renowned epic, laying an important foun-
dation for modern literature and the novel.
Born in Alcala de Henares, a town near
Madrid, Cervantes was the son of a physi-
cian and minor noble. He left Spain as a
young man and journeyed to Rome, where
he entered the service of a cardinal. In
Rome he discovered the literature of an-
cient Latin authors, and was inspired by
the idea of reviving the literature of antiq-
uity.
Cervantes enlisted with a Spanish gar-
rison in the city of Naples, Italy, then un-
der the control of a Spanish royal dynasty.
He sailed with the fleet that battled the
Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto,
off the western coast of Greece, in 1571.
He was wounded by gunfire in the battle
and lost the use of his left hand—an in-
jury that remained a source of great pride
throughout his life. He returned to active
service and sailed in expeditions against
the Turks in Greece and Tunis, a North
African port.
In 1575 he set out for Spain from
Naples. In the waters off the northern
coasts of Catalonia, Cervantes’s ship was
attacked and he was captured by Algerian
pirates, who brought him to the city of
Algiers and sold him into slavery. He was
held for five years until his parents ran-
somed him and brought him back to
Spain.
Civilian life in Spain led him into a
number of poorly paid positions as a civil
servant. He worked as a purchasing agent
for the fleet assembled against the English,
known as the Spanish Armada, and as a
tax agent, whose duties included the col-
lection of taxes for the royal treasury. He
suffered arrest and two short prison terms
for misconduct and debt; historians be-
lieve that during one of these imprison-
ments he began writingDon Quixote.
He had begun his literary effort with
La Galatea, a short novel, in 1585. In 1597
he was accused of mishandling money as
a tax collector and was jailed in the royal
prison of Seville. In 1607 Cervantes settled
in Madrid, where he remained for the rest
of his life. He wrote theExemplary Novels
in 1613, and a second part toDon Quixote
in 1615. He recounted his misadventures
as a slave in Algiers in two plays,The Traf-
fic of AlgiersandThe Baths of Algiers.
Don Quixotefirst appeared in 1605. It
was a tale of a poor Spanish nobleman,
who relives the glories of the chivalric age
through a fertile imagination and the com-
panionship of a simple and devoted com-
panion, Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is in
constant quest to fight injustice, defendAn engraving of Miguel de Cervantes.
Cervantes, Miguel de