The exact date of birth of Miguel de Cervantes is not known, but it was certainly no more than a few days before his baptism in the church of Santa Maria la Mayor, in the small city of Alcala de Enares 20 miles northwest of Madrid, on October 9, 1547. His family lived at 2 Calle de la Imagen, a street in a quarter of the city heavily settled by Jews and Muslims who had embraced Christianity, officially at least, rather than face expulsion from Spain.