ruta turística de arrigorriaga el secreto de las piedras rojas
- 1
- Euskara
- 2
- Mythology
- 3
- Battle of Padura
- 4
- General Assembly
- 5
- Carlist Wars
- 6
- Economy
- 7
- Emigration
- 8
- Basque Sports
The general assembly
In the comic, Pedro Muro, mayor of Arrigorriaga, talked about the General Assembly of Vizcaya. He referred to a great tree surrounded by large stones which served as seats for those who met there.
The fine little amphitheatre where you now stand serves as an excellent backdrop for imagining one of these age-old assemblies. Take a seat here and imagine that you are a members of the assembly, arriving in answer to the horns blown to call its meetings.Every four months great horns were heard in even the most far-flung corners of Vizcaya. These horns were sounded atop the beacon hills of the region, which are known in the Basque Country as “montes bocineros”, which translates as “horn hills”.
There were five such hills, which between them commanded all the territory of Vizcaya: Mount Oiz in the Duranguesado range, Mount Sollube near Bermeo, Mount Kolitza in the Enkartaciones area, Mount Ganekogorta overlooking Bilbao and Sodupe and last but not least and steeped in legend, Mount Gorbea: the crowning glory of the Arratia valley. Everyone recognised the sound of the horns as a call to the general assembly.
Democratically elected
Following the establishment of the Seigniory or Lordship of Vizcaya in the year 1040, democratically elected representatives began to be sent to assemblies to defend the will of local people. But even before that time, the people of Vizcaya had met regularly to discuss the government of their affairs. By the end of the 16th century the horn-calls borne by the wind announcing the assemblies had been replaced by written messages carried by swift riders.
The elected representatives would set off in time to arrive in Guernica on the pre-arranged day, which was always a Tuesday so that they could attend mass in their respective parishes before they left and be back in time for the following Sunday’s service. The assembly was conducted with great solemnity: the Mayor, the assembly members, the recorders, the governors, the representatives of the Lord, the representatives of the parishes and townships, all gathered at Guernica town hall and from there set off to the great tree, where each of the towns which made up the Seigniory was mentioned by name.
Lords of Vizcaya
After this ceremony, they all filed into the Church of Santa Maria la Antigua to attend holy mass. After mass they left the church and the roll call of towns was repeated in order of antiquity. This order changed several times over the centuries and was established permanently only in 1854. Arrigorriaga was 39th on the list, with Bilbao being number 1 and Basauri coming in last at number 115. It was in Guernica that the Lords of Vizcaya were recognized as such, and that each Lord bared his right foot according to custom and swore to uphold the statutes and privileges of the Seigniory of Vizcaya in the following oath:
“I, Lord of Vizcaya, swear that I will fairly and truly uphold and enforce all the freedoms, exemptions, privileges, habits and customs, that the people of Vizcaya, plainsfolk townsfolk and city folk, dwellers in Encartaciones and Durango, have up to this time enjoyed, after such fashion as they wish.”
After this oath the people of Vizcaya signalled their acceptance of the Lord by kissing his hand. The General Assembly continued to meet until 1877 when it and its codes of law were abolished by the government of Canovas del Castillo in the wake of the second Carlist War. More than a hundred years were to pass until the assembly recovered its powers in 1979.
No account of the general assembly and its codes of law would be complete without at least a brief mention of the tree of Guernica. This area was formerly part of the parish of Luno, where there was an oak wood and a country chapel. As time went by the oak wood shrank until only the oak under which the assembly met was left.
The chapel became the Church of Santa Maria la Antigua, and several more buildings were later added to it. Since the 14th century these buildings have been known as the Assembly House of Guernica. The Tree of Guernica now symbolizes the freedoms not only of the people of Vizcaya, but of the Basques as a whole.