Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra is considered the finest writer in the Spanish language and one of the most important novelists ever. He is famous for his two-part novel *Don Quixote*, which many authors have called the greatest book ever written and the single most essential work in world literature. It is often regarded as the first modern novel. A lot of his life was lived in poverty and without much recognition, which is why many of his early writings have been lost. Still, his impact is so great that Spanish is sometimes called "the language of Cervantes."

In 1569, Cervantes had to leave Spain for Rome, where he worked for a cardinal. The next year, he joined a Spanish Navy infantry unit. At the Battle of Lepanto in October 1571, he was badly hurt and lost the use of his left arm and hand. He stayed a soldier until 1575, when Barbary pirates captured him. After five years as a prisoner, he was ransomed and went back to Madrid. His first major novel, *La Galatea*, came out in 1585, but he kept working as a purchasing agent and later as a tax collector. Part One of *Don Quixote* was published in 1605, and Part Two in 1615. His other works include the twelve *Novelas ejemplares*, a long poem called *Viaje del Parnaso*, and *Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses*. The novel *Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda* was published after his death in 1617.

Even though he later became famous, many details of Cervantes’s life are unclear, including his name, background, and what he looked like. He signed his name "Cerbantes," but his printers used "Cervantes," which became standard. Later in life, he used "Saavedra," the name of a distant relative, instead of his mother’s surname "Cortinas." Historian Luce López-Baralt has suggested that "Saavedra" comes from the Arabic word *shaibedraa*, meaning "one-handed," a reference to his nickname while captive, but this idea is still debated. There is also disagreement about his ethnic background. Some have suggested that one or both of his parents might have been New Christians—Catholics with Jewish ancestry—but there is little support for this. Cuban writer Roberto González Echevarría says the claims of *converso* origins rest on "very flimsy evidence," such as Cervantes’s lack of social and financial success, which was common for Spaniards of his time regardless of ancestry.

It is generally accepted that Miguel de Cervantes was born around 29 September 1547 in Alcalá de Henares. He was the second son of barber-surgeon Rodrigo de Cervantes and his wife, Leonor de Cortinas. Rodrigo came from Córdoba, where his father Juan de Cervantes was a powerful lawyer. Rodrigo was often in debt or looking for work, so the family moved constantly. Leonor, who died in October 1593 at age 73, could read and write, had seven children, and was a resourceful businesswoman. When Rodrigo was imprisoned for debt from October 1553 to April 1554, she supported the family alone. In his *Novelas ejemplares*, Cervantes says he stuttered. Some think this is a figure of speech meaning he lacked eloquence; others believe he really had a speech impediment, since he made similar comments in three other writings.

Cervantes’s siblings were Andrés (born 1543), Andrea (born 1544), Luisa (born 1546), Rodrigo (born 1550), Magdalena (born 1554), and Juan. They lived in Córdoba until 1556, when his grandfather died. For unknown reasons, Rodrigo did not inherit anything, and the family disappears from records until 1564, when he filed a lawsuit in Seville. Seville was booming economically, and Rodrigo managed rental housing for his older brother Andrés, a junior magistrate. It is thought Cervantes attended the Jesuit college in Seville, where one teacher was Jesuit playwright Pedro Pablo Acevedo, who moved there from Córdoba in 1561. But legal records show his father fell into debt again, and in 1566 the family moved to Madrid.

In the 19th century, a biographer found an arrest warrant for a Miguel de Cervantes, dated 15 September 1569, for wounding Antonio de Sigura in a duel. Though once disputed as unworthy of such a great author, it is now accepted as the likely reason he left Madrid. Cervantes eventually reached Rome and got a job in the household of Giulio Acquaviva, an Italian bishop who had been in Madrid in 1568–1569 and became a cardinal in 1570. When the Ottoman–Venetian War began in 1570, Spain joined the Holy League to support Venice. Probably hoping to have his arrest warrant cancelled, Cervantes went to Naples, then part of the Crown of Aragon. The military commander there was Álvaro de Sande, a family friend, who gave him a commission in the Tercio of Sicily under the Marqués de Santa Cruz. At some point, his younger brother Rodrigo joined him in Naples.