Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, born in 1547, is celebrated as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and the author of Don Quixote, widely regarded as the first modern novel. His life was a tapestry of adventure and hardship: Cervantes served as a soldier and was grievously wounded in the famed Battle of Lepanto, which left his left hand permanently maimed. While returning to Spain, he was captured by pirates and spent five years as a slave in Algiers, making several daring but unsuccessful escape attempts before being ransomed. Despite his literary genius, Cervantes struggled with poverty, working as a tax collector and royal messenger to make ends meet, and he only achieved fame in his later years with the publication of Don Quixote in 1605.
Did You Know?
- As a soldier, he suffered two gunshot wounds to the chest and one to his left hand, which became permanently disabled.
- Cervantes and his brother were captured by pirates off the coast of France in 1575 and sold into slavery in Algiers.
- His experiences as a soldier and prisoner became foundational to his storytelling, infusing his novels, plays, and poetry with vivid realism, empathy, and dramatic tension.
- Cervantes’s inventive spirit, humor, and resilience continue to inspire readers worldwide, and Spanish is still called “the language of Cervantes” in his honor.