Burying Cervantes

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On a quest to determine if Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes died of cirrhosis of the liver, a Spanish forensic team uncovered seventeen bodies buried between 1612 and 1630 in Madrid’s Church of the Trinity, one of which was believed to be that of Cervantes.

However, they were unable to conclusively identify any of the remains as belonging to Cervantes, so whether or not he died from drinking too much is still a mystery.

Last Thursday Madrid’s mayor held a formal burial for Cervantes (nearly 400 years after his actual death), complete with huge memorial plaque.

Kelly Lynn Thomas reads, writes, and sometimes sews in Pittsburgh, PA. Her creative work has appeared in Sou’wester, Thin Air Magazine, Heavy Feather Review, metazen, and others, and she received her MFA in Creative Writing from Chatham University. She is hopelessly obsessed with Star Wars and can always be found with a large mug of tea. She also runs the very small Wild Age Press. Read more at kellylynnthomas.com. More from this author →