Tribunales navarros y lengua vasca. El proceso por preeminencias en la iglesia de Labiano (1666) [Navarrese tribunals and Basque language.A trial about distinctions in Labiano’s church (1666)]

Abstract

In the Modern Age, the Navarrese Administration had to confront the disparity between the language spoken by the majority of the population, Basque, and the language written in the documents, Spanish. Even by the end of the sixteenth century, more than half of the Navarrese people still did not understand Spanish. The courts were operated and run by bilingual officials; specifically, the justice officials: secretaries, scribes, notaries, and receivers (receptores). Having the knowledge of Basque was a professional requirement for them. With the exception of the case of Labiano in 1666, their work as translators or interpreters was silenced in the documents, making it possible that a kingdom whose majority language was Basque, left the legacy of its documentation completely...