Born in 1547, died in 1616; of a poor but noble family;
studied at Salamanca; served as a chamberlain to the future
Cardinal Aquaviva in Rome in 1570; in the army under Don
John of Austria against the Turks; lost the use of his left
arm in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571; taken prisoner and
spent five years in slavery in Algiers, being ransomed in
1580; returned to Spain and married in 1584; imprisoned for
debt and served as an amanuensis; wrote the first part of
"Don Quixote" at Valladolid in 1603; returned to Madrid and
published the second part in 1615; his other works are
"Galatea," published in 1584, "Moral Tales" in 1613,
"Journey to Parnassus" in 1614, and twenty or more plays.
I