Bertsolaristic movement History The oldest references

The oldest references

The above proves the existence of singing, chants and elegies, but the first indisputable evidence of the art within society did not appear until 1452. The ancient Bizkaia Council Laws make two references to female improvisers, and the text in Spanish shows the severity of laws at the time:

Section 35, Law 6. “The way in which mourning may be carried out for the dead ... they laid down in law that hereinafter, when someone dies in Vizcaya [...] no person may dare tear their hair or scratch their face, nor may they go bareheaded, nor sing laments, nor dress in mourning, punishable with one thousand maravedíes for each person on each occasion.”

Section 8, Law 1. “... and in relation to women, known for shamelessness, causing disturbances and singing defamatory songs (known as “profazadas” by the Council).”

One hundred years later, in 1545, the Council of Trent sided with anti-female legislation in Bizkaia: St. Paul’s phrase “mulieres taceant in Ecclesia” (women must be silent in Church) caused immediate reaction in the Basque Country.

The same year saw the beginnings of Basque literature: Bernart Etchepare wrote the first book in Basque, Lingua Vasconum Primitiae, in 1545, and in it we find many poems and songs. This was obviously the first step from oral to written. The second book was written in 1567 by Joan Lazarraga; one hundred pages of shepherds’ stories, epic tales and songs of love, which remained undiscovered until the year 2004.

It is clearly difficult to glimpse the historical reality of the oral tradition. Suffice it to say that it existed, since until the tape recorder arrived, the verses handed down from generation to generation remained in popular memory for years and years, and tended not to be true to the original. One of the first performances was in 1801.

Pre-history First bertsolari performance