I spent three hours in my hotel room in the Torre de Zumeltzegi overlooking the city of Oñati reading about Parientes Mayores, the 200 year old clan war which plagued the Basque Country in the Middle Ages… only to realize by the end of the three hours, that I may be reading and overlooking the valley below from the ancient home of my Basque Ancestors!
Parientes Mayores, the book from the hotel lobby, recounted the history of a feudal conflict made up of many warring clans in the Basque Country, led under the Banner of the Gamboinos and the Banner of the Onaciminos. The conflict has varying origins, but the original story dates back to an argument at mass for how to hold a candle properly… go figure. After some time, the tiny arguments piled up and full-blown conflict ignited.
Onati, the city where this struggle began, is a unique city in the history of the Basque Country. During the Middle Ages, the lands of the Basque Country existed as divided, but autonomously ruled, vassals to the Kingdoms of Castile and Navarre. The autonomy was afforded because of the seemingly impenetrable natural landscape and plethora of small separated villages, it thus promulgated the rise of Counts and Lords who laid claim to the unhindered lands. Each laid claim to villages which grew into larger counties. Onati was the only holdout, while completely surrounded by the county of Guipuzcoa, it remained as the last true city state county (up until 1845)!
Torre Zumeltzegi, today a hotel, was converted from the fortress home of the counts of Onati, a home which they occupied for half of a millennium. The countship, since it’s institution around 1100, has been occupied by the Guevara family (yes, of Che Guevara). Although originally from the province of Alava, the Guevara family was permitted special privileges from the kingdom of Castile to oversee this county of Onati, and they did so, for 500 years. While they lived in this tower, the great clan war described in Parientes Mayores arose in the Basque Country. Just like the Hatfields and the McCoys, what began as a minuscule feud bloomed into a brutal conflict that would last some 200 years and involved dozens of other clans from across the entirety of the Basque Country. It evolved into a two-sided conflict, with many proxy wars, between the Gamboinos and the Onacinos. Sancho Velez de Guevara became a leader of the Gamboinos and led many battles. It is Sancho Velez who decides to pass on the surname of Gamboa to his children. Gamboa is the name of my Basque ancestors.
The Torre 100 years ago, and today
Following 200 years of conflict, and with no clear end in sight, the villagers took it upon themselves and rebelled. They circumnavigated their leaders by seeking the crown of Castile to end the skirmish. Castille did so through the mounting of religious crusades, stripping the lords of their lands and sending them off to battle in distant lands. Eventually, tensions settled, and after exiling the lords of Guipuzcoa to fight the moors, they returned, and in 1481 the catholic monarchs king Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain reinstated the title of Count of Onati to the Guevara family line. They would hold this position until 1845, when the province of Guipuzcoa eventually unified what was then the last remaining feudal county in the Basque Country.
I was enraptured by this story as I read it, still looking out over what was probably the valley my ancestors’ lived, and piecing together a new narrative to write. My own fusion production unfolding before my eyes of star crossed lovers, the Gamboas and Onaz, pitted together in brutal conflict and in love. Calling forth all my inspirations from Antso Azkarra, Romeo and Juliet, and all the productions I have since seen, I’ve begun to work on this story, another gateway I hope to build up my own example of Total Theatre through my experiences connected to those of my ancestors.
