He was later released on random after spending five years in captivity.Īlthough his father was a renowned surgeon who made good money for his profession, and his mother a respected elite woman, Cervantes endured a trying childhood due to a series of financial issues his parents got muddled into.Īside from his troubled childhood, Cervantes served in the army, sustained a damaged arm, was held captive for five years and went to prison more than once in his lifetime. He laid low, recovered, and continued his service with the military till the mid-1570s when he and his brother were held captive by the Moors on their way back to Spain. Later, during the war of Lepanto around the early 1570s, they moved to La Marquesa and at the cause of the war, he suffered a very terrible injury which caused partial paralysis to his left arm. Under the appellation “ Mancho de Lepanto“, Cervantes and his brother, Rodrigo, joined the military at Napoles under the guidance of commander Don Miguel de Moncada. Because his parents were part of the cultured class, Cervantes and his siblings had a comfortable upbringing. His mother, Leonor de Cortinas, was an educated woman who could read and write during this time, women who had those were considered remarkably special and important.Ĭervantes had other siblings including a brother Andres, who sadly died shortly after birth a sister, Andrea another sister, Luisa, who pursued a calling with the nunnery.

Here are some scintillating facts, ten of them, about our Cervantes you probably didn’t know already.Ĭervantes’ Family Was From Upper class, But Quite Largeīorn in the locality of Alcala de Henares, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was the fourth child of the total seven sired by a surgeon Rogrido Cervantes, his father, in 1547. Cervantes was an accomplished writer who excelled at many things although a lot of people find him being popular only for his book ‘ Don Quixote‘, there is so much more to the Spanish writer than meets the eye.

Miguel de cervantes novel