Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes was born in 1547 in Alcalá de Henares, the son of a barber-surgeon who was often in debt. A soldier in Italy, he lost the use of his left hand at the battle of Lepanto, in 1571. Captured by corsairs in 1575, he remained a captive in Algiers for five years, tried four times to escape and was ransomed in 1580 by the Trinitarians. Back in Spain, he became a commissary for the Armada, then a tax collector, posts that earned him several spells in prison. He died in Madrid in 1616.

In the catalogue 1

• NovelDon QuixoteDon Quijote de la ManchaMiguel de Cervantes · 1605LiteraturePublic domain