Elizate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizate is a Basque term that refers to an early form of local government in the Basque Country which was particularly common in Bizkaia but also existed in the other provinces. It literally translates as "church door" (eliza "church" + ate "door"). In Spanish it is called anteiglesia ("before [the] church") .
The peculiar name derives from the Basque custom where the family heads of a settlement connected to a particular parish would gather after mass at the entrance of the church to make decisions regarding issues affecting their community. Their medieval history is closely linked to the emergence of the Batzar Nagusiak or "Grand Meetings", especially those of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa (Juntas Generales de Vizcaya/Guipúzcoa in Spanish) and the establishment of parochial churches. Each elizate would elect a representative who would represent the elizate at a Batzar Nagusia, so the elizate represents an early form of local democracy. These enjoyed considerable autonomy in decision-making from the higher administrative authorities.
An elizate was steered by a fiel sindiko (fiel síndico in Spanish), who would organise meetings and bear a makila as a sign of authority. A fiel was normally chosen for one year through a number of methods. Some were nominated by the outgoing fiel, in some places the position of fiel would rotate through all farmholders of the elizate and in others the most recently married farmholder would be named fiel. Each elizate was subdivided into smaller units called kofradiak (cofradías in Spanish, "brotherhoods") which corresponded to the individual boroughs of an elizate.
A group of elizates was a merindad.
Through time elizates often became municipalities. In Bizkaia, during the time of the Lordship of Biscay (Bizkaiko Jaurerria in Basque, Señorío de Vizcaya in Spanish), the elizates were referred to as the Lur Laua (Tierra Llana or "plain land" in Spanish) as opposed to the more stratified cities) and were further incorporated into the administration. They became subject to the fueros which at the same time re-affirmed the status of nobility to all farmholders. This meant that unlike in most of feudal Europe, the farmers legally owned their land.
After centuries of political change, very few elizate remain today, two of the most notable in Iurreta and Derio.
[edit] References
- Kasper, M. Baskische Geschichte Primus: 1997
- Trask, L. The History of Basque Routledge: 1997
[edit] See also
- The Water Tribunal of Valencia, Spain is unrelated to elizates, but also holds sessions at the church door.
[edit] External links
- Anteiglesia in the Spanish-language Auñamendi Encyclopedia.
