Miguel de Cervantes, born in Alcalá de Henares in 1547, had in 1569 moved to Italy, where he served as a valet to Giulio Acquaviva, a wealthy priest who was elevated to cardinal the next year.

By then, Cervantes had enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish Navy infantry regiment and continued his military life until 1575, when he was captured by Algerian corsairs.

He was then released on ransom from his captors by his parents and the Trinitarians, a Catholic religious order.

He subsequently returned to his family in Madrid.

Cervantes had in 1585 published a pastoral novel named La Galatea.

Because of financial problems, Cervantes had worked as a purveyor for the Spanish Armada, and later as a tax collector.

Discrepancies in his accounts of three years previous had landed him in the Crown Jail of Seville in 1597.

He is in Valladolid in 1605, just when the immediate success of the first part of his Don Quixote, published in Madrid, signals his return to the literary world.

No sooner is it in the hands of the public than preparations are made to issue derivative ("pirated") editions.

"Don Quixote" has been growing in favor, and its author's name is now known beyond the Pyrenees.

By August 1605, there are two Madrid editions, two published in Lisbon, and one in Valencia.

A second edition is produced with additional copyrights for Aragon and Portugal, which publisher Francisco de Robles secures.

Sale of these publishing rights deprives Cervantes of further financial profit on Part One.