
Gaiak
A Story from Biscay: The Return of Jaun Zuria
Representative at the General Meetings of Bizkaia 1999-2019
Translation into English by Elena Muñoz Aldecoa
The mythical basis of this story was told to me when I was a child by my grandmother Francisca Bravo Oregui, “Mabu”; born in the Izkoaga hamlet, in the neighborhood of Eitua, in Berriz, for me she was a kind Biscayan[1]. This was a narration she had heard as a child in her native vascuence[2], as she called the euskera[3].
Over te years and through my reading I realized that what “Mabu” told me was a “pro-Durango”[4] version of the origin of the Señorío[5] (Lordship) of Vizcaya, different from those two more “pro-Biscay” versions articulated around the central role of Jaun Zuria, the “Señor Blanco” (“The White Lord”) as a key to the foundation of the Señorío, which were both based on what was written in the late Middle Ages by the Count of Barcelos and by Lope García de Salazar.
The fantastic fable recounted by my grandmother is also close to the 1634 one narrated by the native Durango inhaitant Gonzalo de Otálora in his “Micrología”, and it links as well at some point with the so-called “Ballad of Kanzuria” sung in Urdaibai.
How did my grandmother refresh the memory of that childhood tale? The fact is that, in order to speak Basque, “Mabu” met Father Donato Gorrochategui Chinchurreta at home from time to time. He was an Augustinian from Gipuzkoa and the organist of the neighboring church of San José de la Montaña. Gorrochategui was a very cultured man (thanks to Antonio, a friend from school, I learned that this religious man had not only knowledge of the Latin language and of Music, but also university studies in Sciences, Philosophy and Theology); apparently, he knew many stories and traditions of the Basque Country well.
During their meetings "Mabu" practiced her melodious native Basque language with Father Gorrochategui; they also chatted about spiritual matters and recalled stories from when they both were children and lived in their hamlets. In the days following the visits of Father Gorrochategui, my grandmother certainly always had some new tale or event to tell me.
I remember with special affection the story about Jaun Zuria I am now going to try to transcribe, though modernizing its language, because it talks about battles, medieval adventures, flying stone horses and magical beings.
Many years have passed by, so I do not know for sure how much of what I currently recall comes from the literary embellishment with which, pretty sure given the passing of time and my extensive reading, my memory has filled in the gaps of Mabu´s story. I do not know neither how much originates from what was contributed to it by Father Gorrochategui, nor how much comes from the stories I heard later on during my vacations in Amurrio, close to the “Malato tree.”
Sixty years are maybe too many years to unweave the potpourri formed by the intermingled skein of one's own and other people's memories. But since I consider it to be a beautiful and different story about our origin as Biscayans, and given that it makes Sancho Esteguiz, the count of Durango, the key character in the creation of the Señorío, I have decided to write it down in a modern style, adding some fantasy touches, in order to make it unforgettable once turned into a children's Christmas fable.

"La Jura de los Fueros de un Señor de Bizkaia ('Jaun Zuria')", Anselmo Guinea, 1882.
Its content goes more or less like this:
“Many years ago, there lived in the tower of Tavira, in Durango, a girl called Dalda. The daughter of the Count of Durango, Sancho Esteguiz, Dalda was an orphan because her mother had died when she was born; butd espite growing up alone she had a very happy character and was loved by everyone. Since in that tower there were no other children with whom Dalda could play, as a child she used to walk on her own in the beautiful meadow close to it, just where the Mañaria river joined the Ibaizabal and the Zaldi Erreka (horse stream), named after a large nearby stone sculpture representing a quadruped animal with a balloon under its belly.
The oldest people said that this sculpture was from “the Gentiles”, the people who inhabited those lands before Christ was born and who disappeared later on leaving stone monuments and castles on the hills.
The meadow was considered a magical place due to the presence of this sculpture of an animal. People gathered there in order to settle disputes and take oaths in front of that vestige of the ancients that aroused their respect.
Furthermore, the lamias[6] were often seen by the river combing their long golden hair with gold combs. Dalda became very friends with them and with the magical being they served, Mari, the Lady of the Amboto[7], whose dwelling place was a large cavern very close to the river. The years went by in that garden and Dalda grew up and became a beautiful young woman.
But one day, the peace that had reigned during her childhood came to an end: Alfonso, the King of León, ordered his son Count Ordoño to attack Vizcaya because the Biscayans had caused offence not sending him the annual tribute that they used to offer as recognition of his royal authority: a bull, an ox and a white horse.
When the Biscayans knew that they were going to be attacked, they arranged a meeting and sent an emissary to challenge Ordoño to a pitched battle. But Ordoño, who was the son of a king, refused to enter into combat with them, given that they did not have any person of royal blood as their leader. The Count told them that he would only fight against them if they had a royal leader, and that, in the meantime, he would dedicate himself to devastate their country.
Then the Biscayans remembered that in Mundaka there lived a twenty-three-year-old young man; they called him Jaun Zuría because of his white skin and blonde hair, something very rare then. Jaun Zuria, who was the son of a Scottish princess and, therefore, of royal blood, had been born in Mundaka because his mother had been abandoned there by her family after it was discovered that she was pregnant.
She never wanted to reveal who Jaun Zuria's father was. It was said that he had been a genius in Mari's service called 'the Culebro' or Sugaar. Jaun Zuria immediately agreed to lead the Biscayans. Furthermore, they were not going to go alone to the battle, given that Count Sancho Esteguiz of Durango, Dalda´s father, was going to support them against the Leonese.
The two armies clashed in a place near Bilbao, until then called Padura. There were so many deaths that day that the stones on the ground were all stained red with blood, so that is why since then the battlefield was called Arrigorriaga, thit is: "Red Stones."
The Leonese were defeated and Ordoño and a few of his men fled southwards trying to reach the plateau through Orduña. They were closely followed by the Biscayans, with Jaun Zuría and Sancho Esteguiz at their head. They pursued them to an oak grove located in Luyando, in the Land of Ayala, where a Leonese archer was waiting for the arrival of the Biscayans; ambushed in a leafy oak, he launched an arrow at their captain that stuck in the head of Sancho Esteguiz, next to his eye, causing a fatal wound. Full of fury, Jaun Zuria killed the archer with his sword and afterwards slashed the tree where he had been hidden with his weapon. Immediately, the tree became ill, so since then it is called the "Malato tree” or “Gafo tree." Witnessing such a prodigy, the Biscayans got shocked. The only one who understood its meaning was the Count Sancho Esteguiz, because he was a wise man. For this reason he told them:
-“We have won this battle by shedding the blood of many Christians: let us not shed more blood, let us stop pursuing the rest of the Leonese beyond this oak grove, and let them return to their lands, because they will never attack Vizcaya again.”
Thus, Ordoño and the few men he left were able to escape through the mountain range, which since then has been called Sierra Salvada because crossing it meant their salvation. And they never set foot in Vizcaya again.
Thereafter, Sancho Esteguiz said they needed to choose a Lord in order to maintain the peace and to protect Vizcaya, and that this Lord had to be Jaun Zuria. Now that he was going to die, Durango had to join Vizcaya, so Jaun Zuria had to marry his daughter Dalda. No buts, the wedding as well as the swearing-in as Lord of Vizcaya could not take place until Jaun Zuría would expiate the Christian shed blood in Arrigorriaga. In order to get this done, he would have to fight in the south against the invading infidels for ten years. Then he could return during a powerful date, the following Christmas Day, when the night comes again when the ´Light of the World´ is born, the magical moment when “the old” is extinguished and a new hope makes its way. He could marry Dalda in Tavira and the Biscayans would take him as their Lord. Finally, Sancho asked them to take his own dead body to be buried next to his wife.
The Biscayans picked up their weapons and headed towards Tavira. Upon arriving there, Jaun Zuria swore before the stone animal to marry Dalda after spending ten years atoning for the Christian´s shed blood and, as a pledge of his promise, he gave Dalda the golden scabbard of his weapons. For this reason the Biscayans agreed that when Zuria returned and married Dalda, they would proclaim him as their Lord.
The first year awaiting Zuria went by and Dalda was really worried. The lamias tried to console her and told Mari how afraid she was that Jaun Zuria would forget his promise being away from her for so long. The Lady of the Amboto d that, every year on the eve of the wedding engagement date, they should deliver Dalda a gold comb she should bury before sunset at the foot of the stone animal; and thus the gold, a metal that was actually dew from the Sun, would work a prodigy that would make Jaun Zuría be able to return on the day committed to his marriage with her, no matter how far away he was. The years passed one after another and, on the eve of the Christmas Day corresponding to the agreed wedding, Dalda buried a gold comb at the foot of the animal.
When the tenth year came and Dalda made the offering of the comb, at sunset Mari sent a raven to the distant far south where Jaun Zuria was fighting against the infidels[8] who had invaded the country. The crow entered Jaun Zuria's tent and reminded him that the next day was the date on which he had to return in order to fulfill his promise of marriage and then be proclaimed as the Lord of the Biscayans. Jaun Zuria replied to the crow that it was impossible for him to arrive the following morning because they were hundreds of leagues from Tavira.
The crow told him that a magical stone steed had been sent by the Lady of the Amboto that had just arrived at the door of his tent to fly him away. Then the young man took his sword and mounted the steed, which rose and began to ride through the heavens that same night. At dawn, Jaun Zuria arrived in Tavira de Durango, where no one could recognize him, since ten years had passed by and his once blonde hair was now almost gray. Then he told the tower servants who he was and that he was coming to marry Dalda Esteguiz, as he had promised; so they notified their lady. She came out to greet him, but due to the change in his appearance, she didn't recognize him either. Then Jaun Zuria asked her to bring the garment that she had given him. When Dalda saw that this was the sheath of the sword that the stranger was carrying in his hand, she replied: “Yes, you are my betrothed.”
That morning Jaun Zuria married Dalda Esteguiz in Tavira, and the next day in Guernica, next to the oak grove, he was sworn in by the Biscayans as the first Lord of Vizcaya, under the protection of Mari, the Lady of the.Amboto.”
[1] Biscayan: from Biscay, Vizcaya.
[2] Vascuence and 3 Euskera: Two different ways of denominating the Basque language. (called Euskara by the native inhabitants of the Basque Country.
[3] Vascuence and 3 Euskera: Two different ways of denominating the Basque language. (called Euskara by the native inhabitants of the Basque Country.
[4] Durango (Tavira de Durango): Municipality in Biscay, in the comarca del Duranguesado.
[5] Señorío: Lordship, state or manor, during the feudal period.
[6] Lamias: Lamia, female mythological server of Mari, tha Amboto Lady.
[7] Amboto: A 1331 metres mountain in Spain, Biscay and Álava. (*La dama del Amboto: the mythological leyend runs that a beautiful blonde Lady called Mari, tha Amboto Lady, dwells in its cavern and the surroundings manipulating the natura and people).
[8] Infidels: people who do not know or do not accept the message of Jesus Christ (here islamic people).