Cervantes, times of childhood and youth

Among the ancestors of Miguel de Cervantes we find lawyers and characters skilled in money management. For example, in this document the city of Cordoba pays Mr. Juan de Cervantes for his work as city attorney...

From 1535 to 1574, La Goulette and Tunis are part of the network of "penitentiaries" of the King of Spain in North Africa, in accordance with the policy designed by Cardinal Cisneros. These fortifications serve to protect the Peninsula from the long-awaited "Second Invasion".

In this document, aid is granted to a "Rodrigo de Cervantes" for his relocation to La Goulette as an accountant.

In 1568, Prince Don Carlos and Queen Isabel of Valois died in the Court. It is possible that Cervantes went to Italy in the company of other the young poets, such as Pedro Laínez, who abandoned the palace and left for Rome with Cardinal Acquaviva (the papal nuncio sent to give condolences), who left after completing his diplomatic mission in Madrid. It has been suggested that another man by the name Miguel de Cervantes, was responsible for the wounding Antonio de Segura for which a warrant for his arrest was ordered. The historical facts concerning the reasons why Cervantes left for Italy are uncertain, but objective evidence of his stay in Rome is provided by a dedication appearing in the book La Galatea, which states that he was a "waiter" of Acquaviva in Rome.

This document is the Royal Provision to the bailiff Juan de Medina to arrest "one Miguel de Cervantes, absent" for the wounds that he inflicted upon Antonio de Segura.

"Tell me what you presume...", or "Thou wilt look well, Sancho..." (Don Quixote I,21)

A recurring theme within the Cervantes family was the attempt to prove the family origins as gentlemen or old Christians. Later, the obsession would be the demonstration of their heroic and virtuous acts.

In this document, the information from witnesses is gathered to prove the "limpieza de sangre" (blood purity) of Miguel de Cervantes, conducted at the request of his father Rodrigo in December, 1569, although the immediate purpose for doing so is unknown.

From this moment on, documentary traces of Cervantes begin to become abundant due to the fact that the administration of the armies of Felipe II was complex. The study of the army administrative records have enabled the lives of many soldiers to be traced.

In the first paragraph, the monthly salary of Miguel de Cervantes is recorded as amounting to 3 escudos, in the company of Captain Manuel Ponce de León, of the tercio of Lope de Figueroa.

Finally, the naval battle to defend the Christian cultural core took place at Lepanto (modern Greece), on 7 October 1571.

Miguel de Cervantes, though ill and with a fever, refused to remain in the hold of the galley and requested a combat mission. He was sent to fight with another dozen soldiers from the skiff. He was wounded in the left hand and received two arquebus shots in the chest. There is no doubt that he fought as a military hero.

Many original documents of the Battle of Lepanto are preserved at the General Archives of Simancas. Among others, this "Order of Battle" (in Italian) is exceptional and unique in that the two armed formations, Christian and Muslim, are represented.

Over the following months, Cervantes recovered from his wounds at a military hospital in Messina.

Thanks to some "shore help", we know that Don Juan of Austria sent help to his wounded soldiers. From among them, on page 10 of this document, Miguel de Cervantes is recorded...

...but in this same record, on the last page, we find another "Miguel Cervantes, 22 escudos", which provides evidence that, at least two men by the name of Miguel de Cervantes existed during the same time period.

In the following years, Cervantes returns to combat, and from 1572 participates in military operations in central and eastern Mediterranean.

The descriptions that have been left of these actions (Don Quixote I,39 for example) are by a genuine chronicler.

Texts as important as his Discourse on arms and letters in which he compares humanist life and military life, Cervantes considers military life to be fuller than that of a lawyer (Don Quixote I, 38), while writing the other memoirs mentioned, of the disappointed soldier (Don Quixote I,39).

Maintaining so many armies (in the Mediterranean, Central Europe, Flanders, the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa) and their equipment "outside of the Monarchy" is extremely costly. Therefore the decision to licence some of the army corps is taken.

Miguel de Cervantes, a crippled soldier, and his brother Rodrigo, who dies in Flanders decades later, return to Spain.

On 26 September 1575, the galley Sol in which they sailed across the Mediterranean, is assaulted by other ships commanded by Dali Mami, a renegade of Greek origin.

Cervantes was transferred to Algiers, where he spent five years of gruelling captivity in the "baths".