The Force of Blood: ''In mercy kill me this moment!''

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in late September 1547 in Alcalá de Henares, a few miles to the north-east of Madrid in Spain.

Despite his reputation as a literary leviathan surprisingly little is known of his life. All the portraits and paintings raised in his honour are unattributed and so may, or may not be, his likeness.

What is known of his life is thought to have been embellished by the man himself and for a literary man he spent much of his time involved in wars and military adventures in Spanish territories or jewels they had eyes upon whilst usually locked in debilitating wars with the Ottoman Empire.

During these years he spent time abroad in Rome and Naples also, it is thought, in attempting to avoid an arrest warrant for wounding another man in a duel in Madrid.

During the Battle of Lepanto, which ensured the safety of Europe from the Ottomans, he was badly wounded in the chest and also lost the use of his left arm which earned him the sobriquet ‘The one-armed man of Lepanto’.

Later he was captured with his brother by Ottoman Corsairs and taken to be sold or ransomed and appears to have spent some time in Istanbul during his years in captivity.

In 1580 Cervantes was set free by the Trinitarians, a religious charity that specialised in ransoming Christian captives, and returned to Madrid. Here he took on various Government works including as tax collector, accountant and as a purchasing agent for the Navy.

The astounding and revolutionary work for which he is famed is, of course, Don Quixote, the first volume of which was published in 1605 and the second in 1615. It was during this period that he wrote most of his other works, including plays, poems and a short story collection. Writing for any kind of income in these times was difficult. Popular works were more often stolen and printed by others for their own immediate gain. The idea of copyright and reliable income was still some time away.

Miguel de Cervantes died on the 22nd April 1616 in Madrid, Spain. He was 68.

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