Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), novelist. Born Alcala, Spain, of an ancient but impoverished family, Cervantes was wounded, and lost for life the use of his left hand at the battle of Lepanto (1571); taken by pirates and spent five years as a prisoner in Algeria; devoted the rest of his life to a struggle to earn a livelihood from literature. His masterpiece, Don Quixote, a satirical romance, appeared in two parts: part one in 1605, part two in 1615.