For his decisive contributions to the structuring of the Castilian language and for his impressive literary work, the biography of Miguel de Cervantes is one of the most fascinating in history. The life of The Manco of Lepanto is as interesting as his literary creations.
His most important work, the ingenious knight Don Quixote of the English Channel, is the most widely read text in history, only the Bible surpasses it. Sigmund Freud is said to have only learned to speak Spanish for the pleasure of reading this book in his mother tongue, however, Miguel de Cervantes received almost no income from this gigantic contribution to world literature.
“Poetry can excel in the simplest things. “-Miguel de Cervantes-
Miguel de Cervantes, like other great writers in history, did not complete his postgraduate studies or have access to important teachers, in reality very little is known about his life, especially from his early years, on the other hand, have written thousands of analyses and countless comments.
The life of Miguel de Cervantes was marked by economic difficulties, believed to have been born on September 29, 1547 in Alcalá de Henares, son of Rodrigo de Cervantes, a modest man of life who practiced as a surgeon, without having completed his studies for it. The family came and went, always looking for better conditions. This meant Miguel had no continuing education.
Miguel de Cervantes was stuttering. He didn’t regret his condition, but he played with him. He was also a great fan of theatre. He spent many nights watching the works of Lope de Rueda, which were presented at the time.
It is believed that because of legal problems he left Spain and settled in Rome, where he joined the militia, which led him to participate in the Battle of Lepante in 1571, where he participated in a naval battle against the Turks, in which they wounded his left hand with a shotgun, leaving this limb in bad shape. He then traveled through Italy and became acquainted with local literature.
On his return trip from Italy, where he spent several years in Spain, Turkish pirates attacked the ship he was on, captured him and sold him as a slave with his accompanying brother Rodrigo. The two lived as slaves for five years. in Algiers, until his family raised the money to pay the ransom and sent an emissary to make the payment.
Shortly after his return to Spain he married Catalina Salazar de Palacios. He also began working in low-level bureaucratic operations because his family was struggling financially. From 1587 he began acting as General Commissioner of Supply, a minor position that brought him into contact with picturesque characters from small towns.
Your marriage was unhappy. Miguel de Cervantes never mentioned his wife in his autobiographical notes, after two years of marriage, and for the trips involved in his situation, they barely saw each other, had no children, although he had a daughter with a married woman, whom he recognized at 16.
Miguel de Cervantes was arrested in 1597, accused of appropriation of public money, it was in prison that the seed of what Would Be Born Was Born, until then several of his works, especially short novels and plays, had been published. The work has always been well received, it has not reported any significant economic gains.
The only remaining image of Miguel de Cervantes is his description of himself in the foreword to the exemplary novels, in which he describes himself as a toothless old man, so the images we know today are just an approximation of his true appearance.
Miguel de Cervantes would have died of diabetes at the age of 68 on April 23, in fact he died on the 22nd and the 23rd was the day of his funerals, he had asked to be buried in the Convent das Trinitia Descalcaas, because this congregation had helped him in his time of slavery. The great creator was buried in a tomb without a tombstone or name. So far, his remains have not been found.