Basque Literature - The 16th Century

The 16th Century

A few songs from the 16th century have survived, such as the Song of the Battle of Beotibar that deals with the battle fought in 1321 and a group of verses known as The Burning of Mondragón from the time of the Basque Clan Wars.

The earliest piece of prose writing in Basque is a letter written in 1537 by the Biscayan Juan de Zumárraga from Durango, the first bishop of Mexico.

Only a few years later in 1545, the first book known to have been put into print is published - a collection of poems by Bernard Etxepare, a priest from Lower Navarre in the Northern Basque Country, by the title Linguæ Vasconum Primitiæ ("Beginnings of the Basque Language"). In this book, Etxepare expresses his hopes that the first publication of a book in Basque will serve to invigorate the language and the culture. His efforts were undoubtedly influenced by wider movements in Europe at the time that encouraged literary production in vernacular languages rather than Latin.

Next is a recently discovered pastoral play by Joan Perez de Lazarraga (1548?—1605) by the name of Silbero, Silbia, Doristeo and Sirena that was produced between 1564 and 1567 in Larrea, Alava and is the earliest surviving play in Basque. With 102 pages (some damaged) it is also the longest early text.

1571 saw the publication of Joanes Leizarraga's New Testament translation into a standardised form of his Lapurdian dialect. He also wrote a small number of other religious works.

The closing years of the 16th century see another publication, this time from the South, of a collection of proverbs written in the Biscayan dialect called Refranes y sentencias by an unknown author. However, by this time, the centre of Basque literary production had firmly established itself in the Northern, French provinces of Lower Navarre, Labourd and Soule where it would remain for several centuries.

Although dialectal differences are clearly visible in these early texts, it is also clear that the differences in the 16th century were considerably smaller that they are today.