Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra was born in Spain in 1547 to a family once proud and influential but fallen on hard times. His father, a poor barber-surgeon, wandered up and down Spain in search of work. Educated as a child by the Jesuits in Seville, Miguel grew up to follow the career of a professional soldier. He was wounded at Lepanto in 1571, captured by the Turks in 1575, imprisoned for five years, and was finally rescued by the Trinitarian friars in 1580.
On his return to Spain he found his family more impoverished than ever before. Supporting his mother, two sisters, and an illegitimate daughter, he settled down to a literary career and had hopes of becoming a successful playwright. However, the youthful Lope de Vega entered triumphantly just then to transform the Spanish theatre by his genius and Cervantes's attempts were overshadowed. Galatea, a pastoral romance, was published in 1585, the year of Cervantes' marriage to Catalina de Palacios y Salazar Vozmediano, but it did not bring him an escape from poverty and he was forced to become a roving commissary for the Spanish armada. This venture, which led to bankruptcy and jail, lasted for fifteen years.
Although he never knew prosperity, Cervantes did gain a measure of fame during his lifetime: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza were known all over the world. Part I of Don Quixote was published in 1605 and in 1613, his Exemplary Novels appeared. These picturesque tales of romantic adventure gained immediate popularity. In 1614 Journey to Parnassas, a satirical review of his fellow Spanish poets, appeared, and in 1615 Part II of Don Quixote and Eight Plays and Eight Interludes were published. Cervantes died on April 23, 1616, the same day as the death of Shakespeare—his English contemporary and his only peer.
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