Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra has been compared to Homer, Dante and Chaucer and even been placed ahead of Goethe, Dickens, and Virgil. A prolific author (many of his works are lost), his best-known Don Quixote is almost unanimously named as the first modern novel. Yet in his own time Cervantes was not thought of as famous; the first biography of him was not published until 1738, more than century after his death. By then the only "facts" left were traditions, there was not even a certainly authentic portrait. Conjecture had become established fact. To further complicate the problem, much of what he claimed about himself has been proven to be untrue. Some of what is now written about him is deduced from his writings, and assumes that some of the incidents are biographical. There are many books about him, but all are replete with phrases such as "He probably...", "He may have ...", "We can suppose that ...", et cetera, and details vary. Even the dates of his birth and death, while often stated, are really unknown. The material below is compiled from a number of books and other sources and reflects this uncertainty.

BEGINNINGS
Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Hernares, a university town near Madrid in the year 1547. This year also marked the end of an era in Europe with the deaths of Henry VIII of England, Francis I of France and Hernan Cortéz, the Conquistador of Mexico. Miguel was baptized on October 9, so he would have been born shortly before. One generally accepted date for his birth is September 29, 1547.

There were many families named Cervantes in Spain, and many branches have claimed him as their own. However, in spite of thorough research into his early ancestry, his first certain progenitor was his paternal great-grandfather, Ruy Diáz de Cervantes of Córdova. His grandfather, Juan de Cervantes, was a lawyer and at times held the posts of mayor of Córdova and of magistrate in Toledo, Cuenca and other cities including Alcalá. The family seems to have been prosperous. One of Miguel's ancestors on his mother's side was a physician.

The university at Alcalá was founded in 1508 and, with Salamanca, became a focus of the Spanish Renaissance. (1508 was also the date of the publication of Amadís de Gaula and of the birth of Miguel's father, Roderigo.) As a youth Roderigo had enjoyed a prosperous life style, but his father, the above-mentioned Juan, deserted his family and its fortunes declined. Thus, while Rodrigo was of the hidalgo (minor gentry) class, he was poor. He was a surgeon at the Alcalá university, a lower position than a doctor, consisting mostly of bone-setting, bleeding et cetera, and one with much competition; life was hard and money was scarce. The house in which Miguel, the fourth of seven (or six) children, was born has been demolished and replaced by a modern reproduction. Roderigo was once jailed for debt, and money problems caused the family to move frequently. What Miguel did from infancy until 1567, when he settled in Madrid, is unknown. We do know his mother could read and write, rare among women at the time and almost invariably leading to a suspicion of Jewish or converso blood

Miguel can have had little formal education as a boy but, since his writings show a wide knowledge of languages, literature and history, he must have read extensively. His only known teacher, was the humanist Juan López de Hoyos, who wrote a volume on the illness and death of Elizabeth of Valois (the third wife of Philip II). Four of Miguel's early poems were written as part of a memorial for her. We know of no other writings until after his return from Algiers.

ROME AND LEPANTO
In 1569 Miguel suddenly left Spain for Rome. The reason is unknown, but there is a record of a duel in which a certain Miguel de Cervantes wounded another man, a crime punishable by prison, having the right hand cut off and exile for ten years. We do not known if this Miguel was the future author but, if he was, he was smart to flee. He eventually reached Italy where he took a position as chamberlain (a sort of secretary cum valet) to the soon-to-be Cardinal Acquaviva. Would he have achieved a such a position if he had been involved in a duel? He needed proof of limpieza de sangre for such a position and his father provided it. However, the ‘proof' consisted of a notarized statement by witnesses rather than a family tree. It satisfied the authorities but didn't really mean anything, and authors continue to speculate on his purity of blood, at least on his mother's side. His stay in Rome was brief; then we lose track of him until he appears on Spanish army payrolls (Note: At the time, southern Italy was Spanish.)

In 1571 the Holy League was formed between the Papacy, Spain, Venice and Malta and was headed by Don Juan of Austria. Cervantes and his younger brother Roderigo became soldiers and sailed with the fleet as fighters, not as sailors. (Soldiers served in both the army and the navy.) Don Juan's armada, consisting of over 300 vessels, met the Turks in the battle of Lepanto. Cervantes was sick, possibly with typhoid, but he insisted on going on deck and joining the fighting. He received two wounds in the chest and a bullet in his left hand rendering it useless for the rest of his life. (Contrary to some reports, he did not lose it.) He became known as el manco de Lepanto (the one-handed man of Lepanto) and later said that he "lost movement of the left hand for the glory of the right", referring to his ability to write.

Cervantes spent seven months recovering in a hospital in Messina, Sicily. There he was visited by Don Juan and rewarded with a medal. He applied to Don Juan for a letter of recommendation and received a glowing one. This letter and others from his officers would have earned him good employment on his return to Spain. In spite of his bad hand, he then rejoined his regiment and spent four more years in Italy.

ALGIERS
In 1575 Cervantes and his brother sailed for Spain but were captured by Algerian corsairs; Miguel was twenty-eight. Ordinarily such captives ended as galley slaves, a virtual death sentence because the terrible conditions almost guaranteed very short life spans. However, captives who were deemed candidates for ransom were held as slaves in Algiers. Such was the fate of the Cervantes brothers, possibly because Don Juan's letter of recommendation Miguel carried gave the impression he was important and with powerful friends. He became a household slave for the corsair Dali Mani, and his ransom was set at 500 escudos, a huge sum and one his family would find almost impossible to pay.

At the time, Algiers was ruled by a Bey under the control of the Turks. It had been created by the Barbarossa brothers and was larger than Rome. Many of the corsairs, such as the Greek Dali Mani, were renegades (i.e. former Christians) and represented countries from all over Europe. Between 1520 and 1650 about 600,000 captives passed through the slave markets of Algiers. Captives were kept in baños of which there were seven. Most were free to wander about the city by day but were locked up at night. They were of all social orders, priests, officers, et cetera, and most were waiting for ransom. Apparently Cervantes was able to do some writing while he was there. What we know of his life in the baños is inferred from the stories he later wrote.

During his captivity Cervantes and his brother were able to notify their family of their condition, and Roderigo was ransomed in 1577. The bravery of Cervantes during his five years of captivity is legendary. Four times he set up escape plans for himself and his fellow prisoners, but they always failed. He ended in chains but escaped death because of his potential value. Soon the Bey of Algiers, Hassán Pasha, who had himself been a Christian captive, purchased him and kept him in the dungeon of his own palace. Hassán was known to be extremely cruel, but he showed unusual benevolence to Cervantes, twice pardoning him for escape attempts which would usually have resulted in death. Apparently Miguel was never tempted to renounce Christianity and become a renegade; many have witnessed his deep and unwavering faith. Finally, just before he was to be taken to Constantinople by Hassán, his ransom was collected and brought to Algiers by the Trinitarian monks.

Cervantes later wrote two plays El trato de Argel and Los baños de Argel (Argel = Algiers) about Christian slaves (one of the characters is named Saavedra) possibly largely autobiographical. The Captive's Tale in Don Quixote may also reflect some of his experiences. This is debated, but he certainly had a first hand knowledge of the lives of the Algerian captives.

RETURN TO SPAIN
When Cervantes was finally ransomed and returned to Spain he was thirty-four; he had no prospects, a maimed left hand, and no preparation for any profession. In addition, he had to compete with swarms of other ex military men looking for appointments, and Don Juan was dead. He was loaded with debts, and his parents were aging and poorer than ever. Furthermore, Spain was in the grip of an economic crisis. When he couldn't get an appointment at court, he applied for a post in the Americas, also without success, and then returned to writing. With up to forty plays, most of which are lost, he began to make a name as a poet. (The profession of writer did not exist at the time, and all authors, even the famous Lope de Vega had to have other sources of support.) Cervantes's most important work of this period was the pastoral novel La Galatea, which he may have begun while a prisoner in Algiers.

In 1585 he married Catalina Salazar y Vozmediano, the daughter of well-to-do hidalgo farmer and moved in with her family. His wife could read and write which again led to the usual suggestions of Jewish blood. One of their neighbors was named Alonso Quijada which may have suggested the name of the character, Alonzo Quijana, who adopted the persona of Don Quixote. His marriage was not happy and, after three years, he and Catalina spent most of their lives apart.

ANDALUCIA
Eventually Cervantes found a position in Seville as a commissary officer requisitioning supplies for the upcoming Spanish Armada. It was a particular difficult time in which to do this. Inflation, with the resulting increase in the cost of production, was causing a decrease in farming. Moreover, it was an during extremely dry period with poor crops. When jobs dried up, many of the farm workers left. Farms could not be worked, making shortages even more acute. Now, suddenly, there was the armada to be stocked requiring twice the amount of grain. Understandably, farmers were loathe to part with what stores they did have for mere promissory notes of doubtful value. Cervantes was ordered to enforce the collections and to take what he needed by force. When some of the religious houses refused to give up supplies, Cervantes seized them, and the Church reacted by excommunicating him. (Note: Excommunication had nothing to do with the Inquisition or with imprisonment. Both Philip II and Charles V were excommunicated twice without further consequences.) He had had no experience in keeping accounts and was soon in trouble with his, spending several short terms in prison as a result. (A number of fellow agents had similar problems and were also jailed; four were hanged, so the offenses of Cervantes must have been relatively minor.) Moreover, he did not receive his promised salary on time; over and over, he received a commendation for his work but no compensation. When he finally left this position he was found to be ‘trustworthy' and his accounts were approved. Once again he tried to gain a position in the Americas without success.

It had been a difficult time to say the least. For five years he had spent his life travelling all over southern Spain, through heat and cold, on mule back or in a cart. On the positive side he got to know the life of the people of Spain very well, more so than any of his contemporaries. He especially came to know the Spanish peasantry and, without this experience, the world may never have known Sancho Panza.

While in Seville he met wealthy relatives, the Cervantes Saavedras. His family was not a part of this branch, but he added Saavedra to the name by which he was to be known in the future. Below are signatures of Cervantes, an early one with Cervantes only, a later one with Saavedra. Note also the use of "b" instead of "v", common in Spanish

THE TAX COLLECTOR
Later Cervantes obtained the post of tax collector in Granada. Plague and poor harvests made the job impossible, and his returns were short of the goal. Once more he ended in prison in Seville. It was a monstrous facility, housing 2000 prisoners, a capacity greater than that of all the other prisons in Spain combined. The old-timers subjected newcomers to initiation, and those with money could receive better food and other comforts. However, Cervantes, now fifty (the age portrayed in Man of La Mancha) was put in irons. He was there for several months, and petitioned Philip II for relief. The king ordered him to be released and sent to Madrid, but the order was not obeyed. After he was released, all traces of Cervantes in an official capacity disappeared.

Legend has it that Don Quixote was conceived while he was in prison in Seville but, if so, it was probably as a short story rather than the later long book. In his prologue to Don Quixote he wrote: "You may suppose it was the child of disturbance, engendered in some dismal prison, where wretchedness keeps its residence, and every dismal sound its habitation". Several cities other than Seville have been claimed as the site of this prison. Wherever it was, even if he first got the idea there, it is unlikely he did much actual writing; the conditions would have been too difficult, and the planning and execution of the novel was the work of years, not months.

After his release, Cervantes returned to writing, and Don Quixote Part I was published in 1605. (Note: The Captive's Tale was actually written earlier, in 1590 and later incorporated in the novel.)

THE MAN AND HIS WORKS
Cervantes was a very private man; and we have no record of friends and no private papers of his; he seems to have been marginalized socially. His family life was difficult. He had to support not only his wife, but his mother, his two sisters, his mother-in-law and an illegitimate daughter Isabella who lived with the family as a servant and ‘niece'. While we have no authenticated painting of Cervantes, he did leave a description of himself.

He whom you see here with the aquiline countenance, the chestnut hair, the smooth brow, merry eyes, the nose hooked but well proportioned; the silvery beard which less than twenty years ago was golden; large mustache, small mouth, the teeth not much to speak of because he has only six of them, and these in poor condition and badly placed with no two of them corresponding to any other two; his figure between two extremes, neither tall not short, high coloring, more to fair than dark, somewhat stooped in the shoulders, and not too light on his feet.

Avellanda, in the spurious Don Quixote Part II, referred to Cervantes as an "old and one-handed man". In his preface to his own second part, Cervantes replied:

What I cannot help taking amiss is that he charges me with being old and one-handed, as if it had been in my power to keep time from passing over me, or as if the loss of my hand had been brought about in some tavern, and not on the grandest occasion [Lepanto] the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see.

While Cervantes was acquainted with the writings of Erasmus and others, there is no evidence of Protestant leanings or trouble with the Inquisition. In 1593 he applied for membership in the Confraternity of the Slaves of the Most Holy Sacrament which was newly founded and frequented by literary men. In his application he made misstatements such giving Córdoba as his birthplace and claiming he had relatives in the Holy Office (Inquisition). The Confraternity had strict rules which he apparently followed, and when it became more worldly, he withdrew. Throughout his life Cervantes was known for his religious orthodoxy and was always a good Catholic; when he was excommunicated, he was able to be restored to good standing. At the same time, he was not above parodying the Inquisition in the chapter of Don Quixote (Part I Chapter VI) in which the priest and the barber hold an auto-da-fe of Quixote's books.

Cervantes belonged to the first generation of those who tried to make a living from writing and, in spite of his success, was never really out of poverty. If poor in money, he was rich in experience, and he incorporated that experience in his work, especially in Don Quixote. His writings are a reflection of the changes in Spain and Europe at the time. He claimed he was the first to have written stories in Castilian which were original, not translations or plagiarisms. His Exemplary Tales, a collection of twelve short stories, was published in 1913 and was one of the sources used by Dale Wasserman for his Man of La Mancha. Cervantes wrote many plays but probably sold them to managers of theatres soon after they were written rather than being an autor and actor deeply involved in every aspect of his plays as he is pictured in Man of La Mancha. He certainly received very little from them. As far as theatres went, it was the age of Lope de Vega. Cervantes was a footnote.

THE END
Toward the end of his life, Cervantes and his wife returned to living together, but she had joined an order which required chastity so they probably led mostly separate lives. They never had had any children. In 1613 he became a novice of Third Order of San Francisco and participated as much as his health permitted. He developed dropsy (edema) and was told not to drink water but had an insatiable unquenchable craving for it. He was administered Extreme Unction by a Trinitarian monk and died one year after the completion of Don Quixote Part II. He was buried according to the rites of the Third Order of San Francisco wearing a Franciscan habit. When the church was rebuilt, his remains were scattered. His will, if any, was lost and he left no descendants. (His only known child, the illegitimate Isabella, died childless.) Much has been made of the fact that he died on April 23, the same DATE as William Shakespeare, but he did not die on the same DAY. Britain was still on the Julian calendar, while Spain was already on the Gregorian. He probably died on April 22. UNESCO declared April 23 the International Day of the Book in honor of both men.

* From the time of the early Crusades, one of the functions of the religious orders was the redemption of captives. One which was devoted solely to this task was the Trinitarians, founded in 1198. In the sixteenth century they were forbidden to have horses and either walked or rode on mules. In Spain they were preceded by trumpeters and heralds asking families who had relatives in captivity to make themselves known. They collected funds from many sources and then traveled to the Barbary States, primarily Algiers, to arrange ransoms, disregarding the dangers of disease and attacks from the Muslims. It is estimated that the total number ransomed by the Trinitarians was about 90,000.

Sources consulted:
Canavaggio, Jean: Cervantes (translated by. J.R. Jones). W.W. Norton & Company, 1986
Cascardi, Anthony J. ed. : Cambridge Companion to Cervantes. Camb. Univ. Press, 2002
Diaz-Plaja, Fernando: Cervantes: The Life of a Genius. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1970
Echevarría, Roberto González: Introduction to Penguin 2000 edition of Don Quixote
Lockhart, LL.D., John Gibson: Introduction in Everyman's Library edition.
   Here titled "The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha"
McCrory, Donald P.: No Ordinary Man: The Life and Times of Miguel de Cervantes. Dover 2006

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Cervantes
Project Gutenberg: Translators Prefix at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/996/996.txt

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Revised June 2009
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