Baztan, Navarre

Baztan
Comarca

Flag
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 43°07′N 1°17′E / 43.12°N 1.28°E / 43.12; 1.28Coordinates: 43°07′N 1°17′E / 43.12°N 1.28°E / 43.12; 1.28
Country  Spain
Autonomous community Navarre
Province Navarre
Capital Elizondo
Government
Area
 • Total 373.55 km2 (144.23 sq mi)
Population (2009)
 • Total 8,127
 • Density 22/km2 (56/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 31700
Dialing code 948
Website http://www.baztan.es/

Baztan is a municipality from the Chartered Community of Navarre, northern Spain. It is located 58 km (36 mi) from Pamplona, the capital of Navarre. It is the largest municipality in Navarre, with around 376.8 km2 and just over 8,000 inhabitants.

Settlements

The capital of the valley is Elizondo, and includes other 14 villages, as follows:

Geography

The territory of the Baztan valley extends over an area of 377 square km[1] of which much is common land[2] jointly owned by the residents of the Baztan valley and primarily used as grazing ground for flocks of sheep and herds of semi-wild horses. The Baztan Valley borders with the French Basque regions of Lapurdi and Lower Navarre which is accessed by the Izpegi Pass to the east of the valley and Dantxarinea to the north. This vicinity to France and its ties with its Basque neighbours has greatly characterised the history of the Baztan people over the past centuries. In 2013 there were 7974 people living in the Baztan Valley with 3489 people living in the capital of Elizondo.[3] The remaining population are spread out between the other 14 mountain villages (see above).

The Baztan Valley is scarcely populated with small-scale pastoral farming making use of the verdant pastures along the banks of the Baztan river. Orchards of apple, quince, cherry, pear and peach trees are common and more recently kiwis have been planted in the area. The mountain slopes are densely covered with oak, chestnut, walnut, beech, and ash. The odd palm tree can sometimes be found in the grounds of the larger manor houses in the area and often belies family links to the Americas where many Baztan people have emigrated since the 16th century.

History of Baztan

The Baztan Viscounty (1025-1235)

In about 1025, the duke of Gascony Sancho VI William, who was the son of Duke William II Sánchez and Urraca Garcés of Navarre (widow of Count Fernán González of Castile), assigned part of the territories of the duchy of Gascony under the suzerainty of King Sancho III of Navarre. Following this, Sancho III of Navarre created a Lordship for Ximen I Ochoaniz, which comprised the surroundings of the Baztan Valley. His son Garcia Xemeniz became a Viscount between 1055 to 1065, and his grandson Ximen I Garciez, who was the Lord of Lizarra and the valley of Salazar between 1051 and 1080, donated lands and properties to the Monastery of Leire, in exchange of pardon for assassinating his nephew.

When the King of Navarre, Sancho IV of Navarre was assassinated by his siblings in 1076, they colluded with the Bishops of Bayonne. This alignment with Bayonne rather than Pamplona was possibly due to the new political support to the de Haro family, Lords of Biscay, recognized and protected by the Kingdom of Castile after 1076, and the absorption and partitioning in his own benefit of Navarrese territories by King Alfonso V of Castile, grandson of King Sancho III of Navarre.

In the meantime, the Kings of Navarre had been King Ramiro I of Aragon and Navarre, who was the Sancho III of Navarre's son (deceased in 1065), and his successor the King Sancho Ramirez, known as Sancho V of Navarre and Aragon.

These two Navarrese-Aragonese kings ruled on thinly populated Aragonese territories with much less military strength than the powerful King of Castile, Alfonso VI of Castile, (1040–1109), a nephew of bastard born King Ramiro I of Aragon and supposed ruler of Navarre, too, on the 1076 assassination by his brothers/sisters of Sancho IV of Navarre, whose territory was thereafter punished, occupied and somehow divided or shared .

At these times, Viscount of Baztan area Ximen II got a daughter, Viscountess Maria Ximenes who married in 1085, Fortun Enneconis, de Los Cameros, a former, (10th century), navarrese territory now close to the Kings of Castile and located in La Rioja, South of the river Ebro, at the South-East of Logroño City.

Maria Ximenes got two sons, Ximen III Fortunez, Viscount of Baztan in 1119, no issue, and Pedro I Fortunez, the following Viscount. A son of the later Viscount Pedro II Pedriz of Baztan married towards 1110 and got three sons: Sancho Pedriz de Baztan, Pedro Pedriz de Baztan and Ximen Pedriz de Baztan, assassinated circa 1150 by a "French" neighbour but revenged by his cousin, a "Gramont" family female, these Gramont's becoming later a very famous and brilliant "French Basque outstanding family name", who punished the assassin by blinding him while detained.

At those times, titular king of Navarre, and Aragon, was Sancho V Ramirez son by his first marriage, Peter I of Navarre and Aragon, but then, deceased in 1104, the next King was his son by a second marriage with a French Nordic woman aristocrat, Félicia de Roucy, a.k.a. Felicia de Ramerupt - Roucy, a.k. a. Felicia de Urgel, (Barbastro, circa 1050 - Barcelona, 1094), Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre, deceased without issue in 1134. This Alfonso I of Aragon-Navarre describes himself as King of the Baztan area in 1132, besides, Alava, Navarra, Sobrarbe, Ribagorza, and Aragon, after besieging and conquering Bayonne with the military help, between others of Baztanese people, and who had helped him to conquer from the Moors the important town of Zaragoza in 1118.

The reasons for the military campaign of Alfonso I on what is now France, between October 1130 eand the beginnings of 1131 was to pay protective military duty as suzerain of some of his Lord vassals from the other side of the Pyrenees, Gaston IV of Béarn "The Crusader", (viscount 1090 - 1131), fighting then against the Moors in Teruel with Knights of the Order of the Temple, Count Roger III of Foix, ( - Count 1124 - 1147/8), and Count Bernard I of Comminges, later a Knight of the Order of the Temple, as required and obliged by the mutual pacts of protection.

Because the now named French Basques, (then "Gascons"), were unsatisfied with their overlord Duke William X of Aquitaine, (1099 – Successor to the Duchy 1126 - assassinated in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 9 April 1137) he besieged Bayonne, too, for nearly one year, 1131, and conquered it giving some privileges to the Gascons also. The will of Alfonso I, 1134, giving all his territories to the Knights of the Order of the Temple and of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was however disputed both by the Roman Popes and the Navarrese and Aragonese Lords.

Then, Navarrese nobility decided to split apart recognizing as a new King of Navarre, an illegitimate offspring descent of former Kings, named Garcia IV Ramirez "El Restaurador", deceased 1150. It was through his mother that new king Garcia IV Ramirez of Navarre, got the genes of famous Epic Knight and mercenary warrior El Cid Campeador, deceased in July 1099 as conqueror of the town of Valencia.

Apparently, this splitting from Aragon when Alfonso I died in 1134 was punished by the Roman Popes and the other Christian Kings of the regions now described as Spain by describing Garcia IV Ramirez as "Dux Navarrorum" only, existing agreements between the King Consort of Aragon, Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, and the King of Castile Alfonso VII on conquering and dividing together Navarre on his death in 1150.

The incoming storm was conjured by the 17-year-old King of Navarre, Sancho VI Garcés "The Wise", (1133? - 1194), whose sister, Duchess or Princess Blanca Garcés of Navarre, deceased 1156, married in 1151 to the new King of Castile, but no King of León as till then, Sancho III of Castile, (1134 - King of Nájera 1149 - August 1158, aged 23, two years after his young Navarrese wife).

The situation became then very delicate indeed. There was only a little Castilian - Navarrese Prince alive, later Alfonso VIII of Castile, with an uncle, king Ferdinand II of León, slightly younger than his deceased father, Castilian deceased king Sancho III and Navarrese deceased mother, Princess or Duchess Blanca. Will uncle Fernando, king of Leon, be seeking some sort of "unfortunate death or poisoning" of his nephew, a very young child orphaned, tutored, and plausible king Alfonso VIII?.

Alfonso VIII grand father Garcia IV, on his mother side, the father of young King or Dux Sancho VI of Navarre and of Princess or Duchess Blanca, had married Marguerite de l'Aigle, the daughter of one of the Norman crusaders fighting in Spain against the Moors in Calahorra, Tarazona, Tudela and Logroño.

Aigle is Eagle in Norman French, therefore one black eagle, reivindicated now ignoring the reasons by Basque nationalists for a few years in the 20th century, became customary in the Navarrese and Sicilian Royal Coats of Arma, since the sister of king Sancho VI, and Blanca, Margaret of Navarre, deceased 1183, married William I "The Bad" or "The Wicked" of (Norman) Sicily, with bastard royal Castilian blood on his mother side, being the mother of William II of Sicily, (1155 - king of Sicily 1166 - 1189).

The conquest of Lisbon, Portugal, by international crusaders in October 1147 meant the consolidation of Atlantic - Mediterranean trade, and the setting up of seafaring connections between the regions above Normandy, including England, Scotland, Ireland, Flanders, and Denmark with the Crusaders conquests since 1099 in Palestine. Equilibrium and loyalty were necessary for it in the Iberian Peninsula. The Great Protector of baby king of Castile would be then an ambitious, hard headed and violent descent of the Counts of Anjou, nonetheless than Henry II of England, called Curtmantle, (1133–1189), who ruled as King of England (1154–1189), Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France.

Suddenly, in the 1150s, sleepy fishing towns of the Gulf of Biscay, between Bordeaux and Vigo, namely between the Duchy of Normandy in the North of France and in front of England, and the new Iberian Kingdom of Portugal, became valuable spots for trade, including what is described today as the Basque Country. Iron smelting for tools, nails and weapons, woolens for no getting too wet and fighting the cold nights, gold, silver, glass, salt, leather wares, were fundamental goods.

Near it all there was a rather dull and undistinguished member of the nobility, perhaps more cunny than anyone ever thought, the son of a rather obscure Spanish Crusader in Palestine, described today as Garcia IV Ramirez of Navarra, "El Restaurador", king since 1134, deceased 1150.

The broken chains and the big green emerald taken by formerly Church excommunicated navarrese king Sancho VII, participating in one of the Spanish-based Crusades in the Iberian Peninsula, after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, in July of the year 1212.
The Counts of Champagne and Kings of Navarre family coat of arms ruling over both sets of territories, one independent, the Kingdom of Navarre, the other recognizing the suzerainty of the Kings of France, between 1235 and 1305.

His grandson Sancho VII of Navarre, (deceased 1234, buried at Roncesvalles ), would be the brother in law of the King of England, Richard the Lionheart, killed by an arrow besieging one of his unruly vassals in France, in 1199, through his sister Berengaria of Navarre, deceased at Le Mans, France, in 1229.

From 1235 onwards, the Count of Champagne, Theobald I de Champagne-Navarre, "The Poet" ot "The Troubadour", will achieve the feat of being King of Navarre, thanks to his mother, Princess Blanca Sánchez of Navarre, Blanche of Navarre, deceased 1229, the widower regent in charge for 21 years, after May 24, 1201, 1201–1222, of her former deceased husband seven powerful castles menacingly surrounding the Paris Capet royal territories: Épernay, Vertus, Sézanne, Chantemerle, Pont-sur-Seine, Nogent-sur-Seine and Méry-sur-Seine, in spite of her "succession as Countess of Champagne" being contested by Theobald's nieces, Alice and Philippa.

The Navarrese born Countess of Champagne, Blanche, had been married to the would-be Crusader, fourth Crusade, Theobald III of Champagne, and was the youngest sister of king Sancho VII, who had died without "appropriate" legal descents in 1234.

5 years after her death, her 33-year-old son, Count Theobald IV of Champagne, would become Inheriting King Theobald I of Navarre, ruling there for the next 20 years, organizing meantime, 1239, a costly Crusade to Palestine, too, the same than his father, Count Theobald III of Champagne had triggered in 1201 before he was taken by death .

The Navarra Kingdom under the new Champagne Counts dynasty, (1235-1305)

Theobald I of Navarre, Theobald IV of Champagne, (Born as an orphan at Troyes, France, 1201 - Pamplona, 1254) married 3 times, the first marriage being dissolved after two years only and having no issue. On his second marriage with Agnes of Beaujeu in 1222, the only daughter from the issue, was called also as other women ancestors, Blanche de Navarre, (1226–1283). She eventually married seafaring John I, Duke of Brittany, being thus the mother of John II (in Breton Yann II, in French Jean II de Dreux) (1239 – November 18, 1305), who was Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond, from 1286 to his death.

Another 2 daughters of Theobald I of Navarre third marriage with Margaret of Bourbon, Queen of Navarre, 1253 - 1256 as Queen regent, daughter of a sire of the Bourbonnais, not yet Dukes, military mercenaries Condottiere's or Kings much later in European History were:

a) The so-called Margaret of Navarre, as other women ancestors, who in 1255 married Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (1238–1303), being thus the mother, between others, of Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (1263–1312), his successor in Lorraine.

b) Beatrice of Navarre, Duchess of Burgundy, (1242–1295), married in 1258 with Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy (1212–1272).

One of the brothers of these two, reaching maturity at age 18, 1256, was the next king, Theobald II of Navarre, (c. 1238 – December 4, 1270), married in 1255 at Melun, France, to Isabelle of France, (2 March 1241 - married 6 April 1255 - 17 April 1271).

This Queen Consort of Navarre, Isabelle de France, was the daughter of Marguerite of Provence, (1221–1295), and King Louis IX of France, (1214–1270), the son of Louis VIII of France and Queen Regent of France, Blanche Of Castile.

When Theobald II died childless, aged 32, in Trapani, Sicily, just three months before Isabelle of France, he had participated in the Eighth Crusade to Tunis, North Africa, against the supposed Hafsid first Khalif of Tunis, Muhammad I al-Mustansir, (???? - 1277), a former vassal of king Manfred of Sicily, (1232 - King of Sicily August 1258 - Battle of Benevento, on February 26, 1266).

Isabelle of France, The Queen Consort of Navarre, was only 30 when she died, strangely enough, and then, the Navarrese crown passed to Theobald II youngest brother, king Henry I the "Fat"(c. 1244 – 22 July 1274), Count Henry III of Champagne. He only lived till the age of 30 diying of what could be described today as an infarct, ruling thus only for some 3 years.

The Navarre kingdom coveted by the opportunist Capet of France kings dynasty, (1274 - 1305 - 1327)

The succession problem and the Fuero Mejorado de Navarra chart of privileges, year 1327

This coat of arms of the Capet Navarrese dynasty can be seen at several places of the Catedral of Pamplona and former buildings associated with the running of the two independent Kingdoms recognizing them as sovereigns
This coat of arms of the Capet - Évreux navarrese dynasty, created "allowing" 15-year-old Queen Joan II of Navarre, of French-Burgundian parents, deceased 1349, aged 37, to circumvent Salic French succession laws as a rightful proprietary of the throne of Navarre in 1327

The Capet sub branch of the Évreux in Navarre as Kings of Navarre, (1348 - 1446)

The titular Kings and the titular Queens of Navarre

15 years old Joanna II of Navarre, born 1312, bypassed twice in her succession to the throne of Navarre by her two Capet uncles, Kings of Navarre and France, named differently depending on the mentioned country, Navarre or France, married Count Philip d' Évreux, King Consort, known as Philip III of Navarre, killed in a Spanish-International Crusade over the Andalusian maritime town of Algeciras in 1343. She died in 1349, aged 37 only.

France and Navarre had been and were de facto two independent Kingdoms being recognized both of them as sovereigns. The acceptance of Queen Joan II by the Navarrese was a wise move in view of the claims of the Counts of Anjou and later Kings of England to succeed, on the same type of grounds and reasons, to the French throne, the seed of the Hundred Years War .

The eldest son of Philippe d'Évreux and Queen Joanna II was Charles II of Navarre, "The Bad", (1332–1387), who ruled for about 38 years and who brought a lot of trouble with his in-laws, the new Royal family of the Valois, his father in law John II of France, (1316–1364), and his brother in law Charles V of France, (1338–1380).

His inheritor was King Charles III of Navarre, "The Noble", deceased 1425, who ruled also for about 38 years, and protected all the baztanese land proprietors, his daughter being the next (third) rightful Queen Blanche I of Navarre, who ruled between 1425 and 1441, some 16 years, having been also a consort ruler in Sicily previously.

Baztan area during the 16th to 18th centuries

Baztan was transferred as a Catholic circumscription associated to the Bishopric of Bayonne, then at the Duchy of Aquitania since the 13th century to the Archbishopric of Pamplona only in 1568. Since at that time Lower Navarre was run by Calvinist, Huguenot, Queen Joanna III of Navarre, (1528 - Queen regnant of Navarre 1555, aged 27 – 1572, aged 44), first from Pau and later from La Rochelle seafaring town, and her Consort had been the Huguenot Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme (1518 – from woundings at the siege of Rouen, 1562) and since Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés had sternly killed in 1565 the Huguenot colonists of Fort Caroline, or Fort Matanzas, now near Jacksonville, in Spanish Florida.

Some distinguished people from the Baztan area

Family lands property being inherited by the eldest surviving male only provided cadet able bodied women/men for marriage, the service of the Catholic Church, if providing adequate moneys in the case of nuns wishing to spend the rest of their lives leading a contemplative life, expansion of Christianity trying to teach indigenous and/or enslaved people, (blacks and defeated in battle Muslims for instance) and also having access to University colleges, mainly at Zaragoza, Valladolid and Salamanca, learning Law and Civil Administration befitting Service to the Empire and/or serving in the Imperial Army/Navy with the status of free men, ("hidalgos"), some sort of social class equivalent to the rural born Squires in England.

Thus, while the past/actual rural "Basques" remained toiling their family lands and their cattle, the rest of their extended family had to make a living assisted by the administrative needs of the Spanish Crown over many millions of Square Kilometers spanning over Europe, the Pacific Ocean Islands and America. Broadly speaking, there were no jobs for them over there.

No racial superiority whatsoever must be admitted therefore valuating these people, obliged to leave their houses to let perpetuate within the mountains the small properties held exclusively by the eldest male brothers toiling their rather modest properties but rather, instead, recording here their privileged possibility of being useful while making a living abroad, be it at the Court, or at Church, thanks to the special characteristics of the vast Spanish Empire needs to be run and administrated instead.

Some distinguished families and personages from Baztan who play significant roles in Navarrese and Spanish history are in a chronological manner:

Priests and women took in many parts of Spain the mother family name rather than the male side family name, a "de Jaso", for Saint Francis Xavier father, a very important name, too, in the harassed Lower Navarre Court and within the "Agramonts" power party, but even so, Jesuit Francis Xavier moved afterwards in Europe, India and China close to the Portuguese Crown rather than the Court of Spain as did those keen with the "Beaumonts" power party and one of his main representatives in Upper Navarre and in Pamplona, the founder of the Jesuits, Ignacio de Loyola.

It is most curious what Queen regnant of Navarre Catherine, then aged 26, had to learn in 1495 about the death of her mother, Magdalene of Valois, (Tours, 1443 - a widow in 1470, aged 27 - Pamplona, January 1495, while being a hostage to king Fernando II of Aragon, "El Catolico", a step brother of Queen regnant Eleanor), the sister of King Louis XI of France, (1423–1483) .

After 1512, with Upper Navarre incorporated to the rest of what is now Spain, Basque people help mediating in such event, too, Queen Catherine would rule only in the little area known as Lower Navarre . In due time and with opportunisms dictated by dire needs and will of power amidst poverty, the by then called Bourbon family would manage to become "Royals", first in France, then in Spain, and later in some Italian territories during the period 1572 - 1793, broadly speaking in France and even till now in other European countries, Spain for instance.

The IV Marquis second marriage was in Granada, 14 July 1774, to Angela Clara de Pineda y Ramirez de Maldonado, a daughter of a very important lawyer formerly working at the actual Guatemala, Central Americas. Thus, the V Marquiss of Iturbieta, Miguel Francisco de Arizcun y Pineda was born in Pamplona, in May 1775.

This Pineda family, from the High Court of Law of Granada, grafted with the Arizcun, has plenty to see with Mariana de Pineda y Muñoz, generally known as Mariana Pineda, ( 1804 – executed May 26, 1831) described by famous Spanish play wrighter and poet Federico García Lorca.

Juan de Goyeneche y Gaston, (Arizcun, Baztan, Navarre, 1656 - Nuevo Baztan, Madrid, Spain, 1735), in a portrait by Royal portraitist Miguel Jacinto Meléndez, (1679 - 1734)
The Navarrese Juan de Goyeneche y Gastón, (1656 - 1735), was a very close collaborator of French economist Jean Orry, (Paris, 1652 - Paris, 1719), sent by King Louis XIV of France around 1701 to structure the Spanish economy under the ideas of his former Minister of Finances Jean-Baptiste Colbert, (Reims 1619 - Paris, 1683), for the fight for the Spanish throne of his grand son Felipe V of Spain. Orry was sent back to France in 1715 when Felipe V first wife died. Nuevo Baztan, Olmeda de las Fuentes, near Madrid, was one of the first essays on the use of Capitalism on the organized industrial and agricultural well being befitting the ideas of Absolutist Monarchy as Tsar Peter I of Russia did also around the same times after visiting the Dutch Republic

There is a mythic "Gaston de Belzunce" or Gaston de Belsunce in the Basque histories, reputed to have been driven off, but dying as a result of the battle: of a 3, others say 7, headed hydra at Larramendi, Gipuzkoa.[14]

Other parts of the four cartels coat of arms are two red cows, cows en gueules, because of family connections with the nearest Viscounty of Béarn, now part of France.

Goyeneche ancestors of several places can be consulted at the goyeneche family website.[16]

Lieutenant General of the Spanish Army José Manuel de Goyeneche, 1st Count of Guaqui, Perú - Bolivia, Grandee of Spain, (Arequipa, Peru, 1776 - Madrid, 1846). Painting by Federico de Madrazo, (1815 - 1894)
Teodoro de Croix, (Near Lille, France, 1730 - Madrid, Spain, 1792), Spanish Viceroy of Peru, (1784 -1790)
Agustín de Jáuregui y Aldecoa, (1711 - 1784), Viceroy of Peru, (1780 - 1784), under whose ruling Peruvian Indian leader Tupac Amaru II, (1742 - 1781), was executed.

Jáuregui was Governor of Chile since March 1773 under king Carlos III of Spain and later Viceroy of Peru, (1780–1784). Under his spell of power in Peru, Indian Jose Gabriel Condercanqui, a.k.a. Tupac Amaru II, (1742–1781, aged 39), was defeated by Jauregui envoy, Jose del Valle y Torres. Tupac Amaru II, his wife and other Indian leaders being then executed. There was also the 1780-1781 rebellion of the Catari tribes in High Peru, now very extensive territories of the actual Republic of Bolivia.

Viceroy of Peru Agustín de Jáuregui was substituted a few days before diying by the new Viceroy, Teodoro de Croix, (Viceroy of Peru, 1784–1790).

Although, apparently, he had been nominated in 1704 to travel to the Philippine Islands he only went there in 1709, replacing thus the former Governor of Philippines, Domingo de Zabalburu de Echeverri, who ruled 8 Sep 1701-25 August 1709).

From 25 August 1709 to the day of his death, 4 February 1715, he was Governor of Philippines, being substituted by José de Torralba who ruled till 9 August 1717. He was married to Juana Rosa Bollio y Ojeda, born at the now Mexican town of Mérida, Yucatán, daughter of a Spanish Army Captain born at Genoa, Italy. As a widow, Juana Rosa went back to Mexico, probably with the yearly Manila Galleon, a some 13,000 km. trip, marrying on 23 September 1723, powerful lawyer and political adviser Francisco de Barbadillo y Victoria. The title seems to have been inherited by one of his brothers, and then by a cousin woman family named Irissarry.[19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baztan.

Architecture

The large detached farmhouses which characterise the Baztan valley are built in typical Basque style with solid wooden frames and eaves and wooden balconies often decorated with geraniums. Distinctive pink sandstone is hewn from the quarries in the Baztan valley and blocks of it are used to outline the windows, doors and corners of the houses giving them a very distinctive quality. The Baztan style of architecture is strictly protected by numerous building regulations so that modern buildings in the area blend in harmoniously with the local Basque design.

One of the oldest (although lesser publicised) routes of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) crosses the Baztan valley and runs along much of the valley floor through the villages of Urdax, Amaiur, Arizkun, Elizondo and Ziga and means that some structures in the area date back as far as the 10th century – with specific mention of the Monastery and Pilgrims Hospital in Urdax. However, the majority of the buildings in the area date back to the 17th and 18th centuries when there was a population explosion as many families, having made money in the Americas, returned home. Their new-found wealth was ploughed back into the local community giving rise to opulent churches, with specific reference to the impressive 17th century Herrerian-styled church in Ziga[20] and into the huge manor houses, easily discerned by their four-way sloping roofs, intricately carved eaves and elaborate coats of arms.

Economy

Traditionally the Baztan Valley is made up of many small family farming units dedicated to pastoral farming and the raising of pigs, sheep and cows; the last two being raised for both their meat and milk. Small dairies in the area produce yoghurts and cheeses and the sheep’s cheese of the area (a local version of the Domination of Origin Idiazabal cheese). Small-scaled enterprises in the Baztan Valley also produce chocolates, cakes, jams, cuts of meat, liqueurs and cider and there are several small saw mills and stone quarries. Given the natural resources of wood, stone and marble that are found in the valley, construction has also been a relatively large employer and traditionally much business has always been done with their French Basque neighbours over the border. Since around the year 2000 the gradual decline in farming activities has been replaced by small-scale rural tourism and many traditional farmhouses have been restored to make impressive rental properties and bed and breakfasts. There is a range of tourist services, including documented and sign-posted walks[21] and the villages offer ethnographical museums and artists’ ateliers, watermills, equestrian centres and outdoor sports companies. The Baztan valley is well-known throughout Spain although international tourism is only just starting to arrive.

Culture

The culture of the Baztan valley is quintessentially Basque and Euskera is still the main language spoken at home. The majority of the Baztan children are schooled in Basque at local Ikastolas although the larger schools do offer the opportunity to be schooled in Spanish. In many of the Ikastolas Spanish is taught as a second language as well as English, which is sometimes allocated more teaching hours than Spanish. There are no universities in the Baztan valley and so many young students leave to study further afield in the larger cities of Pamplona or San Sebastian although their links with the valley remain strong with many young people seeking to return to the valley to settle down at a later age. In 2013 there were 473 more people living in the Baztan valley than in 2001.[22] Each village has its own traditional fiestas and carnivals, many of them dating back to pagan times. These village fiestas and festivals still find a devoted following among the Baztan people where there is a strong sense of identity and a deep-seated loyalty for their Basque language and cultural roots. A clear example of this is the Sagar Dantza (apple dance) in Arizkun which is enacted each Shrove Tuesday.[23]

In 2012 Iñaki Elizalde launched his film `Baztan' at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The film was about the Agotes; a mysterious people of pariah status who lived in the hamlet of Bozate, near Arizkun.[24]

In 2013 Dolores Redondo published the first of her crime fiction books of The Baztan Trilogy which were translated into over 20 languages.[25] The stories are situated in the Baztan Valley.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.baztangoudala.eu/es/lugar-y-gentes/datos-de-interes/
  2. ↑ The Salazar Documents edited by Gustav Henningson, page 33
  3. ↑ es:Baztán#Poblaci.C3.B3n y ordenaci.C3.B3n urbana
  4. ↑ Bibliothèque Nationale, París, "Compte des baillis de Navarre, de 1283 à 1286". Manuscript Lat. 10.150, sheets 17, 52, 84 and 107
  5. ↑ Revista Principe de Viana. "El Principado de Viana". Juan Carrasco Perez. 195, page 191.
  6. ↑ Revista Principe de Viana. "Nuevos datos sobre el bedinaje de la judería de Estella (1265-1349)". Juan Carrasco. 190, page 369.
  7. ↑ Nicolás Ambrosio Garro y Arizcun (Spanish)
  8. ↑ Palomatorrijos.blogspot.com (Spanish)
  9. ↑ Juan de Goyeneche (Spanish)
  10. ↑ Nuevobaztan.org (Spanish)
  11. ↑ La colección de pinturas de don Juan Francisco de Goyeneche y su esposa by Encarnación Hernando Alvarez, in "Archivo español de arte", ISSN 0004-0428, vol. 63, Nº 250, (1990), pags. 331-334. PPnuevobaztan.es (Spanish)
  12. ↑ Alcarriaconquense.com (Spanish)
  13. ↑ Palomatorrijos.blogspot.com (Spanish)
  14. ↑ Euskomedia.org (Spanish)
  15. ↑ Juan de Goyeneche y Aguerrevere (Spanish)
  16. ↑ Goyenechefamily.com
  17. ↑ UNAV.es
  18. ↑ UNAV.es (Spanish)
  19. ↑ Web.archive.org
  20. ↑ http://www.valledebaztan.com
  21. ↑ http://www.consorciobertiz.org/menu-central-en-0-39/saint-jamesway/trail-map.html
  22. ↑ es:Baztán#Poblaci.C3.B3n y ordenaci.C3.B3n urbana
  23. ↑ Carnivales de Navarra, Francisco Javier Tiberio, p 68 .
  24. ↑ http://www.baztanlapelicula.com/
  25. ↑ The Invisible Guardian, Dolores Redondo, 2013

External links

Out of some 300 people whose names have been recorded, males, females, girls and boys, there were some 12 comdened to the fire, mainly women. There is now a Museum of Witchcraft to remember this famous Court case, carried out at Logroño, Rioja, Spain. Night celebrations seem to be on August 18.

  1. 607pp. We have tracked also, however: Hardcover, Publishers Association, The, ISBN 0-87417-056-7 (0-87417-056-7)
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