Discovered by Joseph Borg, transcribed and translated by Prof. Horatio Vella of the University of Malta, this book contains 18 transcribed and translated Latin documents, falling into the period from 1588 (Doc. 1) till 1733 (Doc. 18).

These documents are only a sample of a larger number that have been discovered and collected by Joseph Borg over the years, and do not show, by any means, an exhaustive picture of happenings among the inhabitants of Ghar il-Kbir (Great Cave).  

But they certainly reflect a lot on a habitation covering a century and a half (1588-1733).  From his own resources, Joseph Borg commissioned Prof. Horatio Vella of the University of Malta to transcribe and translate them.

The documents are notarial deeds of couples entering into marriage, promising and declaring what goods they were bringing into the marriage.  The very fact that the inhabitants of the Great Cave (Ghar il-Kbir) went to a Notary before marriage shows how these people were not completely cut off from the legal and religious practices of the rest of the island.

These documents refer to who represented whom in the notarial deeds; what fields or other goods, including clothes and animals, were being pledged, and what conditions were imposed should the marriage have failed and so on. As such they are also invaluable to those doing genealogical research in this period.

The 248-page book can be purchased from Book Distributors Ltd (BDL)