¿Did you know that? MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA
I want to highlight in this post certain aspects of his life that I did not know and that many of you may not know either, I share them below, hoping it will be of your enjoyment and pleasure.
¿Did you know that he was imprisoned several times?
Miguel de Cervantes went to jail, because the bank where he deposited the money resulting from his work went bankrupt. The writer worked as a tax collector, and was accused of owning public money.
¿Did you know that he was a stutterer?
He was stutterer affecting him socially and in his mood. He did not participate in public events and his mood was affected due to this condition.
¿Did you know that his appearance is unknown?
The authenticity of the physical features we know of the writer is unknown. The portrait we found of Cervantes on the Internet was painted by his great friend the poet and painter Juan de Jáuregui y Aguilar, whose physical characteristics coincide with those described by Cervantes himself:
"This one you see here, with an aquiline face, with brown hair, smooth and unclothed forehead, with happy eyes and a crooked nose, although well proportioned, silver beards that have not been gold for twenty years, big whiskers, small mouth, teeth neither small nor grown, because it has only six and those poorly conditioned and worse, because they have no correspondence with each other; the body between two extremes, neither large nor small; the color alive, before white that brown, something loaded of backs and not very light of feet; I say this is the face of the author of Galatea and Don Quixote de la Mancha. ".
¿Did you know that the first part of his most famous work "Don Quixote de la Mancha" was written while he was imprisoned?
In the prologue of the book he mentions that he started it while in captivity. Here is the writing of the prologue:
"Unoccupied reader, without oath you can believe me that I would like this book, as a son of the understanding, to be the most beautiful, the most gallant and the most discreet that could be imagined, but I could not contravene the order of nature; that in it each thing begets its likeness. And so, ¿What could engender the sterile and ill-cultivated ingenuity of me but the story of a dry son, countersunk, whimsical and full of various thoughts and never imagined by another, like someone who was born in a prison, where all discomfort has its place and where all the sad noise makes its room? "
¿Did you know that Cervantes was a slave?
In the year of 1575 of return of the battle of Lepanto, Cervantes was catched along with its brother by a Turkish flotilla to the height of Cadaqués de las Rosas and Palamós. His captor named Mami Arnaut thought that Miguel de Cervantes was a influential person so he took him to Algiers to ask for a large sum of money when selling him.
Then in Algiers he was sold as a slave along with his brother Rodrigo to the Greek Dalí Mamí who then asked for 500 pieces of gold in exchange for his release.
It was not until the year of 1580 when the Father Trinitario Fray Juan Gil delivered the sum demanded, freeing them from the torment that resulted in being in captivity. However, he took away from that terrible experience, customs, languages, traditions of his companions who later served him when writing the work of Don Quixote de la Mancha.
¿Did you know that the work Don Quixote de la Mancha was famous but without money?
Yes, this work published in the year 1604 had great success being of great importance and influence in literature, but its author never received any payment for it.
¿Did you know that the Cervantino language exists?
His works were so influential and full of enriching words of the author that made great changes in our Spanish language.
¿Did you know that Miguel de Cervantes was excommunicated by the Catholic Church?
This was because Cervantes had to collect the taxes that the church had to cancel, which brought as a consequence the displeasure of the Catholic ecclesiastical authority who expelled him from the religious community denying him the sacraments.
¿Did you know that Cervantes was called "El Manco de Lepanto"?
The battle of Lepanto occurred in the year of 1571 in the Gulf of Lepanto - Greece, among the Turks of the Ottoman Empire and a Christian coalition called "Holy League". Cervantes participated in this battle because it belonged to the Spanish Armada, being seriously injured in his left arm to such an extent that he lost his mobility. From that moment on he was called "El Manco de Lepanto".
¿Did you know that his tomb was found in the year of 2015?
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra died on April 22, 1616 at the age of 68 because of diabetes. He was buried in a grave without tombstone or name, so nobody knew who was buried in that place. In the year 2015 a group of scientists believed to have found the remains of this famous Spanish writer.
There are many other interesting facts about his life, which was full of adversity but he knew how to face the problems, because he had plenty of dignity and integrity. The fame given by the publication of Don Quixote's book was not
enough to get him out of his economic difficulties, however he was a man who had plenty of optimism, enjoyed dignity and values.
As usual with the geniuses, Cervantes did not reach the place he deserved in life, he only began to recognize himself long after his death.
I hope this post is a contribution to knowledge.
Thanks for reading me!!!
Excelente amiga. Saludos
Gracias amiga @andreinacepeda! Saludos...