Pamplona: el vascuence en San Cernin (siglo XVII)

Abstract

Up to the middle of the X:VIIth century the vicars of the four parishes in Pamplona were proficient in the Basque language as there was a need to attend a numerous Basque speaking pupulation. The appointment of a Romance speaker as vicar of San Cernin in 1645 sparked off the protest of a sector of the parishers leading to the exclusion of the appointee. In future vacancies a knowledge of Basque was required. The population was predominantly bilingual wich both monolingual Basque and Castilian sectors, which given the latter's social status led to the preferential use in churches, schools and the town council of Castilian to Basque, ''the natural language of Pamplona".