Cervantes09

[|miguel cervantes.mp3][|miguel cervantes.mp3]Script Don Quixote, long considered one of the greatest satires ever written, but, who wrote it? What was he like? When did he live? All of these questions and more will be answered if you listen to my podcast.

Many do not know of the great man, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, behind the great book. Miguel de Cervantes de Saavedra was born 1547 in the city of Alaca de Henares. He was born to Rodrigo de Cervantes and Leonor de Cortinas and was the fourth out of seven children. During his youth it is believed that Miguel studied under either the famous humanist writer Juan Lopez de Hoyos or under the Jesuits in several Spanish cities. In 1570 Cervantes joined the company of Diego de Urbina. He fought in the battle of Lepanto against the Turks in which the Spanish won. He was stationed in Africa and was sailing home, and then Turkish galleys surrounded his ship. He and the rest of the crew were taken prisoner. He was sold into slavery and try to manage escape attempts many times. Finally, in 1579 his family was able to raise enough money to pay for his ransom. In 1582 Cervantes wrote his first published book called La Galeata which he used to showcase his poetry. In 1584, Cervantes was married to Dona Catalina de Palacios Salazar y Vozmediano. Cervantes also had an affair with Ana Franca de Rojas, Ana Franca gave birth to his daughter Isabel. For the next few years Miguel was a tax collector for the Spanish Armada. He was thrown in jail later for fraudulent bank deals. Then in 1600-1603, Miguel began to work on his masterpiece, Don Quixote. About a middle aged man in the town of La Mancha who has a very vivid imagination and believes himself to be a knight, Don Quixote is able to create great quests from seemingly ordinary things. In 1613 Cervantes published another book called Novelas Ejemplares. Novelas Ejemplares was a collection of short stories. By 1615 Cervantes had finished his second part of Don Quixote. It was not as loved as Don Quixote but many considered it a good book. Cervantes died on the 23 of April 1616, in the city of Madrid where he had lived for many years of his life.

Don Quixote is considered one of the finest satires of all time and Cervantes is considered one of Spain's finest writers. Many of his plays and poems have been lost to time however. Miguel led a very fascinating life doing many diverse things, from being a soldier to a slave, and from a famous author to an inmate. If you ask me the man behind Don Quixote was just as exciting as the story itself. media type="custom" key="4649831"

Research Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, was born in the year 1547, in the city of Alcala de Henares in the old kingdom of Toledo. He was the fourth out of seven children to Rodrigo de Cervantes and Leonor de Cortinas. His father was a barber and a surgeon who performed minor operations. His mother was the daughter of a Spanish nobleman. He claimed that he was from an Old Christian lineage; however this is largely debated as to whether his family was of Muslim or Jewish descent and converted to Catholicism. His father was a poor surgeon, who in 1552 was imprisoned due to debts. In 1569 Miguel contributed three poems to a book on Queen Isabel who had died the year before. Miguel is believed to have been the pupil of humanist Juan Lopez de Hoyos or to have been a pupil under the Jesuits in several Spanish cities. Also in 1569 Cervantes got a job as a valet, or a male servant, to a wealthy spanish priest. In the year 1570 Cervantes joined Diego de Urbina's company at Naples. Participated in the battle of Lepanto, in which the Spanish Armada defeated the Turks. He was wounded three times at Lepanto (this is what earned him the nick name cripple of Lepanto). Two of the wounds healed quickly, but one of the wounds was to the left hand and later had to be amputated to prevent infection. In 1574 Cervantes was granted leave and sailed back from Palermo to Spain. He was written a letter of recommendation by the Duke to be promoted to the rank of captain, and brought it on the boat back to Spain to be presented to the king of Spain. On the way back, the ship he was in was attacked by Turkish galleys. He as well as the rest of the crew were taken captive to Algiers. The captors believed him to be of a high rank because of the letter so they decided to ransom him for a greater amount of money than the rest of the crew. He lived in slavery for five years, attempting to escape many times. Finally, in 1579, his family along with the Trinitarian order raised a very large sum, large enough to pay for his freedom. In 1582, Cervantes wrote Galeata in an attempt to showcase his poetry, which tells of two best friends who are in love with the same woman, Galatea. Cervantes was reportedly very attached to the novel. It was his first published book. Cervantes was married to Dona Catalina de Palacios Salazar y Vozmediano in 1584. . She was 18 years his junior. A couple of years before his marriage, Cervantes had an affair with Ana Franca de Rojas. Ana Franca gave birth to his daughter, Isabel.For the next few years he was in need of some money so he became a tax collector with the Spanish Armada. By 1592, Cervantes had very little money and agreed to write six plays for a producer. There is a famous legend saying that the producer only agreed to pay Cervantes if the plays he gave the producer were the best he had ever read before. Cervantes was thrown in jail in 1597 for a few months due to his dealing with fraudulent bankers. 1600-1603 it is believed that Cervantes began writing his most famous book and largely considered his masterpiece, Don Quixote. Don Quixote is the story of a middle aged man from the small town of La Mancha with a very vivid imagination who believes himself to be a knight, he travels around and participates in a number of adventures. All of which are seemingly normal events that he creates in his mind to be quests. The book is a satire and is considered one of the best ever written up there with Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. After publishing the first book of Don Quixote, the money made from this pulled him out of debt and gained him some international fame. By 1606 Cervantes found a new home in Madrid where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1613 Cervantes published a book called Novelas Ejemplaras which was a collection of some of Cervantes' short stories or novellas. That same year he joined the third order of Saint Francis, which was a Catholic religious order that was open to both the laity and the religous. Some of the stories included here are of talking dogs discussing their society, an orphan who rose the ranks only to become insane and several other stories. The second book of Don Quixote was published in 1615, the second book was popular and still is but many still believe the first book to be better with its memorable stories such as Don Quixote's attacking the windmills. Many attribute the second book's being less popular with the fact that Cervantes took on a more serious tone that the comical one set in the first book. Cervantes died in Madrid, Spain around the 23 of April 1616, records as to the exact date of death have been lost. It is unknown the exact location where Cervantes was buried for in his will he wanted to be buried at the Trinitarian nun's convent, probably because he felt attached to them because they raised enough money to pay for his freedom. But in later years the nuns moved their convent and brought some bodies with them and left behind some. He left behind a legacy of many great books like Don Quixote, La Galatea, Novelas Ejemplares, and Los Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda. He was supposed to have written a great number of plays that he used to get easy money in tough financial times however, many of his plays and short stories however have been lost to time and have never been recovered. Today he is considered one of the great writers of Spain along with Frederico Lorca, and Rafael Alberti.

. (1973). Miguel de Cervantes. //McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography//. New York City, United States of America: McGraw Hill. . (n.d.). Third Order. //Wikipedia//. Retrieved (2009, September 24) from (n.d.). Third Order. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_order#Third_Order_of_St._Francis Merriman, C.D. (2007). //Miguel de Cervantes//. Retrieved from http://www.online-literature.com/cervantes/ . (n.d.). Miguel de Cervantes. //Wikipedia//. Retrieved (2009, September 25) from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Cervantes (n.d.). //Don quixote//. Retrieved from http://www.online-literature.com/cervantes/don_quixote/