Pietru Caxaro

Pietru Caxaro was a Maltese poet who died in 1485. Caxaro was a philosopher, orator, and public notary. He currently rests in the chapel of Our Lady of Help at the Dominicans Church at Rabat, Malta.

Early years

Caxaro was born in Mdina in the beginning of the 15th century when Malta fell under Aragon’s rule. His father had traveled on various occasions to Barcelona and Valencia, while Caxaro himself passed the exam for notary public in Palermo. Afterwards, he held positions for over four decades in various legal posts in Malta and Gozo, as well as sitting on the administrative council of Mdina.

Career

The insights in medieval Maltese language provided by his poem, as well as into the humanist characteristics of its theme, demonstrate that the cultural developments taking place in the main cultural hubs of Mediterranean Europe were being absorbed and digested by a vibrant local community, both in terms of stylistic and thematic elements, all of which would go on to shape Maltese oral poetry and performance in the following centuries.

Caxaro is the author of Cantilena, the oldest known literary text in the Maltese language discovered in the Notarial Archives in Valletta in 1966. In his poems, Caxaro used both Semitic and Latin words.

Pietru Caxaro Street in Rabat, Malta is named after him.