WRITER

François Rabelais

1494 - 1553

Photo of François Rabelais

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François Rabelais (UK: RAB-ə-lay, US: -⁠LAY; French: [fʁɑ̃swa ʁablɛ]; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French writer who has been called the first great French prose author. A humanist of the French Renaissance and Greek scholar, he attracted opposition from both Protestant theologian John Calvin and from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of François Rabelais has received more than 1,471,830 page views. His biography is available in 90 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 86 in 2019). François Rabelais is the 82nd most popular writer (up from 109th in 2019), the 67th most popular biography from France (up from 119th in 2019) and the 20th most popular French Writer.

François Rabelais is most famous for his book Gargantua and Pantagruel.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.5M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 78.36

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 90

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 10.98

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.06

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, François Rabelais ranks 82 out of 7,302. Before him are Václav Havel, Arthur Rimbaud, Maxim Gorky, Rainer Maria Rilke, Hesiod, and Henrik Ibsen. After him are Miyamoto Musashi, Isaac Asimov, Daniel Defoe, Knut Hamsun, Pablo Neruda, and Giorgio Vasari.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1494, François Rabelais ranks 3. Before him are Suleiman the Magnificent, and Francis I of France. After him are Fuzûlî, Georgius Agricola, Pontormo, Bona Sforza, Jean Parisot de Valette, Leo Africanus, Rosso Fiorentino, Lucas van Leyden, and William Tyndale. Among people deceased in 1553, François Rabelais ranks 1. After him are Şehzade Mustafa, Edward VI of England, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Michael Servetus, Şehzade Cihangir, Pedro de Valdivia, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, Maurice, Elector of Saxony, Girolamo Fracastoro, Sinan Pasha, and Lucrezia de' Medici.

Others Born in 1494

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Others Deceased in 1553

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In France

Among people born in France, François Rabelais ranks 67 out of 6,770. Before him are Francis I of France (1494), Claudius (-10), Arthur Rimbaud (1854), Louis Philippe I (1773), Louis de Funès (1914), and Michel Foucault (1926). After him are Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933), Jean-François Champollion (1790), Henri Bergson (1859), Pierre de Fermat (1601), Edgar Degas (1834), and Charles X of France (1757).

Others born in France

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Among WRITERS In France

Among writers born in France, François Rabelais ranks 20. Before him are Simone de Beauvoir (1908), Octave Mirbeau (1848), Marcel Proust (1871), Romain Rolland (1866), Charles Perrault (1628), and Arthur Rimbaud (1854). After him are George Sand (1804), Marquis de Sade (1740), André Gide (1869), Jean de La Fontaine (1621), Sully Prudhomme (1839), and Anatole France (1844).

French born Writers

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