Also known as Peter the Great, Peter I ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire 1682 until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother. Through a number of successful wars, he expanded the Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized and based on the Enlightenment.

English naval administrator, politician, and diarist. Pepys' Diary, spanning from 1660 to 1669 and first published in 1825, is a valuable account of upper-class life during the English Restoration period.

Italian poet and scholar, son-in-law to Vicenzo Monti. Perticari aided Monti in the debate against linguistic purism in Italy.

Greek mythological figure who slew the Gorgon and rescued Andromeda.

Athenian statesman.

Poet, translator, and antiquarian Thomas Percy is best remembered today for his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), which inspired widespread interest in British folk literary forms such as ballads and verse tales as well as contributing to the late eighteenth century formation of a British literary canon.

An English knight and rebel who fought in campaigns against Scots on the Anglo-Scottish border as well as the French in the Hundred Years' War, Henry Percy was nicknamed "Hotspur" by the Scots for his speed and attack readiness. Percy aided Henry IV in the usurpation of Richard II, but eventually, Percy led a series of uprisings against Henry IV. Percy is a major character in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1.

Sister to Sir Philip Sidney and aunt to Lady Mary Wroth, this literary patroness was a poet and translator in her own right, authoring a substantial body of religious verse.

Italian author, dramatist, and patriot. Writings of his hardship as a political prisoner inspired sympathy for the Italian nationalist movement.

Poet and playwright during the Elizabethan period. Peele dabbled in many genres of theatre, including history, pastoral, melodrama, folk, and tragedy, as well as pageants.