Cirauqui (Navarra), pueblo monolingüe vasco (1650)

Abstract

Cirauqui is a small town situated on the Pilgrim’s Route to Santiago de Compostela, to the west of Puente la Reina and Mañeru. It was intensely romanized. From the XV century on, it belonged to the Countship of Lerin, whose rulers administrated civil and criminal justice through functionaries, which meant the intervention in the legal proceedings of tax receivers who did not know Basque (Vascuence), the language spoken by the all the inhabitants, and the exclusive language of more than two-thirds of the 150 inhabitants who lived there in 1650. The Town appealed to the Royal Council for help with regard to the prejudice they had been caused. As opposed to the theory of the High Constable that the inhabitants of Ciraqui spoke Spanish, it was proved that their native and habitual language was Basque. In view of this, the Royal Council, by a sentence passed in 1645 and confirmed in 1650, prohibited the Count to send tax receivers who did not understand the language spoken by the people. The sentence foreran other interventions by the Tribunal concerning this issue by many years.