History of The Basque People - From The Renaissance Era To The 19th Century

From The Renaissance Era To The 19th Century

As the Middle Ages drew to a close, the lands inhabited by the Basques were allotted to either France and Spain. Most of the Basque population ended up in Spain, and the resulting situation continues to this day.

However, Basques in the present-day Spanish provinces of Navarra, Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya and Álava and in the portion of Navarre that was parcelled out to France managed to retain a large degree of self-government within their respective provinces, practically functioning as separate nation-states. The fueros recognised separate laws, taxation and courts in each province.

Basques serving under the Spanish flag became renowned sailors. Many Basque sailors on Spanish ships were among the first Europeans to reach North America. A great many early European settlers in Canada and the United States were of Basque origin.

Back in the Basque Country, the Protestant Reformation made some inroads and was supported by Queen Jeanne d'Albret of Low Navarre. The printing of books in Basque, mostly on Christian themes, was introduced in the 16th century by the Basque-speaking bourgeoisie around Bayonne in the northern Basque Country. However, Protestants were persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. In the northeast, the Protestant Navarrese king converted to Roman Catholicism and went on to become King Henry IV of France.

Self-government in the northern Basque Country came to an abrupt end when the French Revolution centralised government and abolished the local privileges that had been granted by the ancien régime. While this development pushed some Basques to counter-revolutionary positions, others actively participated in the process, and a Basque constitutional project was drawn up by the Basque revolutionary Garat. This issue brought the Basque Country into the Convention War of 1793, when all the Basque territories were nominally French for a time. When the Napoleonic Army invaded Spain some years later it encountered little difficulty in keeping the southern Basque provinces loyal to the occupier. Because of this lack of resistance (see the Battle of Vitoria), the southern Basque Country was the last part of Spain controlled by the French until the burning of San Sebastian on August 31, 1813.

In Spain, ironically, the fueros were upheld by the traditionalist, and nominally absolutist, Carlists all through the civil wars of the 19th century, in opposition to the victorious constitutional forces. The southern Basque provinces, including Navarre, were the backbone of revolts seeking to crown Carlos, the male heir to the Spanish throne who had promised to defend the Basque foral System, and his descendants after him.

Fearing that they would lose their self-government or fueros under a modern, liberal constitution, Basques in Spain rushed to join the traditionalist army, which was financed largely by the governments of the Basque provinces. The opposing Isabeline Army had the vital support of British, French (notably the Algerian legion) and Portuguese forces, and the backing of these governments. The Irish legion (Tercio) was virtually annihilated by the Basques in the Battle of Oriamendi.

As differences grew between the Apostolic (official) and Navarrese (Basque-based) parties within the Carlist camp in the course of the First Carlist War, the latter signed an armistice, the terms of which included a promise by the Spaniards to respect Basque self-government. Spain's failure to keep this promise led to the Second Carlist War, which concluded in a similar way. The final outcome was that the Basque provinces, including Navarre, lost most of their autonomy, while keeping control over taxation through the Ley Paccionada. Indeed, they still retain this power today in the form of the so-called conciertos fiscales between the Basque provinces and the Spanish government in Madrid.

Thus the wars that brought new freedoms to large parts of Spain resulted in the abolition of most (though not all) of Basques' traditional liberties. Although the Basque provinces of Spain today have greater autonomy than other mainland territories, they still have far less freedom than their ancestors under the present-day Spanish regime.

On the other hand, one consequence of the transfer of the Spanish customs border from the southern boundary of the Basque Country to the Spanish-French border was the inclusion of Spain's Basque provinces in a new Spanish market, the protectionism of which favoured the birth and growth of Basque industry.

• Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, 1984