MIGUEL DA CERVANTES

In 1569 after fighting a duel with and grievously injuring his rival Antonio Segura, Migel de Cervantesfl fled Madrid having been sentenced to arrest and to amputation of his right hand, the same hand with which years later he would write DonQuixote. Although he was born in the nearby city of Alcala de Henares in 1547, he had been living in Madrid since 1566. He would return to Spain 20 years later, having fought at the Battle of Lepanto - were he lost the use of his left arm and been held prisoner in Algiers for five years. When he returned to Madrid, the city was also home to some of the other great writers of the Spanish Golden Age such as Quevedo and Lope de Vega. Cervantes decided to try his luck in the corrales de comedias (open -  air courtyards where plays were performed)  but he had little success. He left the city again between 1587 and 1601, during which time he worked as the King's Commissioner in Andalusia. Although Cervantes gained wide recognition with Don Quixote, and the work was soon translated into English and French, the "Prince of Wits"  is said to have died in 1616 in poverty.