• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

6 Cervantes fought under this captain at the battle of Lepanto, in 1571.

8 The naval crown, made of gold, was awarded to the first man to board an enemy ship.

9 Uchalí, or Uluch Ali, the viceroy of Algiers in 1570, did in fact take part in the actions described by Cervantes. He commanded the Ottoman fleet from 1571 to 1587 and defeated the flagship of the Order of Malta during the battle of Lepanto.

10 Giovanni Andrea Doria, a Genoese, commanded the Spanish galleys.

11 An insignia that indicated the flagship of an admiral.

12 Muley Hamet, or Muley Mohammad, took possession of Tunis in October of 1573; the following year, he was captured by the Turks. His brother, Muley Hamida, or Ahmad-Sultán, attempted to join the attack on Tunis in 1573 by Don Juan of Austria, and died in Palermo in 1575.

13 The fortress that protected Tunis.

14 A span (palmo) is approximately 8 inches; a vara, about 2.8 feet.

1 Nicknamed El Fratín (“the Little Friar”), Jacome Paleazzo fortified a number of garrisons for the Spanish monarchy.

2 The historical Uchalí died suddenly on June 21, 1587, in Constantinople.

3 The four Ottoman family names are Muhammat, Mustafa, Murad, and Ali.

5 The allusion is to Cervantes himself; his complete surname was Cervantes Saavedra.

6 A historical figure, Agi Morato, or Hajji Murad, the son of Slavic parents, renounced Christianity and became an important personage in Algiers.

7 La Pata is al-Batha, a fortress-city.

8 According to Martín de Riquer, the daughter of Agi Morato (see note 6) was in fact named Zahara; in 1574 she married Abd al-Malik, who was proclaimed sultan of Morocco in 1576 and died in the battle of Alcazarquivir, against the Portuguese, in 1578. She was remarried, to Hasán Bajá, and after 1580 lived in Constantinople. In other words, some characters in this story of the captive are historical, although the action is fictional.

9 Bab Azún, the Gate of Azún, is one of the gates to Algiers.

10 This was the name for perfectly bilingual Moors, usually converts to Christianity, who had lived among Christians; they often came from the ancient kingdom of Aragón, which included present-day Aragón, Cataluña, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands.

1 This was the name of the pirate who captured Cervantes.

2 A gold coin worth approximately six silver reales.

3 A coin worth approximately seventeen reales.

5 This is an allusion to the legend of Don Rodrigo, the last Visigothic ruler of Spain, whose illicit love for Florinda, the daughter of Count Julián, caused her father to seek his revenge by betraying Spain to the Moors at the battle of Guadalete, in 711.

1 Martín de Riquer indicates that this lyric (and other poems inserted in the text) was composed by Cervantes years before he wrote Don Quixote and set to music in 1591 by Salvador Luis, a singer in the chapel choir of Philip II.

2 These were common coverings for windows before glass was in general use.

3 The reference is to Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus.

1 According to Martín de Riquer, Sancho invents the word both as a sarcastic comment on Don Quixote’s misperception and in order not to contradict Don Quixote openly.

1 Certificates were issued by the trade guilds to indicate a member’s skill.

2 In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was not unusual for innkeepers to belong to the Holy Brotherhood; the staff was a symbol of authority derived from the king.

3 The dispute, which became proverbial, was described by Ariosto in Orlando furioso.

4 Traditionally, the disputed items in Agramante’s camp were a sword, a horse, and a shield emblazoned with an eagle; the helmet is an invention of Don Quixote’s.

1 In the first edition, this is the first indication that Sancho has recovered his donkey.

3 The allusion is to Apollo pursuing Daphne, as well as to the sun crossing