José Cadalso y Vázquez was a Spanish soldier and writer born in 1741. He was raised by his uncle after his mother died in childbirth and his father was away in America. Cadalso travelled extensively through Europe in his youth but disliked Spain upon returning. He wrote one of his most famous works, 'Cartas marruecas', based on this experience. Cadalso later joined the army against his wishes but found success as a writer in Madrid until criticism of civilians led to his temporary exile, where he wrote more poems. He is best remembered for his poem 'Noches lúgubres' written after the death of his love. Cadalso died during the siege of Gibraltar in

2.  José Cadalso y Vázquez was born the 8th of October 1741 in San
Roque. He was a Spanish soldier and writer. His mother died during the
birth, and his father was busy with his business in America. José Cadalso
first met his father when he was 13 years old.
 The writer was brought up by his religious uncle, Mateo Vázquez, who
sent José Cadalso to France. When his father arrived from the recently
discovered land, he went to Paris to meet his son. Then, they both
travelled all over Europe, and when they returned to Spain, the young
boy had a very bad impression from a country he didn’t know in
contrast with the experience he had in all the other European countries.
This situation inspired one of his most famous works, ‘Cartas marruecas’.
 Then, at the age of 16 and by the will of his father he entered the
Nobles Seminar. His father wanted to re-educate Cadalso and prepare
him for a job related to bureaucracy, which he hated. During all this
time, he tried to make his father send him again to the ‘real Europe’,
and between the age of 18 and 20 he lived in London and Paris, but
then he had to return to Spain due to his father death in 1761.

3.  Back in the country where he was born, José
Cadalso made the arrangements for the inheritance
so hurriedly that he ran out of cash some time after,
so he had to join the army in 1762. He participated in
the campaign of Portugal and in the mutiny of
Esquilache.
 When his regiment was moved to Madrid, Cadalso
fell in live with counsellor Collado´s daughter. They
almost got married. He also fell in love with the
Marquise of Escalona. Because of that relationship,
José Cadalso had the chance to meet the president
of the Council of Castilla. Then, the writer gave him a
part of his novel ‘Observaciones de un official
holandés en el recién descubierto reino de Felicia'.

4.  During his stay at Madrid, he started to write some
critics about the civilians’ manners, so he was made
to leave Madrid for six months, so he stayed in
Zaragoza until 1770, where he wrote some his famous
poems.
 After those six months, Cadalso went back to
Madrid, where he stayed between 1770 and 1772.
During this period he met the person who became
the love of his live, María Ignacia Ibáñez. However,
this love didn´t last too much because of María’s
sudden death. It is said that once Cadalso tried to
unearth his love’s corpse to say the last goodbye.
Right after that, he wrote ‘Noches lúgubres’.

5.  After some time, the Spanish write finished
‘cartas marruecas’, between 1773 and 1774.
During this period, he also made many friends
who were writers too. Cadalso was a great
influence for them, thing the former poets
admitted.
 In 1777, he took part in the siege of Gibraltar.
Unfortunately, he died during this siege the 27th
of February in 1782. He is buried in Santa María
la Coronada church, in San Roque. He is
remembered as a passionate lover, whose
more important poem in ‘Las noches lúgubres’.