The Best-Selling Novel of All Time
An intro to Don Quixote...
Miguel de Cervantes is celebrated today for authoring the greatest-selling novel of all time, Don Quixote. Depending on who you ask, it may be the first modern novel in existence, too.
Cervantes’ name is clearly held in literary stardom, but his early life was anything but glamorous. He was no “ivory tower” scholar dedicated to studies, writing, and university. In fact, quite the opposite.
Cervantes’ life was brutal, marked by poverty, obscurity, duels, wars, and even prison sentences. Before he even began a literary career, he spent his life on the run from the law, followed by service in the Spanish military that sent him into one of the greatest battles in world history.
If you’re to believe it, legend says that God himself intervened on the battlefield and produced a miracle that changed the course of history, and Cervantes was there to witness it all.
Whatever happened, Cervantes left as a changed man with a fantastical imagination and a strong desire to give due reverence to God. What culminated was the birth of perhaps the most famous and celebrated novel in existence.
Here’s the unlikely road that led to the creation of Don Quixote…
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Fugitive on the Run
Cervantes was born in 1547 in Alcala de Henares, Spain. Little is known of his early life, though he was likely raised in poverty, as his father was imprisoned due to bankruptcy and bad debt.
He’s believed to have received an education at a Jesuit university, but the most notable incident of his upbringing was a clash with the law:
Cervantes engaged in an illegal duel and brutally wounded his opponent.
A warrant was out for his arrest, and Cervantes was forced to flee Spain. His travels took him across Europe to Rome.
At this point, it seems Cervantes may have reached a low point in his life — a fugitive, and stranger in a new country with no career prospects. Yet time has suggested otherwise, that perhaps Cervantes was merely marching towards his destiny.
To understand why, we have to zoom out a little bit and understand the state of Europe.
At this point in history, the continent was in a state of emergency. Here’s why.
The Call to Arms
The Ottoman Empire was threatening all out invasion. They had recently sacked Cyprus, and were threatening to march on Rome, followed by the rest of Europe.
Sounding the alarm, Pope Pius V summoned the Holy League — a loose coalition of European states — banding together to resist the empire.
It was seen as a David and Goliath fight — the Holy League was outgunned, outmanned, and had low trust between the provinces. Yet that didn’t stop Cervantes from enlisting, and even further, that wouldn’t stop Providence from intervening with a miracle.
The Holy League, led by Don Juan of Austria, decided to wage an all out naval attack against the Ottoman Empire, hoping to defeat them in one fell swoop.
They sought to fight the Ottoman navy in the Gulf of Patras, off the coast of Lepanto — a wise decision which would limit the Ottomans’ advantage in numbers.
Cervantes served as a soldier aboard the galley Marquesa. His ship was positioned on the Holy League’s left wing, facing off against the Ottoman fleet several hundred yards away. Yet before battle, Don Juan ordered something unprecedented:
Every commanding officer took out a rosary from their pockets, and led their troops in a guided prayer of the rosary. Moreover, that same morning Pope Pius had issued a decree for all of Europe to pray the rosary on behalf of the Holy League. In other words, in one day almost all of Europe may have been united in prayer, beseeching God for a miracle against a foreign superpower.
As fate would have it, their prayers may have just been answered…