Biography of Cervantes. Brief biography of Miguel de Cervantes the most important thing Where was Cervantes born city

Cervantes was born in 1547 in the small town of Alcala de Henares, twenty miles from Madrid. He was the youngest member of a poor but noble hidalgo family.

His father's name was Rodrigo Cervantes, his mother's name was Leonora Cortinas. In addition to Miguel, the family had two daughters, Andrea and Louise, and a son, Rodrigo. The most famous Spanish writer was the fourth of seven children in the family of a barber and chiropractor. He was baptized on October 9, and September 29 is supposed to be his birthday, since it is St. Miguel's day.

The Cervantes family spanned five centuries of chivalry and public service and was not only widespread in Spain, but had representatives in Mexico and other parts of the Americas. “This family,” the historian testifies, “appears in Spanish chronicles for five centuries surrounded by such splendor and glory that regarding its origin there is no reason to envy any of the most noble families of Europe.” Through marriage, the Saavedra surname was united in the 15th century with the Cervantes surname, which fell into extreme decline in the 16th century. Using the example of the Cervantes family, one can easily trace the history of the impoverishment of the Spanish nobility and the growth of the so-called “hidalgia” - nobles “deprived of their fortunes, seigneuries, rights of jurisdiction and high public positions.”

The writer's grandfather, Juan, occupied a fairly prominent position in Andalusia, was at one time the senior mayor of the city of Cordoba and had a well-known fortune. Cervantes’s father, Rodrigo, who suffered from deafness, did not hold any judicial or administrative positions and did not go further than a free practicing doctor, that is, he was a completely insignificant person, even from the point of view of “hidalgia”. The writer's mother also belonged to the circle of poor nobles.

Rodrigo de Cervantes was forced to move from place to place in search of income. The family followed him. Judging by the heroic efforts that Cervantes' parents later spent to raise the necessary amount to ransom Miguel and his younger brother Rodrigo from Algerian captivity, the family was friendly and strong.

The wandering physician Rodrigo de Cervantes and his family finally settled in Valladolid, then the official capital of the kingdom, in 1551. But even here he did not live long. Less than a year later, Rodrigo was arrested for failing to pay a debt to a local moneylender; As a result of the arrest, the family's already meager property was sold at auction.

The life of a vagabond began again, leading Cervantes first to Cordoba, then returning him to Valladolid, from there to Madrid and, finally, to Seville. The Valladolid period includes school years Miguel. As a ten-year-old teenager, he entered the Jesuit College, where he remained for four years from 1557 to 1561. Miguel completed his education in Madrid with one of the best Spanish teachers of that time, the humanist Juan Lopez de Hoyos, who became a little later than him. godfather in literature.

By the end of the sixties XVI century The Cervantes family entered a period of final ruin. In this regard, Miguel and his younger brother Rodrigo had to think about earning their own bread, choosing one of the three opportunities open to middle-class Spanish nobles - to seek happiness in the church, at court or in the army. Miguel, taking advantage of the recommendation of his teacher Juan Lopez de Hoyos, who proclaimed him “his dear and beloved student,” chose the second option. He entered the service of the extraordinary ambassador of Pope Pius the Fifth, Monsignor Julio Acquaviva y Aragon, who arrived in Madrid in 1568.

The same period saw the publication of Cervantes's first poem, dedicated to the death of the young wife of King Philip II of Spain, Elizabeth of Valois, in 1568. Together with the ambassador, Cervantes left Madrid and arrived in Rome at the beginning of 1569. Under Acquaviva, he held the position of camerario (key holder), that is, a close person.

Cervantes spent about a year in the service of Acquaviva, who became a cardinal in the spring of 1570. In the second half of 1570, he entered the Spanish army stationed in Italy, in the regiment of Miguel de Moncada.

The five years Cervantes spent in the ranks of the Spanish troops in Italy were a very important period in his life. They gave him the opportunity to visit the largest Italian cities: Rome, Milan, Bologna, Venice, Palermo - and get thoroughly acquainted with the way of life Italian life. No less important than close contact with life Italy XVI century, with the life of its cities, Cervantes also became acquainted with the rich Italian culture, especially literature. Cervantes's long stay in Italy allowed him not only to master Italian, but also to expand the humanitarian knowledge he acquired at the Madrid school.

To a thorough acquaintance with ancient literature and mythology, Cervantes added a wide acquaintance with all the best that created the Italian Renaissance both in literature and in the field of philosophy - with the poetry of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, with Boccaccio’s “Decameron”, with the Italian short story and pastoral novel, with the Neoplatonists. Although Cervantes half-jokingly called himself “talented, not experienced in science,” he was, by his own admission, a passionate reader.

Along with the greatest representatives ancient literature- Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid and others, as well as the writers mentioned above Italian Renaissance The list includes characters from the Holy Scriptures and Eastern (Arabic) writing. Cervantes’s worldview was influenced by the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam; he was a remarkable expert on national Spanish literature, folk poetry(romances) and national folklore in general.

In the early 70s, a war broke out between the Holy League, which was formed by Spain, Venice and the Pope, and the Ottoman Empire. Cervantes distinguished himself in the famous naval battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, when the Turkish fleet was defeated. That day, Cervantes was sick with a fever, but demanded that he be allowed to participate in the battle: thanks to the testimony of one of his comrades, the words he spoke came down: “I prefer, even when sick and in the heat, to fight, as befits a good soldier... and do not hide under the protection of the deck." Cervantes' request was granted: at the head of twelve soldiers, he guarded the boat ladder during the battle and received three gunshot wounds: two in the chest and one in the forearm. This last wound turned out to be fatal: Cervantes has since lost control of his left hand, as he himself said, “to the greater glory of his right.”

Severe wounds brought the writer to a hospital in Messina, from where he only emerged at the end of April 1572. But the injury did not prompt him to leave military service. Enlisted in the Lope de Figueroa regiment, Cervantes spent some time on the island of Corfu, where the regiment was stationed. On October 2, 1572, he took part in the naval battle of Navarino, and in next year became part of the expeditionary force sent under the command of Don Juan of Austria to North Africa to strengthen the fortresses of Goleta and Tunisia. In 1573, Cervantes's regiment was returned to Italy to perform garrison service, first in Sardinia, and somewhat later, in 1574, in Naples.

In 1575, Cervantes left Italy, having secured letters of recommendation from John of Austria, who valued him as a brave soldier, and sailed with his brother, Rodrigo, from Naples. On September 26, 1575, the galley on which he sailed with his brother was captured near the Bolearic Islands by African corsairs. The entire crew, along with Cervantes, despite courageous resistance, was captured and sold into slavery in Algeria by Dali-Mami. Cervantes himself was chained, but thanks to the letters of recommendation from Juan of Austria found on him, from which the corsairs deduced the wealth and nobility of the captive, he was not treated too harshly.

Cervantes's first escape attempt failed due to the betrayal of an Arab who was supposed to act as a guide for the fugitives who intended to reach Oran. The Arab abandoned the fugitives to their fate on the very first day. In 1576, taking advantage of the fact that one of the ransomed captives was returning to his homeland, Cervantes sent news to his relatives about his slavery. Cervantes's father mobilized all his meager funds to ransom his sons, up to the dowry of both daughters. However, the funds received were not enough, and Cervantes used them to ransom his brother in August 1577.

The new release plan, developed jointly with his brother, also turned out to be unsuccessful. Just as the fugitives were about to board a waiting ship, their hideout was discovered by the Turks. The situation of the prisoners deteriorated greatly, and all of them were threatened with the most severe punishment, but Cervantes announced that he alone was responsible for organizing the escape. He was kept under close surveillance. After some time, he found a way to inform the ruler of Oran about difficult situation prisoners and outlined a possible plan for their rescue. However, the Moor, who was entrusted with carrying this letter, was captured on the road and impaled.

Another attempt ended in failure. The fugitives were supposed to sail on a frigate equipped with two Valencian merchants, but were betrayed by a former Dominican monk who reported this to the Algerian dey. For some time, Cervantes hid with one of his friends, but upon learning that the dey was looking for him everywhere and threatening his hiders with death, he voluntarily surrendered into the hands of his enemies. He stated that he alone came up with the escape plan with the participation of four comrades who were at large, and that none of the prisoners knew about the plan until the frigate sailed. Dey imprisoned Cervantes, where he remained for five months.

While Cervantes was looking for ways to escape slavery, his father did not stop efforts at home to ransom his son. With great difficulty and sacrifice, his family managed to collect 300 ducats, which were awarded to the "brothers of the redemption", a special public organization, which was engaged in the ransom of prisoners. However, for Cervantes, his owner demanded an amount that significantly exceeded the money sent by his relatives. Only with the help of one of the “brothers”, who contributed the missing amount for Cervantes, did he gain freedom. It was September 19, 1580. He arrived in Spain, taking with him excellent certifications, but without any means of subsistence. Cervantes again joined the army in Portugal, where he stayed from 1581 to 1583.

Later stormy full of adventure life gave way to the routine of civil service, constant lack of funds and attempts at writing. Once he even won first prize in a poetry competition in Zaragoza - three silver spoons.

The first major work by Cervantes, the pastoral novel Galatea (Primera parte de la Galatea, dividida en seys libros, 1585), which had some success, dates back to this period. This novel was supposed to consist of two parts, but the second part never saw the light of day, although Cervantes repeatedly promised to publish it. The pastoral novel gave the writer access to literary circles.

Meanwhile, the financial situation of the family during this time not only did not improve, but became more and more difficult every year; the family was replenished with Cervantes’s illegitimate daughter, Isabella de Saavedra. Miguel’s marriage in 1584 with a native of the city of Esquivias, nineteen-year-old Catalina de Salazar y Palacios, who brought him a very small dowry, did not help the family’s rise.

In the fall of 1587, Cervantes managed to get the position of commissioner for urgent supplies for the “Invincible Armada” in towns and villages located in the vicinity of Seville.

Supplies to the army were made by requisitioning surplus food from the population. For people with a bad conscience, for the “knights of easy money,” supplies were a means of quickly getting rich. But where other food commissioners made fortunes through bribes and theft, Cervantes suffered only failures. He preferred to live on a meager salary, which was also paid very irregularly. Cervantes’s reluctance to make deals with his conscience almost ended tragically for him: conscientious fulfillment of his commissary duties involved him in a dispute with the church administration in the town of Ecija and threatened him with excommunication, and this, in turn, could lead him to the dungeons of the Inquisition. Moreover, Cervantes, with all his great and sober mind was not very careful. Carelessness in reporting led to clashes with financial control authorities, to accusations of illegal requisitions and concealment of money. One of these clashes ended with Cervantes imprisoned, albeit briefly, in the prison of the city of Castro del Rio in 1592. Thus, service in the food department not only did not improve the financial situation of Cervantes and his family, who still lived in Madrid, but, on the contrary, further complicated and worsened it.

A new appointment to the post of collector of tax arrears in the kingdom of Granada, which took place in mid-1594, was a source of new disasters for Cervantes. Having traveled to Madrid and provided himself with a financial guarantee, Cervantes began collecting arrears and already in August of the same year he was able to transfer the amount of seven thousand four hundred reals to the Seville banker Simon Freire de Lima for transfer to Madrid. And it was here that Cervantes suffered another failure, surpassing all the others in size. The banker declared himself bankrupt, and although the Treasury managed to recover from him the amount handed over by Cervantes, the matter did not end there.

Despite the fact that Cervantes legally handed over to the treasury the entire balance of the arrears he had collected, the treasury, accusing him of concealment, brought a significant claim against him. And since Cervantes was unable to provide evidence of his innocence and pay the claim, he was sent to the Royal Prison of Seville in September 1597, where he spent about three months. A new prison sentence for the same case of concealing sums befell him in 1602. However, the authorities did not rest on this. In November 1608, that is, ten to eleven years after the lawsuit was filed, they again called Cervantes to testify. This was all that the royal power gave to the “honored war veteran”, who shed his blood for her on the battlefields and honestly fulfilled the difficult duties assigned to him in requisitioning and collecting arrears.

The beginning of a great period in the work of Cervantes, which gave the world his immortal novel in two parts “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha”, his wonderful short stories, the collection “Eight Comedies and Eight Interludes”, the poem “Journey to Parnassus” and also “The Wanderings of Persiles and Sichismunda” , should be considered the year 1603, to which, apparently, the beginning of the writing of Don Quixote dates back to.

During one of his stays in prison, by the writer’s own admission, the image of a man who had gone crazy from reading knightly novels and set off to perform knightly deeds in imitation of the heroes of his favorite books arose in his imagination. This was originally the idea for the novella. In the process of working on it, novel perspectives for the development of the plot about Don Quixote opened up for the author.

The dates are established on the basis of the words of Cervantes himself that his novel was born “in a dungeon, the location of all kinds of interference, the abode of only dull sounds.” The writer was referring to his imprisonment in Seville prison in 1602.

In 1604, Cervantes parted with Seville and settled in the temporary capital of Spain - the city of Valladolid, where members of his family then moved, with the exception of his wife, who continued to live in Esquivias. By this time, Cervantes's family had shrunk: he died in Flanders younger brother and a comrade in Algerian captivity, Rodrigo - and now consisted of his two sisters, Andrea and Madalena, the illegitimate daughter of Isaveli de Saavedro and the niece of Costanza Ovando. The family's financial situation continued to be poor.

In the summer of 1604, Cervantes negotiated in Madrid with the bookseller Robles about the publication of the completed novel “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha.” The Cunning Hidalgo was originally printed in Valladolid at the end of 1604 in a small edition. And it appeared in Madrid bookstores in January 1605. The author was famous more for his suffering in Algerian captivity than literary fame, an already elderly person, and also a disabled person.

In the spring of 1605 in Madrid, the second edition of the editio princeps was printed in the printing house of Juan de la Cuesta. The success of the novel is evidenced by the fact that in the same year its second edition appeared, containing whole line discrepancies with the first, it was reprinted twice in Lisbon and once in Valencia. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, as characters in carnival processions, appear on the streets of Spanish cities and even in the colonies - in the capital of Peru, Lima.

“The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha” (1605-1615) is a parody of a chivalric romance, a kind of encyclopedia of Spanish life in the 17th century, a work with deep social and philosophical content. The name Don Quixote became a byword for noble but fruitless efforts.

About "Don Quixote", about the universal and national significance The novel has thousands of pages written. It is unlikely that among world-famous writers there will be at least one who would not come up with his own interpretation of the novel or judgment about it. According to Paul Lafargue, Don Quixote was Karl Marx's favorite book. In pre-revolutionary Russia, Pushkin spoke about the novel, advising Gogol at the time he created “ Dead souls“take the example of Cervantes, Belinsky, who did not skimp on enthusiastic praise of Don Quixote, Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, who in his famous essay contrasted Hamlet’s egoism with the good-natured hidalgo of La Mancha, Dostoevsky, Gorky, Lunacharsky. It is known that in childhood Mayakovsky loved to read the story of the cunning hidalgo.

In the novel, Cervantes seeks to convince readers that the only reason that prompted him to write was the desire to ridicule the absurdities of chivalric romances, to kill them “with the power of laughter.” Considering the great popularity of this literary reading - it is enough to note that from 1508 to 1612 about one hundred and twenty works of the chivalric genre appeared in Spain, of which only a few, like "Amadis of Gaul" or "Palmerin of England", had artistic merit - we have to admit the legitimacy and the importance of the struggle undertaken by Cervantes. At the same time, we know that, having “dealt with” knightly literature in the sixth chapter of the first part of the novel (the extermination of Don Quixote’s knightly library), bringing his insane hero into contact with the cruel reality surrounding him, Cervantes strictly judges not only him, but also the surrounding its social injustice. As the action progresses, the parody becomes more complex, it ceases to be purely bookish, its accusatory character becomes more and more obvious. She continues to play the role of a connecting link necessary to maintain the unity of action. But since the satirical orientation of the novel could involve the author in a conflict with the Inquisition, which was all the more terrible for him because he was almost excommunicated during his service in the commissariat department, Cervantes was subsequently forced to resort to disguise: he introduced “Arabic-ness” into the novel. La Mancha historian" Sid Ahmet Ben-inkhali and attributes to him some of his satirical statements. Cervantes in this case turned out to be much more far-sighted than his hero: Don Quixote, in the wonderful expression of Karl Marx, “had to pay severely for his mistake when he imagined that knight errantry was equally compatible with all economic forms of society.” Having experienced the contradiction between the dream of the Golden Age and Spanish reality and remembering that in 1559 Philip II staged an unprecedented public burning of “heretics” (under this concept the Inquisition brought not only Moriscos and Jews, but also all dissenters), Cervantes had to take special care.

Knight and his squire. It was no coincidence that Cervantes took them from among the Spanish seedy nobility - the hidalgia and landless peasantry, who made up the bulk of the population in his time. Carrying a great social burden, the images of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza provided Cervantes with exceptional opportunities in their breadth and depth. In the mouth of the knight, hiding behind his madness, Cervantes put all those lessons of moral improvement, political wisdom and honesty that he wanted to teach his contemporaries.

The second part of the novel was written by Cervantes ten years later than the first. Between both parts there are other works by Cervantes, namely: “Edifying Novellas” (1613) and “Eight Comedies and Eight Interludes, which made up the collection of 1615.

Works written by him in the first years after his return to his homeland from Algerian captivity are also being published: the shepherd's novel "Galatea" and up to thirty dramatic works, "comedies", most of which have not reached us.

Information about the dramaturgy of Cervantes in the “Seville” period of his work is limited to what Cervantes himself says about his early dramas in the preface to the collection “Eight Comedies and Eight Interludes” that he published in 1615. He reports that his “Algerian Manners,” as well as “The Destruction of Numancia” and “Sea Battle,” were performed in the theaters of Madrid, and acknowledges himself as the author of twenty or thirty plays written by him at that time. The “Naval Battle,” which has not reached us, as far as we can guess from the title of the play, glorified the famous victory at Lepanto, which played such a fatal role in the life of Cervantes.

In 1614, in the midst of Cervantes’s work on it, a forged continuation of the novel appeared, written by an anonymous person hiding under the pseudonym “Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda.” The Prologue to “The False Quixote” contained rude attacks personally against Cervantes, and its content demonstrated a complete lack of understanding by the author of the fake of the full complexity of the original’s plan. “The False Quixote” contains a number of episodes that plotally coincide with episodes from the second part of Cervantes’s novel. The dispute among researchers about the priority of Cervantes or the anonymous author cannot be resolved definitively. Most likely, Cervantes specifically included revised episodes from Avellaneda’s work in the second part of Don Quixote in order to once again demonstrate his ability to turn insignificant things into art. artistically texts.

It remains unclear whether Cervantes knew or did not know the real name of the author of the forgery. It is usually assumed that he did not know. But this is unlikely. The fake Don Quixote was greeted by Cervantes with great and quite legitimate irritation and had a detrimental effect on his health. And yet, Cervantes limited himself to only an angry rebuke to his mysterious enemy. The forged Don Quixote, despite its undeniable literary quality and the glibness of the pen that wrote it, was not particularly successful and went, in general, unnoticed.

The second part of “The Cunning Caballero Don Quixote of La Mancha” was published in 1615 in Madrid in the same printing house as the “Don Quixote” edition of 1605. For the first time, both parts of “Don Quixote” were published under the same cover in 1637.

In the interval between the publication of the first and second parts of Don Quixote, in 1613, Cervantes's second most important literary work, namely his Edifying Novellas, was published. Translated soon after their appearance into French, English, Italian and Dutch, the short stories served as the source for a number of stage adaptations. The warm welcome given by Spanish writers to the Edifying Novels is an indisputable recognition of the truth of Cervantes’s words that “he was the first to write short stories in Castilian, for all the numerous short stories published in Spain were translated from foreign languages.”

The final period in the life of Cervantes, very rich in creative terms, took place mainly in Madrid, where Cervantes moved after the proclamation of this city as the capital of the kingdom in 1606.

In Madrid, he lived in poor neighborhoods, and his family's financial situation did not improve. But, without improving Cervantes' position, the enormous success of his novel prompted the writer to continue his literary work.

These years were overshadowed for him by the death of both of his sisters, who had become nuns before their death, and by the second marriage of his daughter Esaveli de Saavedra, which increased the writer’s financial constraints due to the groom’s demand to guarantee a dowry. The example of Cervantes' sisters was followed by his wife, who also took monastic vows. And Cervantes himself joined the Brotherhood of Slaves in 1609 holy communion, whose members were not only high-ranking persons, but also a number of major Spanish writers (including Lope de Vega and Quevedo). Later, in 1613, Cervantes became a tertiary (a member of the semi-monastic religious Fraternity of the Laity) of the Franciscan Order and, on the eve of his death, took “full initiation.”

Cervantes died of heart disease on April 23, 1616. He was buried in the monastery he himself indicated at the expense of the charitable sums of the Brotherhood.

“Forgive me, joy! Forgive me, fun! Forgive me, cheerful friends! I am dying in the hope of a quick and joyful meeting in another world,” these are the words the brilliant Spaniard addressed to his readers in the preface to his latest creation.

Several centuries later, Cervantes is alive in the memory of people, just as his immortal heroes- a knight and a squire, still wandering in search of goodness, justice and beauty across the vast plains of their homeland.

For the first time a monument outstanding writer was staged in Madrid in 1835.

Biography, life story of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Miguel de Cervantes Saaverda is a Spanish writer. Author famous novel"The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha."

early years

Miguel was born in the Spanish city of Alcala de Henares on September 29, 1547. He became the fourth of seven children of Rodrigo de Cervantes, a doctor, and Doña Leonor de Cortina, the daughter of a bankrupt nobleman. On October 9, 1547, Miguel was baptized in the local church of Santa Maria la Mayor.

The youthful years of Miguel de Cervantes are shrouded in mystery; there is no reliable information about his life. Some historians claim that the writer was educated at the University of Salamanca, while others believe that Miguel studied with the Jesuits in Seville or Cordoba.

IN at a young age Miguel de Cervantes left for Italy (the reason for his move is unknown). In Rome, de Cervantes fell in love with antique art, Renaissance, architecture and poetry.

Military service. Difficult fate

In 1570, Miguel became a soldier in the Spanish Marine Regiment located in Naples. In 1571, de Cervantes sailed on the ship "Marquis", which was part of the galley fleet of the Holy League. In October, the Marquis defeated the Ottoman flotilla during the Battle of the Gulf of Patras. It is curious that on the day of the battle Miguel was tormented by a fever, but the soldier, despite the fever and fatigue, was called into battle. Miguel fought bravely and was seriously wounded. Three bullets pierced his body - two hit the chest, one hit the left forearm. The last bullet deprived de Cervantes' arm of mobility.

After the end of the battle, Miguel spent six months in the hospital. Then, from 1572 to 1575, he continued his service in Naples, sometimes participating in expeditions. I visited Seville, Corfu, Navarino and so on. In September 1575, Miguel de Cervantes was captured by Algerian corsairs. The Algerians asked for a large ransom for Cervantes, who had letters of recommendation from the duke for the king on him. Miguel spent 5 years in captivity. He tried to escape four times, but each time the Algerians caught him and severely punished him.

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Literature

Miguel de Cervantes's first novel, Galatea, written in 1585, was not a success among readers. The same fate befell a number of him dramatic plays. IN difficult years(late 1590s - early 1600s) Miguel continues to write, taking creative inspiration from his own life– the life of a wanderer, rejected by society. In 1604, the first part of Cervantes’s novel “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha” was finally published. The book was liked by the public, not only in Spain, but also abroad. Unfortunately, despite the warm reception of the novel, the writer’s pocket was not replenished with coins. However, the commercial collapse did not prevent Miguel from publishing the second part of the novel, and with it several other works. And although all the works of Miguel de Cervantes are interesting and fascinating, it was the novel “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha” that made the author immortal in world literature.

Personal life

On December 12, 1584, Miguel de Cervantes Saaverda married Catalina Palacios de Salazar, a nineteen-year-old noblewoman from Esquivias. According to the statement of the writer’s biographers, there were no children in this marriage. But Miguel had one illegitimate daughter– Isabel de Cervantes.

Death

On April 22, 1616, in Madrid, Miguel de Cervantes, the creator of the knight Don Quixote and his devoted squire Sancho Panza, died of dropsy. A few days before his death, Miguel took monastic vows.

Writer's burial place long years was lost. The remains of de Cervantes were discovered by archaeologists only in the spring of 2015 in a crypt at the monastery of las Trinitarisas. The ceremonial reburial took place in June of the same year in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Madrid.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; Spain Madrid; 09/29/1547 – 04/23/1616

The books of Miguel Cervantes need no introduction. This one is worldwide famous classic literature. His works have been translated into more than 60 languages, and the total circulation of his books is simply incalculable. All over the world, Cervantes’ novel “Don Quixote” is read, which for the poet and prose writer became the work that carried his name through the centuries.

Biography of Miguel Cervantes

Miguel Cervantes became the fourth child in the family of a bankrupt Spanish nobleman. Quite a bit is known about his childhood and there is no reliable information about the place where he studied. It is only known that he soon moved to Rome, and at the age of 23 he was enlisted in the Marine Regiment. Just a year later he had the chance to participate in the Battle of Lepanto, where he received three wounds. One of these wounds caused the loss of his left arm.

In 1575, returning to Barcelona, ​​he was captured by Algerian pirates and enslaved for five years. After his ransom from captivity, he had the opportunity to work in different places. And in 1584 he married Catalina de Salaras. Cervantes's first literary works were the short story "Galatea", which did not receive due recognition. In addition, Cervantes wrote several more plays, which also did not receive wide recognition.

In search of food, Miguel Cervantes takes the position of quartermaster, and he begins to purchase provisions for the fleet. But his gullibility played against him. The banker to whom Cervantes entrusted all the money fled. As a result, he goes to prison. The writer wrote the first part of his greatest book in 1604. Almost immediately after its publication, reading Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes became so popular that there were four editions of the book at once. In addition, the work is translated into many European languages.

In the future, the author does not stop writing, but this has little effect on his distress. financial situation. In 1615, the second part of Cervantes' novel Don Quixote was published. In addition, the writer publishes several more of his works. But in 1616 he died of dropsy of the brain.

Books by Miguel Cervantes on the Top books website

Cervantes' novel Don Quixote has remained in demand in many countries around the world for many centuries. And our country is no exception; Miguel Cervantes is read with the same rapture and, for sure, his works will remain, still in demand in the future.

Miguel Cervantes book list

1. The Wanderings of Persiles and Sikhismunda
2. Numancia
3. Edifying short stories
4. Galatea

Interludes:

1. Salaman cave
2. The Widowed Fraud Called Trumpagos
3. Biscayan impostor
4. Two talkers
5. Divorce Judge
6. Theater of Miracles
7. Argus
8. Election of alcaldes to Daganso
9. Jealous old man

Don Quixote:

1. The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha. Part 2

The entire previous development of Spanish Renaissance literature prepared the appearance of the great writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. His work represents the pinnacle of the Spanish literary Olympus of the “golden age”. It expresses humanistic ideas with the greatest force. On the other hand, this work most fully reflects the crisis that the writer’s homeland was experiencing in late XVI century, as well as the contradictory consciousness of advanced people of that time. Cervantes became the most profound realist that Renaissance literature has ever known.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in 1547 in the small provincial town of Alcala de Henares in the family of a poor doctor. Although lack of money prevented him from getting a good education, Cervantes still graduated from university. When Miguel turned 21, he entered the service of Cardinal Acquava, the papal ambassador to Spain. When the cardinal decided to return to his homeland in Italy, young Cervantes left with him. After the death of the cardinal, Cervantes entered the Spanish army as a soldier, and then the navy. He fights bravely, and in one of the battles he receives a serious injury to his left hand. At the age of 28, Cervantes, upon returning to Spain, becomes a prisoner of Algerian corsairs. He spends 5 long and difficult years in slavery in Algeria, and not for a minute does the thought of freedom leave him. Miguel repeatedly plotted to escape, but all attempts were unsuccessful, until finally he was redeemed from captivity. During his absence from Spain, Cervantes's family went bankrupt, and his military achievements were long forgotten. In order to somehow earn extra money, he writes plays for the theater, as well as poems, which he gives to some noble persons for a fee. Soon Cervantes will marry. The unreliability of literary income forces him to become a grain collector for the army, and then accept the position of arrears collector. In 1597, Cervantes, who entrusted government money to a banker who ran away with it, went to prison on charges of embezzlement. And 5 years later he goes to prison again on charges of financial abuse. Last years Cervantes spent his life in great need. Meanwhile, it was during this period of his life that his literary activity flourished. In 1605, Part I of the novel was published, bringing its author world fame- “”, which he conceived during his second prison term. In 1615, Part II of the novel was published, and shortly before that a collection of his plays was published, and in 1613 “Edifying Novels” were published. Even on his deathbed, Cervantes did not stop working. A few days before his death, he became a monk. The greatest Spanish writer passed away on April 23, 1616. The last work The great Spanish writer had a novel “Persiles and Sikhismunda”, which was published after his death.

Life Miguel de Cervantes was typical for a sensitive and talented hidalgo - ardent hobbies, failures, disappointments, a continuous struggle with poverty, inertia and vulgarity of the world around him. The work of Cervantes has gone through the same long path of search. He writes to order, develops “fashionable” genres, strives to have his say in literature, to introduce content and moral issues into the dominant literary style. But all these attempts were unsuccessful. Only in his later years did Cervantes create his own style and his own genres, with which he talentedly expresses finally matured thoughts.

The world significance of Miguel de Cervantes as a great Spanish writer is based mainly on his novel Don Quixote. A work conceived as a satire on what was fashionable at that time chivalric novels(which the author himself talks about in the “Prologue”), became a kind of psychological analysis human nature, both sides of our mental activity - noble idealism and realistic practicality. And both of these sides were manifested in the immortal images of the heroes of the novel - the knight and his squire. In their opposites they constitute one person. The idealist Don Quixote and the realist Sancho Panzo form a harmonious whole. The author sympathizes with the poor idealistic knight, as he undoubtedly was. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra brilliantly captured the main trends and problems of his time. But he was truly understood and was able to have a real impact on European literature only in the 18th century and especially in the 19th century, when more high shape realism. Cervantes rendered big influence on the works of G. Fielding, W. Scott, D. Dickens and N. Gogol.

This is biography the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra(Spanish: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; September 29, 1547, Alcala de Henares, Castile - April 23, 1616, Madrid) - world famous Spanish writer and soldier.
Born in Alcala de Henares (Province of Madrid). His father, hidalgo Rodrigo de Cervantes (the origin of Cervantes’s second surname, “Saavedra,” on the titles of his books, has not been established), was a modest surgeon, a nobleman by blood, his mother was Dona Leonor de Cortina; their large family constantly lived in poverty, which did not leave the future writer throughout his entire life. sorrowful life. Very little is known about the early stages of his life. Since the 1970s in Spain there is a widespread version about Jewish origin Cervantes' influence on his work was probably his mother, who came from a family of baptized Jews.
The Cervantes family often moved from city to city, so future writer could not receive a systematic education. In 1566-1569, Miguel studied at the Madrid city school with the famous humanist grammarian Juan Lopez de Hoyos, a follower of Erasmus of Rotterdam.
Miguel made his debut in literature with four poems published in Madrid under the patronage of his teacher Lopez de Hoyos.
In 1569, after a street skirmish that ended with the injury of one of its participants, Cervantes fled to Italy, where he served in Rome in the retinue of Cardinal Acquaviva, and then enlisted as a soldier. On October 7, 1571, he took part in the naval battle of Lepanto and was wounded in the forearm (his left hand remained inactive for the rest of her life).
Miguel Cervantes participated in military campaigns in Italy (he was in Naples), Navarino (1572), Portugal, and also carried out service trips to Oran (1580s); served in Seville. He also took part in a number of sea expeditions, including to Tunisia. In 1575, having with him letter of recommendation(lost by Miguel during capture) from Juan of Austria, commander-in-chief of the Spanish army in Italy, sailed from Italy to Spain. The galley carrying Cervantes and his younger brother Rodrigo was attacked by Algerian pirates. He spent five years in captivity. He tried to escape four times, but failed each time, and was only miraculously not executed; in captivity he was subjected to various tortures. In the end he was ransomed from captivity by the monks of the Brotherhood of the Holy Trinity and returned to Madrid.
In 1585 he married Catalina de Salazar and published a pastoral novel, La Galatea. At the same time, his plays began to be staged in Madrid theaters, the vast majority of which, unfortunately, have not survived to this day. Of Cervantes' early dramatic experiments, the tragedy "Numancia" and the "comedy" "Algerian Manners" have been preserved.
Two years later, he moved from the capital to Andalusia, where for ten years he first served as a supplier to the “Great Armada” and then as a tax collector. For financial shortfalls in 1597 (In 1597 he was imprisoned in a Seville prison for a period of seven months on charges of embezzlement of government money (the bank in which Cervantes kept the collected taxes burst) was imprisoned in a Seville prison, where he began writing a novel " The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha" ("Del ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha").
In 1605 he was released, and in the same year the first part of Don Quixote was published, which immediately became incredibly popular.
In 1607, Cervantes arrived in Madrid, where he spent the last nine years of his life. In 1613 he published the collection “Edifying Stories” (“Novelas ejemplares”), and in 1615 the second part of “Don Quixote”. In 1614 - in the midst of Cervantes's work on it - a false continuation of the novel appeared, written by an anonymous person hiding under the pseudonym "Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda". The Prologue to "The False Quixote" contained rude attacks personally against Cervantes, and its content demonstrated a complete lack of understanding by the author (or authors?) of the forgery of the full complexity of the original's plan. “The False Quixote” contains a number of episodes that plotally coincide with episodes from the second part of Cervantes’s novel. The dispute among researchers about the priority of Cervantes or the anonymous author cannot be resolved definitively. Most likely, Miguel Cervantes specifically included revised episodes from Avellaneda’s work in the second part of Don Quixote in order to once again demonstrate his ability to transform artistically unimportant texts into art (similar to his treatment of knightly epics).
“The second part of the cunning caballero Don Quixote of La Mancha” was published in 1615 in Madrid in the same printing house as the “Don Quixote” edition of 1605. For the first time, both parts of “Don Quixote” were published under the same cover in 1637.
Cervantes finished his last book, “The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda” (“Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda”), a love adventure novel in the style of the ancient novel “Ethiopica”, just three days before his death on April 23, 1616; This book was published by the writer's widow in 1617.
A few days before his death, he became a monk. His grave remained lost for a long time, since there was not even an inscription on his tomb (in one of the churches). A monument to him was erected in Madrid only in 1835; on the pedestal there is a Latin inscription: “To Michael Cervantes Saavedra, king of the Spanish poets.” A crater on Mercury is named after Cervantes.
According to the latest data, the first Russian translator of Cervantes is N. I. Oznobishin, who translated the short story “Cornelia” in 1761.