Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Miguel De Cervantes Saaverda, most commonly referred to simply as Cervantes, lived from 1547-1616 in Spain. He spent his childhood fleeing with his family from his father's creditors and much of his adolescence in jail. He fought in war from 1571-1575 under Cardinal Nuncio Acquaviva, and, after being captured on his trip home from war, was a prisoner of pirates from 1575-1580 when Spain paid ransom for his return.

Immediately after returning home penniless, Cervantes spent four years as a playwright to support himself, writing as many as 30 unsuccessful plays. After becoming married, he became a food provisioner for the Spanish navy to support the increased burden of feeding another person The occupation was rife with opportunity for accounting fraud. Cervantes found himself at ends with the Treasury Department many times during his years as a food provisioner, and found himself in jail as many times because of it.

During Cervantes' time in jail, he wrote the first half of one of the most famous literary works in world history in 1605, Don Quixote. Don Quixote became so popular that it went through ten editions from 1605-1615, and inspired fan-written sequels, most notably that of Alonzo Fernandez de Avellandea, whose sequel is believed to have inspired Cervantes to write the second half of Don Quixote in 1615.

Cervantes died on April 23, 1615, the same day as William Shakespeare.