as baptized on
the 9th of October 1547, in the church of Santa Maria la Mayor at
Alcala. There are indications that Rodrigo de Cervantes resided at
Valladolid in 1554, at Madrid in 1561, at Seville in 1564-1565, and at
Madrid from 1566 onwards. It may be assumed that his family accompanied
him, and it seems likely that either at Valladolid or at Madrid
Cervantes saw the famous actor-manager and dramatist, Lope de Rueda, of
whose performances he speaks enthusiastically in the preface to his
plays. In 1569 a Madrid schoolmaster, Juan Lopez de Hoyos, issued a work
commemorative of Philip II.'s third wife, Isabel de Valois, who had died
on the 3rd of October 1568. This volume, entitled _Historia y relacion
verdadera de la enfermedad, felicisimo transito y sumptuosas exequias
funebres de la Serenisima Reyna de Espania Dona Isabel de Valoys_,
contains six contributions by Cervantes: a sonnet, four _redondillas_,
and an elegy. Lopez de Hoyos introduces Cervantes as "our dear and
beloved pupil," and the elegy is dedicated to Cardinal Espinosa "in the
name of the whole school." It has been inferred that Cervantes was
educated by Lopez de Hoyos, but this conclusion is untenable, for Lopez
de Hoyos' school was not opened till 1567. On the 13th of October 1568,
Giulio Acquaviva reached Madrid charged with a special mission to Philip
II.; he left for Rome on the 2nd of December, and Cervantes is supposed
to have accompanied him. This conjecture is based solely on a passage in
the dedication of the _Galatea_, where the writer speaks of having been
"_camarero_ to Cardinal Acquaviva at Rome." There is, however, no reason
to think that Cervantes met Acquaviva in Madrid; the probability is that
he enlisted as a supernumerary towards the end of 1568, that he served
in Italy, and there entered the household of Acquaviva, who had been
raised to the cardinalate on the 17th of May 1570. There exists a
warrant (dated September 15, 1569) for the arrest of one Miguel de
Cervantes, who had wounded Antonio de Sigura, and had been condemned in
absence to have his right hand cut off and to be exiled from the capital
for ten years; and it has been sought to identify the offender with the
future author of _Don Quixote_. No evidence is available. All that is
known with certainty is that Cervantes was in Rome at the end of 1569,
for on the 22nd of December of that year the fact was recorded in an
official information lodged by Rodrigo de Cervantes with a