Author of the ‘Cantilena’
Pietro, the son of Leo and Zuna, had at least one brother named Nicola and a sister. His date of birth is unknown.
On 1 April 1438 Caxaro obtained the warrant of a notary public for the Maltese islands after being approved in examinations held at Palermo by the protonotary (of Sicily). In 1440 he was appointed judge for Gozo and then held this office in Malta in 1441. Later on he held several public offices, and was judge, jurat, and notary to the town (Mdina) council or town clerk.
Apparently Caxaro never married. The extant part of his will, drawn on 12 August 1485, and other documents pertaining to the legacies he bequeathed, never mention a wife or children but do mention his slaves or former slaves. Caxaro was once going to marry Francha de Biglera, a widow, but the lady apparently changed her mind.
Caxaro died soon after drawing up his will but the exact date of his death is unknown. Documents state that he was already dead by 31 August 1485. He was buried in the chapel, built at his own expense, in the Dominican church of Our Lady of the Grotto, Rabat. He owned extensive property, including two houses at Mdina, various stretches of land and fields, a vineyard, and a farmhouse.
The records of the town council (Mdina) provide information on Peter Caxaro’s oratorical abilities, which seem to have been considerable, but say nothing about his philosophical or poetic interests. Indeed, the ‘Cantilena’ is his only surviving literary effort. Brandon Caxaro*, his relative, says that someone wrote of Pietro: ‘Manufacture a pen for Caxaro I entreat you, O noble progeny: let the nymphs seek thee; let they Muse inspire thee.’
On 22 September 1966 Dr Godfrey Wettinger* and Rev Michael Fsadni*, OP accidentally discovered Caxaro’s poem, known as ‘Cantilena’, written in medieval Maltese, at the notarial archives of Valletta. It was bound in the first volume of the notarial deeds published by Notary Rev. Brandon de Caxaro between 4 December 1533 and 26 May 1536, and is written on the back of folio number 6 of eight unnumbered empty folios at the end of the volume.
The discovery has effectively pushed back the date of written Maltese by about two centuries. Fsadni and Wettinger presented a publication entitled Peter Caxaro’s Cantilena, a poem in Medieval Maltese, re-published in a revised edition in Maltese, as L-Għanja ta’ Pietru Caxaru, poeżija bil-Malti Medjevali (Malta, 1983). These two books contain a detailed analysis of the ‘Cantilena’, information about the poem’s discovery, the search for early examples of written Maltese, the authorship of the poem, the place of the Maltese language and cultural life in Malta in those times, and the place of the ‘Cantilena’ in Maltese literature. They also presented biographical notes about Caxaro.
This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.