Liber Sancti Jacobi, Book V, Chapter VII, “The Quality of the Lands and the People along this Road,” in The Pilgrim’s Guide to Santiago de Compostela, edited and translated by William Melczer, Italica Press, 1993, pp. 93-96.
In the Basque country there is on the road of St. James a very high mountain, which is called Port-de-Cize, either because that is the gate of Spain, or because it is by that mountain that the necessary goods are transported from one country to the other. Its ascent is eight miles long, and its descent, equally eight. In fact, its height is such that it seems to touch the sky: to him who climbs it, it seems as if he was able to touch the sky with his hand. From its summit one can see the sea of Bretagne and that of the west, as well as the boundaries of three regions, that is to say, Castilla, Aragon, and France. On the summit of this mountain there is a place called the Cross of Charles, because it was here that Charles, setting out with his armies for Spain, opened up once a passageway with axes, hatchets, pickaxes and other implements, and that he first erected the sign of the cross of the Lord and, falling on his knees and turning towards Galicia, addressed a prayer to God and St. James. Wherefore the pilgrims, falling on their knees and turning towards the land of St. James, used to offer there a prayer while each planted his own cross of the Lord like a standard. Indeed, one can find there up to a thousand crosses; and that is why that place is the first station of prayer of St. James.
On that mountain, before Christianity had spread out on Spanish lands, the impious Navarrese and the Basques used not merely to rob the pilgrims going to St. James, but also to ride them as if they were asses and before long to slay them. Near this mountain, to be sure, towards the north, there is a valley called Valcarlos where Charles himself encamped together with his armies after his warriors had been slain at Roncesvalles. Many pilgrims proceeding to Santiago who do not want to climb the mountain go that way.
Afterwards, in descending from the summit, one finds the hospice and the church with the rock that Roland, the formidable hero, split with his sword in the middle, from top to bottom, in a triple stroke. Next, one comes to Roncesvalles, the site where, to be sure, once took place the big battle in which King Marsile, Roland, Olivier as well as forty thousand Christian and Saracen soldiers were slain.
After this valley lies the land of the Navarrese which abounds in bread, wine, milk, and livestock. The Navarrese and the Basques are very similar and show much the same characteristics in their food, garments, and language, though the Basques are easily recognized by their complexion, which is whiter than that of the Navarrese. The Navarrese wear black and short garments, only knee long, in the Scottish fashion, and use a footwear which they call lavarcas made of uncured, hairy leather, attached around the foot with leather straps, which cover the bottom of the foot only, leaving the rest bare. They wear dark, elbow-long, wool cloaks, fringed in the manner of a cape and which they call sayas. They dress most poorly and eat and drink disgustingly. The whole household of a Navarrese, to be sure, the servant no less than the master, the maid no less than the mistress, eat from a single dish all the food mixed together; and they eat not with spoons but with their own hands and furthermore drink from a single cup. If you saw them eating, you would take them for dogs or pigs in the very act of devouring; if you heard them speaking, you would be reminded of the barking of dogs. Their language is, in fact, completely barbarous. They call God Urcia; the Mother of God, Andrea Maria; bread, orgui; wine, ardum; meat, aragui; fish, araign; house, ecllea; the master of the house, iaona; the mistress, andrea; the church, elicera; the priest, belaterra, which means beautiful land; grain, gari; water, uric; king, ereguia; St. James, laona domne Jacue.
This is a barbarous nation, distinct from all other nations in habits and way of being, full of all kind of malice, and of black color. Their face is ugly, and they are debauched, perverse, perfidious, disloyal and corrupt, libidinous, drunkard, given to all kind of violence, ferocious and savage, impudent and false, impious and uncouth, cruel and quarrelsome, incapable of anything virtuous, well-informed of all vices and iniquities.
In malice they resemble the Getae and the Saracens, and are in everything inimical to our Gallic nation. If they could, the Navarrese or the Basque would kill a Frenchman for no more than a coin. In certain of their regions, namely in Vizcaya and Alava, when the Navarrese warm up, the man shows to the woman and the woman to the man their respective shame. The Navarrese also make use of animals for incestuous fornication. It is told that the Navarrese affixes a lock to the behind of his mule or horse, so that no one else but he may have access to them. Also, he kisses lasciviously the vulva of women and mules.
That is the reason why the Navarrese are rebuked by all who are prudent. Notwithstanding the above, they are valorous on the battlefield, inept in the assault of fortresses, reliable in the payment of the tithe, and assiduous in making offerings on the altar. Every day, in effect, when the Navarrese goes to church, he makes an offering to God of bread or wine or wheat or some other substance.
Wherever the Navarrese or the Basque may go, he shows a horn hanging from his neck, as hunters do, and he carries in his hands, as customary, two or three javelins which he calls auconas. And when he enters his house or returns to it, he whistles with his mouth as a kite; and when in secret places or hidden in solitude on the look-out he wishes to call his companions while remaining undetected, either he sings in the manner of an owl or he howls as a wolf.
It is usually told that they descend from the race of the Scots, because they resemble them in their habits and general countenance. Julius Caesar, as it is told, sent to Spain three nations, namely the Nubians, the Scots, and the tailed ones from Cornwall, in order to wage war on the Spanish people, for these refused to pay him tribute. He ordered them to pass all males by the sword, sparing only the life of women. Having entered that land from the sea and having destroyed their ships, the invaders devastated everything by sword and fire, from the city of Barcelona to Zaragoza and from the city of Bayonne as far as the mountains of Oca. They could not however proceed beyond these limits because the Castilians, assembled together, took them by storm and threw them out of their territories. While escaping thus, they reached the maritime mountains which lie between Najera, Pamplona and Bayonne, that is to say, towards the sea, in the land of Vizcaya and Alava. Having settled down there, they built many fortresses and, having slain all males, seized their wives by force. With these they begot children who subsequently were called Navarrese by their successors.
Whence, Navarrese should be glossed as non verus, that is to say, not generated from a true lineage or a legitimate stock. Furthermore, the Navarrese first took their name from a certain city called Naddaver, which is in the lands from which they came at the beginning. To be sure, the Blessed Matthew, apostle and evangelist, by means of his preaching, in early times converted this city to the Lord.
After this land, one traverses the forest of Oca, to be sure in the direction of Burgos. There follows the land of the Spaniards, that is to say, Castilla and Campos. This country is full of treasures, of gold and silver; it abounds in fodder and in vigorous horses, and it has plenty of bread, wine, meat, fish, milk, and honey. On the other hand, it is poor in wood and full of evil and vicious people.
Thence, having crossed the territory of León and cleared the passes of Mount Irago and Mount Cebrero, one arrives to the land of the Galicians. This country is wooded, provided with excellent rivers, meadows and orchards, and with plenty of good fruits and clear springs; on the other hand, it is poor in cities, towns, and cultivated fields. Bread, wheat, and wine are scarce, but rye bread and cider abound, as do livestock and beasts of burden, milk, and honey. The sea fish is either enormously large or small. The land abounds in gold and silver, fabrics, the fur of wild animals and many other goods, as well as in Saracen treasures.
The Galicians, ahead of the other uncouth nations of Spain, are those who best agree in their habits with our French people; but they are irascible and contentious.