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=== Early life and education ===
[[File:Fachada casa natal Servet.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Façade of the house of Michael Servetus in Villanueva de Sigena (Spain). Nowadays it is the headquarters of the ''Michael Servetus Institute'' and a research centre of Servetus' life and works.]] Servetus was probably<ref>See a discussion on the date in Angel Alcalá's introduction to the first Spanish translation of ''Christianismi Restitutio'' (''La restitución del cristianismo'', Fundación Universitaria Española, Madrid, 1980, p. 16, note 7.</ref> born on 29 September 1511 in Villanueva de Sijena in Aragon, Spain. Some sources give an earlier date based on Servetus' own occasional claim of having been born in 1509.<ref>{{cite book |last=Drummond |first=William H. |title= The Life of Michael Servetus: The Spanish Physician, Who, for the Alleged Crime of Heresy, was Entrapped, Imprisoned, and Burned, by John Calvin the Reformer, in the City of Geneva, October 27, 1553 |year= 1848 |publisher= John Chapman |location=London, England |isbn= | pages=2}}</ref> The ancestors of his father came from the hamlet of Serveto, in the [[Aragon|Aragonese]] [[Pyrenees]]. Although Servetus declared during his trial in Geneva that his parents were "Christians of ancient race", and that he never had any communication with Jews<ref>See ''Calvini Opera Quae Supersunt Omnia'', Vol. VIII, Brunsvigae, 1870, p. 767.</ref>, his maternal line actually descended from the Zaportas (or Çaportas), a wealthy and socially relevant [[Jewish]] [[converso]] family from the [[Barbastro]] and [[Monzón]] areas in [[Aragon]].<ref>Ernestro Fernández-Xesta, "Los Zaporta de Barbastro", in ''Emblemata: Revista aragonesearagonesa de emblemática'', Vol. #8, 2002, pp. 103-150.</ref><ref>http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/28/98/03nicolas.pdf</ref> This was demonstrated by a notarial protocol published in 1999.<ref>Gonzalez Echeverría,“ Andrés Laguna and Michael Servetus: two converted humanist doctors of the XVI century” in: Andrés Laguna International Congress. Humanism, Science and Politics in the Renaissance Europe, García Hourcade y Moreno Yuste, coord., Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid,1999 pp. 377-389</ref><ref>González Echeverría “ Michael Servetus belonged to the famous converted Jewish family The Zaporta”, Pliegos de Bibliofilia, nº 7, Madrid pp. 33-42. 1999</ref><ref>González Echeverría“ On the Jewish heritage of Michael Servetus” Raíces. Jewish Magazine of Culture, Madrid, nº 40, pp. 67-69. 1999</ref> His father was a notary of Christian ancestors from the lower nobility (''infanzón''),<ref>See J. Barón, ''Miguel Servet: Su Vida y Su Obra'', Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1989, pp. 37-39.</ref> who worked at the nearby [[Monastery of Santa Maria de Sigena]]. Servetus had two brothers, one was a Catholic priest, Juan, another was a notary, Pedro.
Servetus was gifted in languages and could have studied [[Latin]], [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] under the instruction of [[Dominican Order|Dominican friars]].<ref name="Drummondp3">Drummond,p3.</ref> At the age of fifteen, Michael Servetus entered the service of a [[Franciscan]] friar by the name of [[Juan de Quintana]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Richard |title= An Apology for Dr. Michael Servetus: Including an Account of His Life, Persecution, Writings and Opinions |year= 1806 |publisher= F. B. Wright |location=London|isbn= | pages=91}}</ref> Michael Servetus later attended the [[University of Toulouse]] in 1526 where he studied law. Servetus could have had access to forbidden religious books, some of them maybe [[Protestant]], while he was studying in this city.<ref>Servetus' name was included at the top of a list of 40 heretics issued by the Inquisition in Toulouse on 17 June, 1532; see Bourrilly, V.L. and Weiss N., "Jean du Bellay, les protestants et la Sorbonne" in ''Bulletin de la Societé d'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, LIII, 103, 1904.</ref>
=== Career ===
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