On this day in Tudor history, 9th October 1547, Miguel de Cervantes was baptised in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. His actual birthdate is unknown.
Cervantes is, of course, the author of the famous classic “Don Quixote”, a book known as "the first modern novel".
Obviously, this event didn’t happen in Tudor England, but it did happen in the Tudor period, and Cervantes is known the world over.
Let me share with you some Cervantes facts, which include him being held to ransom by pirates!
1) “ On this day in Tudor history, 9th October 1547, Miguel de Cervantes was baptised in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. His actual birthdate is unknown,” you say, but easy to understand.. ´
´ When you take into account the Julian calendar, that would be the actual date of his baptism. According to the Gregorian calendar, you have to count back 10 days, bringing it to September 29th, the name day of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. He was named after Michael.’
2) Cervantes is, of course, the author of the famous classic “Don Quixote”, a book known as “the first modern novel”, you suggest.. but ….the original “Don Quixote” is an English book. The Spanish translations appeared in 1605 and 1615, much earlier than the original English publications in 1612 and 1620. Between these two periods, in 1614, a “false” Don Quixote was published under the name Avellaneda. The original English text was never released.
Francis Bacon was the brain behind the three books of Don Quixote; he wrote the part of the hero.
Ben Jonson took on the role of Sancho Panza, John Donne wrote the poems, “the two friends” Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher were assigned the task of writing loose stories. These authors made use of the library owned by Robert Cotton.
The printer, William Stansby, inserted concealed clues into the text, in order for the reader to be able to draw conclusions…
The Spanish translations were carried out by Thomas Shelton (DQI + DQII) and James Mabbe (the “bogus” DQ).
Miguel de Cervantes was just a poor Spanish writer who had sold his name to survive. He had told his life-story to the English, so that it could be processed into the DQ.
Ten people, sworn to secrecy about their collaboration in the writing of Don Quixote. Now in this book, after four hundred years, clarity is given as to the “who”, “what” and “why” of all this secrecy.
3) “Obviously, this event didn’t happen in Tudor England, but it did happen in the Tudor period, and Cervantes is known the world over,” you write.. but it DID HAPPEN IN TUDOR ENGLAND.. but you haven’t noticed! Francis Bacon and the Sireniacal Gentlemen were consulting the Cotton Library in may-june- July 1603.. and the papers were sent to translate to the Netherlands.. via the Embassy in Brussels Th.Shelton received those.. but who wants to know this?