well, as you intend to go on, let me give you some info of who was who in Europe about 1610 (the list is not complete of course). hope this will help. So your hero could in 1610 meet and talk with Shakespeare, Gallileo, Rabelais, El Greco, Descartes etc. not a bad company :-))

Painters
Caravaggio (died in 1610, worth checking)
El Greco
Hans Holbein the Younger
Nicholas Hilliard
Jacques Callot
Guido Reni
Nicolas Poussain (tied in 20th century to speculations of the Da Vinci cypher type)
Peter Paul Rubens

mathematicians,
Francois Viete, French,
Thomas Harriot, English
Werner, German
Clavius, Italian
John Neper, inventor of logarythms, Scottish
Gallieo Gallilei

Geography, Astronomy
Pierre Gassendi, French
Mercator, Dutch
Johannes Kepler, Austrian (his mother was burnt as a witch)
Christoph Scheiner, German


Medicine, anatomy
Ambrois Pare, French
Fabrice dAcquapedente, Italian
Rabelais, yes, he was also a professor of anatomy
William Harvey, English
Gasparo Aselli, Italian

Religion
Giordano Bruno, burnt 1600, Italian
Adam Scholl, travelled to China


General
Francis Bacon, English
Marin Mersenne, French
Descartes, French

Rulers (years of rule)
Paul V pope, 1605-1621
Christian IV, Denmark and Norway, 1588 –1648
Karl IX, Sweden (regent), 1599 king 1604 – 1611
Maurice of Nassau, Netherlands, stadtholder, 1584 – 1625
Henry IV of Navarre, France, 1589-1610, after that Louis XIII
Henri, duke of Lorraine, 1608-1624
Honore II, Prince of Monaco, 1604-1662
John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, 1608-1620
Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia 1568-1618
Christian II, Elector of Saxony 1591-1611
Frederick V, Count of Palatinate, 1610-1623
Eberhard VIII, Cound of Wurttemberg, 1608-1628
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, 1598-1651
(Gemanry also: Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, Hesse, Baden-Baden, Baden-Durlach, Julich,)
Ferdinand II of Germany, Maximilian, Matthias – all Habsburg - Austrian lands,
Philip III, Spain (and Portugal), 1598-1621
Charles Emanuel I, Savoy, 1580-1630
Ranuccio I, Parma 1592-1622
Cosimo II, Duke of Florence, 1609-1621
Alfonso III, Ferrara, 1597-1628
Gabriel Bathory, Transylvania, 1608-1613
Radu VIII, Wallachia, 1602-1611
Sigismund III Wasa, Poland, 1587-1632
Vasili IV Shuysky, Russia, 1606-1610
JamesVI, Scotland , 1567-1625 (later James I of England)
James I, England, 1603-1625

[Edited by - Borkhan on December 7, 2006 7:45:41 AM]

Hey, that was probably the most help I've gotten on this thread, and from the person who had the most to criticize. :-p

Thank you very much, you've really given me some more direction for my research.

just helping you on your way to your personal hell :-)) And anyway, I like your style of responding to critique.

p.s.
i did not include writers, warriors and religious leaders. if you need them just let me know.