Miguel de Cervantes Biography

In the gallery of universal and eternal symbols, two figures were thrust into fame by the pen of the great writer of the Golden Age of Spain, Miguel de Cervantes (sur-VAHN-teez). These two figures, one sad and gaunt, the other chubby and jovial, are the gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha and his squire, Sancho Panza. “Thin, shriveled, fanciful, and full of various thoughts,” the first, and “a man of a good nature but with very little salt in the crown of his head,” the second—both constitute an inseparable duality typifying all aspects of humanity through the ages.

Cervantes, author of Don Quixote de la Mancha, was “more versed in misfortunes than in verses.” Born in Alcalá de Henares in 1547, probably on September 29, he was baptized on October 9 of the same year. Fourth son of a poor and deaf surgeon, Rodrigo de Cervantes, and Leonor de Cortinas, his wife, Cervantes was at a disadvantage from the beginning. The father followed his profession in Valladolid, and there Cervantes spent some years of his boyhood. Cervantes may have lived in Seville and Salamanca for a time, but the only known fact is that by 1567 he was studying in Madrid at the School of General Studies, later the University, under the instruction of Juan Lopez de Hoyos, a professor of humanities who called Cervantes “our dear and beloved pupil.” In 1569, as chamberlain in the household of Cardinal Giulio Acquaviva, Cervantes journeyed to Italy, where he had the opportunity to visit Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, and Naples. These cities—especially the first two—were, at the time, centers of Renaissance culture, and this experience undoubtedly gave Cervantes a taste for literature and art that remained with him for the rest of his life.

In 1570, he enlisted as a soldier in the forces of Diego de Urbina. On October 7, 1571, Cervantes fought for the Holy League against the Ottoman Turks in the naval battle of Lepanto aboard the galley La Marquesa. In spite of a high fever and the advice of friends to stay in the cabin of the vessel, he fought as valiantly as any of the others and received three bullet wounds, two in the chest and one in the left hand, which disabled it permanently.

After recovering from his wounds, Cervantes fought in engagements at Navarino, Tunis, and Goletta. When he was on his way back to Spain, the galley Sol on which he was traveling was captured by Turkish pirates. Cervantes was taken to Algiers, where he remained a prisoner for the next five years. He attempted to escape four times but never succeeded. Finally, on October 24, 1580, he was ransomed by Juan Gil, a Trinitarian friar.

Cervantes returned to Spain after spending these formative years abroad and began a grimmer period of daily struggle and hardships. In 1584, he married Dona Catalina de Palacios. The complete failure of his domestic life echoes through Galatea: A Pastoral Romance, his first work as a professional writer. In the discharge of his duties as a commissary deputy procuring wheat for the Invincible Armada, he unjustly suffered excommunication and two terms in prison. In the Seville prison, he conceived the framework of his masterpiece, Don Quixote de la Mancha.

In 1605, he was living in Valladolid with his two sisters, his illegitimate daughter Isabel de Saavedra, and his niece Constanza de Ovando. The fatal wounding of a gentleman, Don Gaspar de Ezpeleta, outside the house in which Cervantes lived caused the mayor, Don Cristobal de Villarreal, to suspect that the writer’s household was in some way connected with the brawl, and Cervantes and his whole family were arrested. A few days later, they were released because nothing could be proved against them, but the investigation revealed questionable morals on the part of one of Cervantes’ sisters and his daughter, as well as the sordid, poverty-stricken surroundings in which they lived.

When the court moved to Madrid, Cervantes returned to that city. His life, which had been one of varied experience and...