Catalina de Salazar y Palacios

Catalina de Salazar y Palacios (1565-1626) was the wife of the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

Life She was born into a well known family in present-day Toledo. Her parents were Hernando de Salazar y Vozmediano and Catalina de Palacios. Record documents of her baptism show November 1565. In 1584, Catalina met Miguel de Cervantes when he travelled to Esquivias in connection with the papers of his deceased friend, the poet Pedro Laínez. They married on 12 December 1584 in the church of Esquivias. At the time, Catalina was about nineteen years old and Cervantes was thirty-seven. Despite from being a prominent family, she was not wealthy at the time of their marriage. Catalina and Cervantes had no children together.

After Cervantes's death in 1616, Catalina remained in Madrid. She made a second will on 20 October 1626 and died later that month, on 31 October, in Madrid. She was buried in the convent of the Trinitarias Descalzas, where Cervantes had also been buried. Her surviving testament expresses her affection for Cervantes.