He was a slave, but he invented Don Quixote in prison: 5 incredible facts about Miguel de Cervantes
On April 23, 1616, the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the author of the immortal novel “Don Quixote”, died. The story of the knight who fought with windmills is known to everyone, but the life of its author is also worth paying attention to.
Cervantes and Shakespeare died on the same day, but according to different calendars: the first – according to the Gregorian, and the second – according to the Julian, that is, with a difference of 10 days, and it was April 23 that became World Book Day. Little-known facts about Miguel de Cervantes were collected for you by 24 Channel.
Lost his arm in the war
Miguel de Cervantes was a participant in the war of the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire. One of the largest battles of this war took place in 1571 at Lepanto. There, Cervantes, who was on board the ship “Marquis”, fought despite his illness and suffered 3 wounds. One of them led to paralysis of his left arm.
I lost my left arm for the sake of my right arm,
Cervantes later wrote.
Then the Christian alliance defeated the Ottoman fleet and won a brilliant victory. Therefore, Cervantes was proud of his participation in this war.
And as for his arm, he even joked that he did not use it anyway, because he was right-handed.
He spent 5 years in slavery
The ship “Marquis”, which was returning from the war, was captured by pirates. The crew members, including Cervantes, were sold into slavery in Algeria.
He tried to escape 4 times, but it was in vain. He was beaten and tortured. And only after 5 years was he redeemed by monks, so Cervantes was able to return to Spain.
He created a parody that became a masterpiece
In our time, Cervantes could have become a stand-up comedian, because he really liked to joke and, as they say in slang, “to fight.” For example, he was terribly annoyed by chivalric novels, which were at the peak of their popularity at that time.
So the writer decided to create a parody of a chivalric novel to ridicule this genre. But unexpectedly for Cervantes himself, the parody gained incredible popularity and is still famous – we are talking about the novel “Don Quixote”.
He was imprisoned by mistake
It is interesting that Cervantes was imprisoned twice in his homeland. After returning to Spain, he became a tax collector for the needs of the fleet. The first time he was imprisoned for six months for lack of funds, but it turned out that this was an accounting error on Cervantes’s part.
Then Cervantes covered his own needs from taxes when his salary was withheld, and the banker, because to whom the writer transferred money for the fairy tale – went bankrupt. So he was accused of negligence and imprisoned a second time.
Interestingly, it was during his second imprisonment that Cervantes had the idea to create “Don Quixote”.
Just 10 years ago, Cervantes’ grave was considered lost
After the death of Miguel de Cervantes, he was buried in a monastery in Madrid, but it was later rebuilt, so the writer’s grave was lost.
And for several centuries, Cervantes’ ashes were considered lost, until in 2015, scientists managed to find remains that probably belong to the writer. This fact is confirmed by DNA analysis.
Interestingly, now the monastery where Cervantes is buried is located on the street of Lope de Vega – Cervantes’ literary rival, who actually ousted him from drama.