History Hot 100 Poll

Results for 2017

BBC History Extra has announced the results of its History Hot 100 poll: the historical figures that fascinated people most in 2017.

The survey was open to all, and participants were able to nominate up to three people, who could have lived in any place in any historical period, but who died more than 30 years ago.

Richard III topped the list for the second year running, followed by Eleanor of Aquitaine in second place.

A whopping 23 of the History Hot 100 are from the Tudor and Renaissance period - it's a period which continues to fascinate!

Read more about those Tudor and Renaissance figures here.


Figures in brackets denote the person's ranking in the History Hot 100 list for 2017.


1.  Elizabeth I (4)     
    Last Tudor monarch and Queen of England for 45 years

2.  Anne Boleyn (5)
     Second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I

3.  William Shakespeare (9)
     English poet, playwright and actor

4.  Henry VIII (10)
     King of England

5.  Mary, Queen of Scots (11)
     Scottish queen and French queen consort

6.  Henry VII (12)
     King of England and founder of the Tudor dynasty

7.  Elizabeth Woodville (16)
     Queen consort of Edward IV and mother of Elizabeth of York

8.  Elizabeth of York (17)
     Queen consort of Henry VII and mother of Henry VIII

9.  Margaret Beaufort (18)
     Mother of King Henry VII and grandmother of Henry VIII

10. Thomas Cromwell (22)
      Henry VIII's first minister

11. Mary I (26)
     
First queen regnant of England

12. Katharine of Aragon (32)
    
First wife of Henry VIII, daughter of Isabella of Castile and mother of Mary I

13. Lady Jane Grey (61)
    
Queen of England for nine days

14. Katherine Parr (72)
    
Sixth and last wife of Henry VIII

15. Anne of Cleves (76)
     Fourth wife of Henry VIII

16. Isabella of Castile (77)
    
Queen of Castile and wife of King Ferdinand of Aragon

17. Bess of Hardwick (82)
    
Elizabethan noblewoman

18. Catherine de Medici (83)
    
Queen consort of King Henri II of France and mother-in-law to Mary, Queen of Scots

19. Thomas More (88)
    
Tudor scholar and Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII

20. Cicely Neville (90)
    
Mother to Edward IV and Richard III

21. Margaret Tudor (92)
     Daughter of Henry VII and queen consort of James IV of Scotland

22. Katheryn Howard (97)
     Fifth wife of Henry VIII

23. Francis Drake (99)
    
English admiral and explorer