Miguel de Cervantes

Cervantes was born to a poor household in a small town near Madrid. His father was a surgeon and a barber, and his mother was descended from disgraced noblemen. Some scholars believe that he studied at university in Salamanca or Seville. As a young man he moved to Rome, where he immersed himself in Renaissance art and literature. In his early thirties, he enlisted in the Spanish navy; he spent five years as a soldier and then five more years as a captive and slave in Algiers. He returned to Spain, married a younger woman, and lived a roaming and impoverished life; he was often bankrupt and served several prison sentences. Cervantes began publishing fiction and plays in 1585, but he only found literary and financial success with the publication of Don Quixote in 1605. He died in Madrid a decade later, soon after the publication of the second part of the history.