The presumed remains of writer and former soldier Miguel de Cervantes, found in a convent this year, were given full honours at a ceremony in Madrid

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Spain gave its greatest writer, Miguel de Cervantes, a formal burial on Thursday nearly 400 years after his death, unveiling a funeral monument holding recently unearthed bone fragments believed to include those of the author of Don Quixote.



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The mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, placed a laurel wreath at the foot of the monument in a Madrid convent in a ceremony that included military honours since Cervantes, considered the Shakespeare of Spanish letters, had also been a soldier for Spain.

The bones were dug up this year by experts after a near-yearlong search at the convent where Cervantes was known to have been buried in 1616.



Construction work over the centuries had made it difficult to figure out exactly where his bones lay. Investigators were convinced that his bones were among the remains of 15 bodies found in the crypt of the Barefoot Trinitarians, but they were unable to prove definitively which belonged to the author.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616), circa 1600. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Still, they had some clues. Cervantes died at age 69 and wrote that he had only six teeth by then. He also had wounds. In 1571, the writer was wounded in the Battle of Lepanto, which pitted Ottoman Turkish forces against the Holy League, led by Spain. Aboard the ship La Marquesa, Cervantes was hit by three musket shots, two in the chest and one in his hand.

In January, archaeologists said they found fragments of a casket bearing the initials “MC” and bones. They concluded it was the author, even without definite proof.

Botella said the monument settled an age-old debt to Cervantes and to Spanish culture.

“Now we can say, ‘Miguel, mission accomplished,’” she said.

Cervantes has such stature in Spain that the anniversary of his death on 23 April is celebrated each year with a marathon reading of Don Quixote by dozens of political and cultural figures.