A History of Spain / founded on the Historia de España y de la civilización española of Rafael Altamira

by Charles E. Chapman; Rafael Altamira

Unique character of Basque institutions.

The three Basque provinces of Álava, Vizcaya, and Guipúzcoa have always been unique in their history and institutions, and are the subject of many popular legends more or less founded on fact, such as the one already discussed that the Basques have never been conquered, and another that they are all nobles. In this period they were becoming more and more Castilian in customs, but they still retained much that was indigenous.

The social and political system in Álava.

In general social organization Álava did not differ from other Spanish regions. It was technically a behetría de mar á mar (free town from sea to sea): made up of a group of small seigniorial estates, both noble and ecclesiastical, whose rulers were free to elect a common lord without being restrained to a determinate family. The untitled inhabitants were rural laborers, who were either serfs or in a state but little removed from serfdom, and the free, popular classes of the towns, but neither of these elements exercised great influence. After the incorporation of Álava into Castile in 1332, the older type of government, based primarily on the Cofradía of Arriaga and the elected lord, underwent a radical change. The overlordship became fixed in the crown of Castile, and the cofradía disappeared, although a similar body soon developed. The king was represented at times by an adelantado as well as by lesser royal officials, and reserved high justice to himself, besides rights to military service and a certain few taxes. Local government was carried on by various assemblies, reaching in a hierarchy from the lesser regional institutions to the general assembly for the entire province. The general assembly was both a legislative and an administrative body, but its principal function was the inspection of royal orders to see if they conformed to the regional charters. A juridical difference existed between the towns and the country, for the former were ruled by Castilian law and the latter by ancient custom, resulting in the economic dependence of the rural laboring classes, even after serfdom had disappeared.

The social and political system in Vizcaya.

Until its consolidation with the Castilian crown by inheritance in 1370, Vizcaya was a behetría de linaje (free town within a family), electing its lord from a determinate family, but both before and after that date there was a marked lack of regional solidarity, for various groups were to a great degree autonomous. There were two principal types of jurisdiction: the seigniorial estates, with the usual incidents found elsewhere; and the indigenous Basque settlements, which pretended to the nobility of their inhabitants, even to the point of refusing to permit foreigners to dwell among them unless they too were of noble rank. The indigenous element was to be found in rural districts, and was ruled by customs, which were written down for the first time in 1452. The patriarchal form of family life continued to exist here, as evidenced by the requirement that lands should return to the family from which they proceeded in case of a failure of direct heirs, and by the right to leave virtually one’s entire estate to a single descendant. Custom recognized a right of way over the lands of others, even when enclosed,—which would seem to indicate backwardness in the development of means of communication. In government the king was represented principally by a corregidor. The inhabitants of Vizcaya were exempt from any taxes of Castilian origin, but paid certain other contributions to the king, were subject to both military and naval service, and acknowledged the right of high justice in the royal officials. The general assembly of Vizcaya, like that of Álava, had a right to inspect royal decrees.

The social and political system in Guipúzcoa.

The people of Guipúzcoa claimed to be of noble rank, and this status was legally recognized for most of them by laws enacted before, during, and after this period. Nevertheless the customs of the land itself amounted to a denial of their claim, and the familiar social differences existed, even though the majority of the people were legally nobles. There was a seigniorial class of the usual variety, with dependents in a more or less servile relation. A middle class nobility existed, composed of small proprietors or the industrial laborers and merchants of the towns. This element was very insistent on its noble rank (which indeed carried with it special privileges, such as the exclusive right to hold public office and certain exemptions from taxation), and enacted laws excluding those who were not of noble blood from a right to live in the towns. These laws were not enforced, however, and a popular class grew up, composed of Guipuzcoans whose noble rank was not recognized and of foreigners, many of whom settled in the land. Politically Guipúzcoa was a behetría subject alternately to the kings of Navarre and Castile, until in 1200 the overlordship became fixed in the Castilian crown. At first the king was represented by an adelantado, who was customarily ruler at the same time of Álava or of the county of Castile; later a corregidor for Guipúzcoa alone was named, while there were a number of royal merinos as well. There was no other organization for the entire province until the fourteenth century, but each region dealt separately with the royal government. Gradually, through the formation of groups of settlements, a general league and at length a general assembly developed, with much the same powers as the assemblies of Álava and Vizcaya. The municipalities continued to be the principal centre of regional autonomy, however, especially the more important towns, which protected the lesser settlements through an institution similar to the Catalonian carreratge. Like the other Basque provinces Guipúzcoa enjoyed a number of privileges, of which the most prized was the exemption from general taxation, although certain specified tributes were regularly collected. More than once the province rose in arms to resist the imposition of taxes of Castilian origin.

Inter-relations of the Basque provinces.

Despite community of race and language the three provinces never formed a political unit. At times Guipúzcoa and Álava had the same adelantado or held general assemblies in common, and there were some instances where the assemblies of all three provinces met to discuss matters of common interest. Alliances were made between towns of the same or different provinces, perhaps including towns in France, for such purposes as the regulation of the use of lands common. In one respect there was a certain amount of unity (in interest at least): in the conflict of the towns against the great lords and their allies, the rural population, in all three provinces. The lords were so turbulent that the kings joined with the towns in attempts to suppress them, and the lords even fought one another, wherefore their power was considerably reduced, though not entirely broken.