Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, playwritter and soldier who was born in 1547 and died in 1616. He is considered to be the most important writter of spanish literature of all times and his masterpiece, El Quijote (published between 1605 and 1615) is often quoted as the first novel in the modern sense of the word.
Life
Born in Alcalá de Henares his father was a minor doctor and descendant of New Christians, meaning his family ancestor were Jews who has become Catholics to avoid the expulsion of Iberian Peninsula. In 1551, Cervantes and his family moved to Valladolid and them to Cordoba to scape from family debts and creditors. There is no certain information of Cervante's first studies but it's sure he didn't get to university and that he studied in a Jesuit school.
In 1566 he stablish in Madrid were he studied in El Estudio de la Villa, a grammar school and he published two poems as part of a book whose main author was his teacher. While living in Madrid he started going often to theater plays and became interested in playwritting.