Tilting at windmills Cervantes wrote and published "Don Quixote" during the Eighty Years' War, or Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648), a revolt by the Habsburg Netherlands to end Spanish rule. In "Don Quixote", the eponymous protagonist consistently misinterprets the motives and actions of his adversaries and allies, and struggles to even understand his own at times — a conundrum regularly resulting in apparently unjustified violent actions and consequences. One way of interpreting Don Quixote's tilting at windmills could be allegorically, thereby promoting critical, skeptical, or satirical evaluation of either a hero's motives, rationales and actions, or the ultimate aims of a nation's foreign
Portland Windmills Portland Windmills The Portland Windmills are two disused stone towers which were used as windmills from at least the early 17th century. They are located south of Easton village and the east of Weston village. The towers, which are relatively short mills with conical caps, stand approximately 135 metres apart. They have been separate Grade II Listed monuments since September 1978, and are the only historic windmill remains to survive in Dorset. Although their origin is unknown, Portland's windmills were first recorded in the Land Revenue Accounts of 1608. They were also featured on a 1626 map by William Simplon