
965 CE – 1038
Arab physicist, mathematician and astronomer (c. 965 – c. 1040)
Medieval era
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
980 CE – June 18, 1037
Persian polymath whose Canon of Medicine taught Europe for 600 years
Medieval era
Al-Razi
866 CE – 925 CE
Persian polymath, physician, chemist and philosopher (854-925)
Medieval era
Al-Biruni
September 4, 973 CE – December 9, 1048
11th-century Persian scholar and polymath (973–1048)
Medieval era
Paracelsus
November 10, 1493 – September 24, 1541
Swiss physician, philosopher, theologian, and alchemist (c. 1493–1541)
Medieval era
Johannes Gutenberg
1400 – February 3, 1468
Inventor of movable-type printing, the engine of the modern mind
Medieval era
Li Bai
May 19, 701 CE – November 30, 762 CE
Classical Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty (701–762)
Medieval era
Du Fu
712 CE – 770 CE
Tang dynasty Chinese poet (712–770)
Medieval era
Murasaki Shikibu
978 CE – 1014
Japanese novelist and poet (c.973–c.1014)
Medieval era
Ferdowsi
940 CE – 1020
Persian poet, author of Shahnameh (940–1020)
Medieval era
Omar Khayyam
May 18, 1048 – December 4, 1131
Persian mathematician and poet (1048–1131)
Medieval era
Hafez
1326 – 1389
Persian poet and mystic (1325–1389)
Medieval era
Maimonides
March 30, 1138 – December 13, 1204
Medieval Jewish philosopher from Spain (1135–1204)
Medieval era
Averroes
April 14, 1126 – December 10, 1198
Arab Andalusian Muslim writer and philosopher (1126–1198)
Medieval era
Ibn Khaldun
May 27, 1332 – March 17, 1406
Historiographer and historian
Medieval era
Dante Alighieri
May 30, 1265 – September 13, 1321
Florentine poet, writer, and philosopher (c. 1265–1321)
Medieval era
Geoffrey Chaucer
1343 – October 25, 1400
14th century English poet and author (1343–1400)
Medieval era
Petrarch
July 19, 1304 – July 18, 1374
Italian scholar and poet (1304-1374)
Medieval era
Giovanni Boccaccio
June 16, 1313 – September 21, 1375
Italian author and poet (1313–1375)
Medieval era
Thomas More
February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535
English statesman, lawyer and philosopher (1478–1535)
Medieval era
Erasmus
October 28, 1466 – July 12, 1536
Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian (1466-1536)
Medieval era
Niccolo Machiavelli
May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527
Florentine statesman, diplomat, and political theorist (1469–1527)
Medieval era
Donatello
1386 – December 13, 1466
Early Renaissance Italian sculptor (1386–1466)
Medieval era
Sandro Botticelli
1445 – 1510
Italian painter (1445–1510)
Medieval era
Titian
1488 – September 26, 1576
Italian painter (c.1490–1576)
Medieval era
Albrecht Durer
May 21, 1471 – April 6, 1528
German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist (1471-1528)
Medieval era
Jan van Eyck
1390 – July 9, 1441
Flemish painter (c.1390–1441)
Medieval era
Hieronymus Bosch
1450 – August 9, 1516
Painters in art (1450–1516)
Medieval era
Filippo Brunelleschi
1377 – April 15, 1446
Italian architect, sculptor and engineer
Medieval era
Leif Erikson
972 CE – 1020
Norse explorer (c. 970 – c. 1020)
Medieval era
Marco Polo
September 15, 1254 – January 8, 1324
Venetian merchant whose travels opened European eyes to Asia
Medieval era
Ibn Battuta
February 24, 1304 – 1368
Moroccan explorer who traveled 120,000 km across the medieval world
Medieval era
Zheng He
1371 – 1433
Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat
Medieval era
Vasco da Gama
1469 – December 24, 1524
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
Medieval era
Amerigo Vespucci
March 9, 1454 – February 22, 1512
Florentine explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer
Medieval era
John Cabot
1450 – 1498
Italian navigator and explorer (c. 1450 – c. 1499)
Medieval era
Jacques Cartier
December 31, 1491 – September 24, 1557
Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
Medieval era
Hernan Cortes
1485 – December 2, 1547
Spanish conquistador
Medieval era
Francisco Pizarro
March 16, 1478 – June 26, 1541
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
Medieval era
Juan Ponce de Leon
April 8, 1460 – 1521
Spanish explorer and conquistador
Medieval era
Ali Hujwiri
1009 – September 25, 1072
Sufi mystic
Medieval era
Moinuddin Chishti
February 1, 1143 – March 15, 1236
Persian Sufi Chishtiyya order mystic (1143–1236)
Medieval era
Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
1173 – November 27, 1235
Indian Sufi
Medieval era
Fariduddin Ganjshakar
1175 – 1265
12th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic
Medieval era
Nizamuddin Auliya
1238 – April 3, 1325
One of the most prominent Indian Sufi Saint, lived most of his life around Delhi. Spiritual guide to Amir Khusrau
Medieval era
Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi
1274 – September 13, 1356
Mystic poet and Sufi saint
Medieval era
Amir Khusrau
1253 – September 27, 1325
Indian poet, writer, singer and scholar (1253–1325)
Medieval era
Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari
February 21, 1196 – March 16, 1291
13th century South Asian Sufi saint
Medieval era
Bande Nawaz
August 7, 1321 – November 10, 1422
Indian Sufi saint
Medieval era
Salim Chishti
1478 – 1572
Sufi saint of the Chishti Order during the Mughal Empire in India
Medieval era
Ashraf Jahangir Semnani
1309 – July 26, 1405
Indian Sufi saint
Medieval era
Bahauddin Zakariya
1170 – 1267
Sufi saint
Medieval era
Shah Rukn-e-Alam
November 24, 1251 – March 9, 1335
Sufi saint from Multan
Medieval era
Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari
1199 – 1291
Sufi saint of the Indian subcontinent
Medieval era
Jahaniyan Jahangasht
January 19, 1308 – 1384
Sufi saint
Medieval era
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar
1177 – 1274
Sufi saint, philosopher and poet
Medieval era
Bu Ali Shah Qalandar
1209 – 1324
Indian Sufi saint
Medieval era
Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani
October 22, 1314 – January 18, 1385
Iranian Kubrawiya Sufi saint (c.1312–1384)
Medieval era
Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali
April 9, 1378 – March 12, 1439
Kashmiri poet
Medieval era
Lal Ded
1320 – 1392
Kashmiri writer, mystic and saint.