Baiardo (Luiz José)

The Portugal dictionary states that he was born in this city on April 30, 1775, but we have serious reasons to believe that he was originally from the mainland, although he lived in Madeira for several years. In his time, he gained fame as a dramatic writer, but his theatrical compositions later fell into complete oblivion. He was the private secretary of the bishop of this diocese, D. Fr. Joaquim de Menezes e Ataíde, and it is with good reason that some of the productions Baiardo presented as his own are attributed to this prelate. He held the position of clerk of the ecclesiastical court in Funchal. In 1821, he left for Lisbon and dedicated himself exclusively to writing, translating, and adapting various compositions for the theater. His literary productions are mentioned in the Bibliographical Dictionary of Inocencio. Among them, there is one that is of interest to the history of this island, titled "Carta escripta a um sujeito da provincia da ilha da Madeira ou o landum dos bordões," which Sebastião Xavier Botelho touched upon, with variations composed by Luiz José Baiardo; or the retaliation for the invectives that the aforementioned Botelho wrote against him in his (True History of the Events of the Island of Madeira). It is a pamphlet of 33 pages, published in Lisbon in 1821.