28 Facts About Pietru Caxaro

Pietru Caxaro is so far Malta's first known philosopher, fragments of whose works are extant.

Pietru Caxaro was likely born around the beginning of the 15th century.

Pietru Caxaro was a notary or secretary to the same council in 1460 and 1468.

Pietru Caxaro possessed considerable property at the northern side of Malta, and was the owner of six slaves.

Pietru Caxaro was certainly a good friend of some of these men, both for intellectual as well as personal reasons.

Around 1463, Pietru Caxaro aspired to marrying a widow, Franca de Biglera.

At the Town Council of Mdina Pietru Caxaro had three particular themes which he seemed to come to life about: the welfare and maintenance of his hometown Mdina, the education of the common people, and the accountability of civil servants.

In 1480, Pietru Caxaro took an active and bold part in an issue which involved the bishop of Malta, who was suspected of corruption.

Pietru Caxaro was vehement against such corruption, and vigorous in his demand for an immediate remedy.

Peter Pietru Caxaro was virtually unknown until he was made famous in 1968 by the publication of his Cantilena by the Dominican Mikiel Fsadni and Godfrey Wettinger.

Pietru Caxaro's work was actually transcribed by Rev Brandan himself in its original Maltese version.

The authenticity of Pietru Caxaro's work is undoubtable, and so is Brandan's transcription.

Up till 1968, modern scholarly references to Peter Pietru Caxaro had been few.

Mention of Pietru Caxaro had been made in a work preceding Azzopardo's by approximately three decades.

Pietru Caxaro seems to qualify as a phonetic master, as well as one having control of classical rhetoric techniques.

Pietru Caxaro has tact in expressing his veiled poetic thought in striking and tempting allusions.

In other words, Pietru Caxaro is a forceful writer, possessing clarity of thought, and is confident in handling of style.

Alternatively or concurrently, at one time or another Pietru Caxaro acted as judge in the civil courts of Gozo and of Malta, and in the ecclesiastical cours.

Pietru Caxaro was further juror in Malta at the Mdina city-council, to which he sometimes acted as secretary.

Pietru Caxaro had willed that he be buried in the Dominican newly built church at Rabat, as eventually happened.

The most recent significant addition to the personal data and profile of Peter Pietru Caxaro was made by Frans Sammut in 2009.

Pietru Caxaro suggested that Caxaro came from a Jewish family that had been converted to Christianity.

In support of his claim he proposed that Pietru Caxaro's Cantilena was in fact a zajal, which in Arabic refers to a song which the Jews of Spain adopted and promoted.

Pietru Caxaro's name is mentioned at least in some 267 sittings of the council between 1447 and 1485.

Pietru Caxaro later established himself as a translator, compiler and commentator of classical texts, therefore giving rise to a literary culture concerned with human interests.

Up to Pietru Caxaro's visit to Palermo many native men familiar with the studia humanitatis made a name for themselves and for their town, scholars like Giovanni Aurispa and Giovanni Marrasio.

On that occasion, Peter Pietru Caxaro had highly praised the decision taken.

In 1977 Wettinger categorically denied that the murder of Pietru Caxaro's brother had any relevance to the theme of the Cantilena.