31 October 1615

31 October 1615 is the date of a letter Miguel de Cervantes signed in Madrid, offering the Count of Lemos his forthcoming work, Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda. Its dateline fixes a specific moment in Cervantes’s correspondence and records his plans for a book he was still completing.

The dated letter

The letter is dated from Madrid on the last day of October 1615 and signed Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Cervantes offers the Count of Lemos Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda, describing it as a work he expects to finish within four months, if God wills. The date therefore anchors a clear statement of the book’s anticipated completion, rather than documenting its eventual publication.

Circumstances and patronage

In the same letter, Cervantes says he is unwell and lacks the money and fitness for a long journey. He contrasts that limitation with the support he receives from the Count of Lemos, whom he describes as sustaining and protecting him and showing him more favor than he could wish for. The passage presents the date not only as a point in the composition of a book, but also as a moment in Cervantes’s relationship with a powerful patron.

Cervantes’s estimate of the work

Cervantes first characterizes the planned book as potentially the worst or the best entertainment written in his language, then withdraws the negative half of that judgment. He reports that his friends expect it to reach the highest possible level of quality. This shift from self-deprecating uncertainty to confidence in his friends’ assessment gives the dated letter a record of both his intended literary work and the expectations surrounding it.