The first that Master Nicholas put into his hand was "The four books of Amadis of Gaul." "This seems a mysterious thing," said the curate, "for, as I have heard say, this was the first book of chivalry printed in Spain, and from this all the others derive their birth and origin; so it seems to me that we ought inexorably to condemn it to the flames as the founder of so vile a sect."--ibid,
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in 1547 in the city of Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, Spain, the fourth of seven children born to noble Castilian surgeon Don Rodrigo de Cervantes and doña Leonor de Cortinas (1593). "There were but two families in the world, Have-much and Have-little." Rodrigo was imprisoned because of debts in 1551, and it brought much hardship to the rest of the family. After studying philosophy and literature in Italy, Miguel enlisted as a soldier in Naples in 1570. Aboard the ship Marquesa he lost the use of his left hand 'by a musket-shot in the battle of Lepanto' [1571] . A few years later the galley that Cervantes was sailing home on was captured by Barbary pirates. He was enslaved in Algiers along with many other Christians. While he did attempt to escape, it was not until 1580 that his family, especially by the efforts of his mother, and the Trinitarians, were able to pay ransom for him.


Living in Madrid, Cervantes had an affair with Ana de Villafranca, with whom he had a daughter, Isabel de Saavedra. In 1584 he married Catalina de Palacios and started writing plays and poetry, "The pen is the tongue of the mind." including a pastoral romance in verse and prose La Galatea (1585), his first published work. When his writing produced little income he obtained a position with the government, and worked for the Spanish Armada and as a tax collector. Many times he ran into financial and other difficulties for which he was imprisoned.
In 1604, Cervantes and his wife and daughter were living in Valladolid. After the publication of Don Quixote they moved back to Madrid. The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes (Novelas ejemplares) was published in 1613, which includes tales of pirates gypsies, inspired by Cervantes' own life experiences. The same year it was published, he joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. The second part of Don Quixote (1615) was followed by Persiles and Segismunda (1616). Miguel de Cervantes died in 1616 and is buried in the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians (Convento de los Trinitarios) in Madrid, Spain.