Euskal Memoria Digitala

Ostolaza Elizondo, María Isabel.

Aragón en la Edad Media.

Fortún Abete, Sara.

Las Ordenes militares en la Península Ibérica.

Agirreazkuenaga Zigorraga, Joseba

Nazioni e regioni.

Romero Peña, Aleix.

Carrasco Pérez, Juan.

De la pecha de los judíos de ultrapuertos (1329-1354) : notas sobre la emigración de judíos franceses al Reino de Navarra / J. Carrasco Pérez.

Llombart Palet, José.

España. Secretaría de Estado de Universidades e Investigación.

Ciencia, técnica y Estado en la España Ilustrada.

Aranegui Coll, Manuel.

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RECUEIL DU 
SEPTIEME 
. CONGRES INTERNATIONAL 
DES SCIENCES 
GENEALOGIQUE ET 
HERALDIQUE 
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SOUS LE HAUT PATRONAGE DE 
SON ALTESSE ROYALE 
LE PRINCE DES PAYS-HAS 
LA HAYE 
1964 
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ARL 
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FUNERAL ARMORIAL BEARINGS 
IN THE PROVINCE OF ALAVA IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY 
BY 
MANUEL DE ARANEGUI 
I 
As is well known, coats of arms of noble persons were not fixed in the 
early tombs until de llth century. Certainly the egyptian tombs show the 
,.cartouche", name of kings written in hieroglyphs inside an oval. They 
abo established the stelas and after them the greeks and the romans who 
added the name of the person buried. 
These stelas have been kept in many places, also in the basque country, 
and we shall see some examples at the 1md of this talk. As a curious thing, 
one ot :these stelas with the lnscription MINITIA AVNIA SEGON TIFA 
III S SE, that is: Minitia aunia segontius £ilia annorum triginta hie sita est, 
was found by the inhabitants of the valley of Lana in Navarre and taken 
as the coat of arms of the valley, collective for all the neighbours, when 
nobility was granted to all the originals in the year 1665. The coat of arms 
was duly registered in the book of armory of Navarre. 
The early basque tombs show also these stelas, which have been kept 
until recent years especially in the french basque country, but no relation 
to the person or family buried can usually be found. These stelas are found 
in cemeteries outside the churches. 
In the province of Alava through which so many different peoples have 
passed for centuries, some dolmens can be found, also roman stelas, some 
of them inside the churches, probably taken in the time of building of them, 
and many tombs of different epochs. 
The early tombs were within the churches but unfortunately in many of 
them the floor was changed to wood, the planks thus hiding the tombs. 
Notwithstanding many are still visible. The oldest of them is said to be 
the tomb of the first Lord Count Don Vela and is found in the church of 
Respaldiza in the valley of Ayala, in front of another like it, meant to be 
his son's. These are the old type of prismatic tombstones with no inscription 
on them. The planking of the floor can be seen around them. 
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Mapy of the flat tombstones had no inscription at all, other had family 
arwwial hearings and others arms belonging to the clergy ( keys and ~ine 
vessel). 
The place on the tombstone was re:;erved for the family in the church 
and in funerals and usally during six months after the death, a funeral 
offering, consisting of a loaf of bread, one or two candles and a sort of 
wax taper roll(X). on a wooden frame or shaped in spiral, were taken on 
Sµp,days an.cl holidays, and only the latter but not the offering on workdays, 
~ing plac.:ed on the tomb during ceremony and duly lighted. 
The usµa.l minimum suffrages for a person of nobility . (most of the popu. 
l~ti® m Jhe ba.sque villages) was nine high masses, vespets, responso.des 
iml;l. other s~frages, usually given for persons of noble quality, as old wills 
~9\V. There ware coll1pulsory legacies for the Orders of the Holy City 
qf Jerusalem and Redemption of Captives, which Orders could take as much 
~ .Qµe fifth of the movables in case the legacy was not establis.hed in 
.i;bs will· 
:; . Tl:iet~ wi:r.e c,:oajraternities or brotherhoods whose members had to be 
~oble to .~ admitted and were compelled to attend the burials and funerals 
· :oo~r fine for the confraternity . 
. : J,p. l~~!;r tim~~ some of the richest families had their own chapel in the 
.~ut'* . and m,embers of their families were buried in them. The coat of 
arms was usually fixed in the arch of entry and sometimes also in the 
~o:tµbs above which the praying or lying statue of most prominent persons 
w~s placed. 
A,t the beginning of the 19th century cemeteries had to be placed outside 
the churches and after that in bigger villages or towns away from the 
ctiurch, the churchyard thus disappearing. The burial inside the church was 
!lbolished except in some particular cases of bishops and very prominent 
per~ons. Even those families still possessing chapels in the church had to 
bury their members in the new cemeteries. Some of the coats of anns found 
inside the churches are in colour but most of them are simply engraved 
in stone. Fine works of art can be found in these tombs and chapels though 
the province is a rather poor one, but many important persons, bishops, 
canon$, ambassadors and captains of the army, wished to be buried in their 
.µative places. 
l~ 


Recueil du Septième Congres International des Sciences Genealogique et Heraldique.

Conferencia pronunciada el día 6 de junio de 1978, dentro del ciclo de conferencias pronunciadas en el Club "Siglo XXI", durante el curso 1977-78Es fotocopi

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Aragón en la Edad Media.

Las Ordenes militares en la Península Ibérica.

Nazioni e regioni.

Nazioni e regioni.

De la pecha de los judíos de ultrapuertos (1329-1354) : notas sobre la emigración de judíos franceses al Reino de Navarra / J. Carrasco Pérez.

Ciencia, técnica y Estado en la España Ilustrada.

Recueil du Septième Congres International des Sciences Genealogique et Heraldique.

Constitución, economía y regiones.

Law, culture and regionalism in early medieval Spain.

Hugo Schuchardt.

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