Letter of Arras and the Judicial Instruction of Écija against Miguel de Cervantes, 1558

Abstract

Did Miguel de Cervantes really come from a family without resources and without social standing? The ascending genealogical line of Miguel de Cervantes today remains unknown. It is taken for granted that the paternal grandparents are Juan de Cervantes, a law graduate, married to Leonor de Torreblanca, and come from Córdoba.

The notarial document, which coincides in names, opens up a line that will have to be investigated in order to interpret and explain issues in the life of the Cervantes that are not sufficiently clear. This article intends to make a call about the found documentation for its study and evaluation by the Cervantists.

Transcription of the Letter of Arras of the grandparents of Miguel de Cervantes, with them the kinship with the Cervantes of Mexico is demonstrated, especially with Juan de Cervantes, whose House Palace of the Cervantes factor is preserved in the historic center of the city. In them, Cervantes appears as a judge with a high rank from the Council of Finance to urgently take the wheat from Écija in July 1587 to try so that the Invincible Armada could leave to conquer England in August.