Dromo's Den

[Up] [Dromo's Den]

Miguel de Cervantes Biography

Miguel de Cervantes Image

CERVANTES SAAVEDRA Miguel de, author of "Don Quixote," born of a noble Castilian family on Oct. 9, 1547; died at Madrid, Spain, April 23,1616. He removed from Alcala de Henares, the place of his birth, to Madrid at the age of seven years. He was educated at Salamanca and Madrid. His love of poetry led him to spend much time in writing sonnets, ballads, elegies, and, a pastoral romance called "Filena." He served under Colonna in 1570 in the war against the Turks and African corsairs, and lost the use of his left hand in the battle of Lepanto in 1571. Later he joined the services of the Spanish king, and won the highest honors as a soldier while serving with the troops at Naples. He was taken captive by Arnaut Mami in 1575 and sold as a slave into Algeria, where he remained for seven years. His friends and relatives spent most of their possessions to ransom him in 1580, after which he rejoined his old regiment and took part in the storming of Terceira. In 1583 he retired from military service and engaged in literary work, and the next year published his pastoral entitled "Galatea." He lived retired at Seville from 1588 to 1599, where he held an unimportant office and prepared a number of writings for the stage. The total of this class of productions includes between twenty-five and thirty. His most celebrated work is "Don Quixote," the first part of-which appeared in 1605. This production sprung into popularity at once on account of its satirical treatment of the chivalric novels then popular. It embodies human types of marked interest, and exercised a profound bearing upon private and public life. The last of this noted production did not appear until 1615, and it, with other portions, attained sufficient popularity and influence upon Spanish customs to cause many changes of dress and habit. Other productions from his pen are "Exemplary Novels" and "Journey to Parnassus."

The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopædia, Vol. I (Kansas City: Bufton Book Co., 1909) 323-324.