September 29 is traditionally the birthday of Miguel de Cervantes - the writer whose name is forever linked to "Don Quixote". According to the accepted hypothesis, he was born on this date in 1547 in Alcalá de Henares, but the exact day is not confirmed by a birth certificate. It is certain that the future author was baptized on October 9 of the same year in the church of "Santa María la Mayor".
The proximity between the two dates, as well as the fact that September 29 is the day of Saint Michael, explain why this day is considered the writer's birthday. The National Library of Spain indicates the date with a question mark, while the baptismal record remains the documented event. Cervantes was the fourth of seven children of Rodrigo de Cervantes and Leonor de Cortiñas.
From a soldier in Lepanto to a prisoner in Algeria
Before becoming a writer, Cervantes lived a life that resembled an adventure novel. In 1569 he went to Italy, and two years later he participated in the Battle of Lepanto - one of the largest naval battles of the 16th century. On October 7, 1571, he was wounded in the chest and left arm. He later called the battle "the highest event that past centuries, the present, and the centuries to come have seen."
In 1575, on his way back to Spain, the galley he was traveling on was captured by Barbary pirates. Cervantes spent five years in Algeria and made four attempts to escape. He was released in 1580 after his family and the Trinitarian order raised funds for his ransom.
„Don Quixote“ changed his fate
After returning to Spain, Cervantes tried to establish himself as a poet and playwright. His first published book was “Galatea“, published in 1585. He wrote plays, worked as a purveyor and tax collector, fell into financial difficulties and even ended up in prison.
In 1605, the first part of “Don Quixote“ was printed in Madrid. The novel tells the story of an impoverished hidalgo who accepts the books of chivalry as reality and sets out on the roads of La Mancha with his squire Sancho Panza. The second part was published in 1615, after an apocryphal sequel had appeared in the meantime, signed with the name Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda.
In the last years of his life, Cervantes published “Novels of Instruction“ and “Journey to Parnassus“, and in 1615 – the collection “Eight Comedies and Eight Interludes“. In the dedication letter to his last novel “Persiles and Sigismund“ he wrote: “Yesterday they gave me my last communion, and today I write this.“ The book was published posthumously in 1617.
Miguel de Cervantes died in Madrid on April 22, 1616, and was buried the next day in the monastery of the Barefoot Trinitarians. Thus, the date April 23 remains associated with his funeral, although his death occurred a day earlier. And September 29 continues to remind us of the beginning of the life of the man who transformed his battles, captivity and disappointments into literature that has outlived the centuries.
Source: cervantes.bne.es