Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes is the most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature. He is best known for being the author of Don Quixote (1605, 1615), a widely read literary classic. He also was noted for his short story collection Novelas exemplares (1613; Exemplary Stories) and several plays and poems.

Miguel de Cervantes was the fourth of seven children in a family that originated in the minor gentry but had come down in the world. His father was a barber-surgeon who set bones, performed bloodlettings, and attended lesser medical needs. The family moved from town to town and may have been converso (of Jewish descent).

Miguel de Cervantes never made much money from his writing in his lifetime. As a young man, he was a soldier and was later held captive as a slave. After that he served as a royal messenger, a commissary of provisions for the Spanish Armada, and a tax collector.