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Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (September 29, 1547 – 
April 23, 1616), was a Spanish author, best known 
for his novel Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Biography
Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in 1547 
and christened on October 9 of that year in Alcalá 
de Henares, Spain. His father was Rodrigo de 
Cervantes, a surgeon - in those days an ill-paid 
profession of low repute which eventually led him 
to debtor's prison. His mother, Leonor de Cortinas, 
may have been a descendant of Jewish converts to 
Christianity.

Little is known of his early life. He studied at the 
"Estudio de la Villa" whose teacher, Juan López de 
Hoyos, referred to him as "our dear and beloved 
pupil," a common form of address in those days. 
In 1569 he left Madrid for Rome, the reasons for 
which are unclear. According to some sources a 
warrant was issued for the arrest of one Miguel de 
Cervantes for having dueled and wounded the master 
builder Antonio de Sigura.

In Rome, Cervantes became an attendant of the 
Cardinal Julio Acquaviva and he published some 
elegies. He also joined a Spanish regiment there 
and was wounded while fighting in the Battle of 
Lepanto against the Turks in 1571; as a consequence, 
he lost the use of his left hand. From then on he 
was called 'el manco de Lepanto' (the one-handed 
man of Lepanto). As a highly paid soldier, Cervantes 
received letters of recommendation from important 
persons such as Don John of Austria and the Duke 
of Sessa.

In 1575, while returning to Spain, he and his brother 
Rodrigo were captured by Barbary pirates based in 
Algiers. There he became the slave of the renegade 
Dalí Mamí and later the bey Hassan Pasha. The bey, 
considering the letters of recommendation, set a 
ransom of 500 gold ducats as ransom. Cervantes' 
family was poverty-stricken and, according to 
some, his sisters had to resort to unorthodox 
procedures to be able to collect the required sum. 
He was held captive in Algiers, tried several times 
to escape until he was freed in 1580 when his 
ransom was paid. The experience of 5 years in 
captivity inspired numerous passages in his work, 
such as the history of the Captive in the first part 
of Don Quixote de la Mancha and the drama Los baños 
de Argel (The Baths of Algiers).

Upon returning to Spain he found that no posts were 
available in the kingdom in spite of his letters of 
recommendation. Penniless, he married Catalina de 
Palacios Salazar y Vozmediano of Esquivias in 1584 
and lived in the town of Esquivias, Toledo. He 
published La Galatea a year later; he was a supplier 
of provisions to the Spanish Armada and a tax 
collector for a while.

Cervantes began writing Don Quixote in 1597 while 
imprisoned in Sevilla for debt. In 1605 he published 
Part I of his major work, formally known as El 
Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (The 
Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha). Part 
II did not appear until 1615. Between Part I and Part 
II of Don Quixote he published Novelas Ejemplares (The 
Exemplary Novels), a collection of twelve short 
stories. In 1615, he published Ocho Comedias y Ocho 
Entremeses Nuevos Nunca Representias although his most 
famous play today, La Numancia, stayed unedited until 
the 18th century.

His novel Los Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda was 
published posthumously one year after his death in 
1616 (in Madrid). Interestingly enough, he considered 
it to be his best work and far superior to Don Quixote.

His influence was such that in French and Spanish, the 
Spanish language is referred to proverbially as la 
langue/la lengua de Cervantes.


Did Cervantes and Shakespeare die on the same day?
It is often stated that Cervantes died on the same day 
as his English counterpart William Shakespeare, namely 
April 23, 1616. This is not correct. They did die on 
the same date, but not on the same day.

Spain adopted the Gregorian calendar (or New Style) 
immediately in 1582. But England stayed with the Julian 
calendar (Old Style) until 1752. In the 16th and 17th 
centuries the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of 
the Julian calendar. So Cervantes died on April 23, 
1616 in the Gregorian calendar, but Shakespeare died 
ten days later on April 23, 1616 in the Julian 
calendar, which is the same day as May 3, 1616 in 
the Gregorian calendar.