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4 The name is based on the verb mentir, “to lie.”

1 It was a mark of great dishonor for a knight to ride in so humble a vehicle; in medieval tales, for example, Lancelot incurred great shame by riding in an oxcart.

2 “Catholic” is used by Sancho metaphorically to mean “trustworthy” or “legitimate,” much as we would use “kosher” today; Don Quixote responds to the literal meaning of the word.

3 This is the title of one of the novellas in Cervantes’s collection, Novelas ejemplares (Exemplary Novels), which was published in 1613, eight years after the first part of Don Quixote.

4 A treatise on logic, written by Gaspar Cardillo de Villalpando and used as a text at the University of Alcalá.

5 A kind of sensual, supposedly decadent writing associated with the ancient Ionian city of Miletus.

6 Sinon persuaded the Trojans to admit the wooden horse, filled with Greek soldiers, into their city, thereby causing the defeat of Troy. According to some accounts, he was a Greek who allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Trojans; according to others, he was a Trojan in the service of the Greeks.

7 Euryalus was well-known for his friendship with Nisus. They accompanied Aeneas to Italy following the Trojan War and were killed in battle.

8 Zopyrus proved his loyalty to Darius during a revolt by the Babylonians: he mutilated himself severely, then went over to the Babylonian side, claiming to be a victim of Persian cruelty; he gained their confidence, was made leader of their armies, and eventually betrayed Babylon to Darius.

2 The reference is to Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola, who tended to write in the classical style of the early Renaissance (clearly favored by Cervantes) in contrast to the more effusive complexities of the Baroque that were popular in the theater of the time.

3 La ingratitud vengada, by Lope de Vega.

4 Numancia, by Miguel de Cervantes.

5 El mercader amante, by Gaspar de Aguilar.

6 La enemiga favorable, by Francisco Agustín Tárrega.

7 At the time Cervantes wrote this, the classical rules of drama were not followed anywhere in Europe, at least not in Italy, France, or England. Martín de Riquer wonders if Cervantes might actually have been thinking of prescriptive treatises that were widely published but adhered to by no playwright of significance.

8 The description is of Lope de Vega, who wrote hundreds of comedias; the exact number is not known, but a legendary two thousand plays have been attributed to him (not to mention numerous works in other genres). He and Cervantes, his senior by some fifteen years, had a highly competitive relationship. Lope apparently took great offense at this passage.

1 Viriato led a Lusitanian (Portuguese) rebellion against the Romans.

2 Count Fernán González declared the independence of Castilla from the Moors in the tenth century.

4 Diego García de Paredes was a military hero who fought with Gonzalo Fernández.

5 Pérez de Vargas, a historical figure mentioned in chapter VIII, broke his sword in battle, then tore a branch from an oak tree and used it to kill countless Moors.

6 Garcilaso de la Vega, not to be confused with the Renaissance poet of the same name, fought in the war to capture Granada from the Moors.

7 Don Manuel de León entered a lion’s cage to recover a glove that a lady had thrown inside in order to test his courage. When he returned the glove, he slapped her for endangering the life of a knight on a whim.

8 The two anecdotes appear in a history of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers ( La historia del emperador Carlomagno y los doce pares de Francia) published in Alcalá in 1589.

9 A book entitled Crónica del nobre caballero Guarino Mesquino was cited by Juan de Valdés, an important humanist of the early sixteenth century, as being very poorly written and even more absurd than other novels of chivalry.

10 A figure associated with the Lancelot story who passed into popular ballads and became part of the folk tradition