23 April 1616

23 April 1616 is the date on which Cervantes died, apparently of dropsy, while his health had been failing for some time. The account presents the day as a point of coincidence with Shakespeare’s death in England, but immediately qualifies that coincidence: England’s calendar had not yet been reformed, so the two deaths were aligned nominally rather than securely as the same day by modern reckoning.

Cervantes’s Death

The date marks the end of Cervantes’s life after a period of declining health. The account says that he died as he had lived, accepting his lot bravely and cheerfully; it identifies dropsy as the apparent cause, not a certain diagnosis.

The Calendar Qualification

The comparison with Shakespeare gives 23 April 1616 a wider literary resonance, but the wording preserves an important historical distinction. Although the date was presented as the day England lost Shakespeare, the English calendar had not yet been reformed. The shared date is therefore a contemporary calendar claim, qualified by the difference in calendar systems.