Olentzero, and ancient and traditional Christmas character in the Basque Country, whose origin is lost in the annals of time.
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Olentzero, and ancient and traditional Christmas character in the Basque Country, whose origin is lost in the annals of time.
Etymologically speaking, the word Donostia (San Sebastián in the Basque language) comes from the word Donebastián (Done = saint, and Sebastián).
Even though we do not know the exact time of its foundation, our first information dates back to a false document by Sancho el Mayor of Navarre in 1014, which say, that San Sebastián monastery is in the hands of the Abbot of Leyre and Bishop of Pamplona. This document was to be approved by King Pedro Ramirez (Pedro Sanchez I, King of Navarre and Aragón) in 1101.
In the 11 th and 1 2th centuries, San Sebastián El Antiguo monastery was, for the people of that area, a spiritual centre, as well as a centre for the growing social and administrative life; in time it might have become a municipality, except for the ups and downs we are now going to relate. If it had, the centre of today's San Sebastián would be situated on the grounds of the present Miramar Royal Palace.
With a view to reinforcing the borders, and making his old dream come true: to have a port through which he could trade the wool from Navarre and Aragón, and because such a port would need to be protected with a fortified town, around 1180 King Sancho IV of Navarre decided to apply to San Sebastián the same "Fuero" (municipal charter), which had so successfully been used to repopulate Jaca (1135) and Estella (1164).
Thus, and thanks to the aforementioned fuero, the town centre that was in the process of taking shape in El Antiguo moved to the foot of Mount Urgull.
For a long time Baiona was the sea port for Navarre, but in the 11 th century Baiona found itself with a useless port, blocked up by the sand coming from the Landes.
These events, together with the advantages given by the new fuero, gave rise to a significant migration from Gascony (a bourgeoisie of traders and shipowners from Baiona) who, under the protection of the walls, soon took over and ruled the old Roman Izurum, also known at that time by the name of San Sebastián town. The names of emigrants from Gascony will be on the Town Council members list until the begining to the 15th century; even today, streets with names of Gascon origin, such as Narrica and Embeltrán, can be found.
San Sebastián was originally planned to be the port for Navarre, and at first it worked that way. But soon afterwards, in 1194, when Sancho the Strong of Navarre succeed to the throne, problems started between San Sebastián and Navarre. From 1200 onwards, Gipuzkoa paid vassalage to the Castilian King Alfonso Vlll, Sancho the Strong's enemy.
That was a positive change for traders in San Sebastián, because from being the port of a little state in decline (Navarre), about to fall under the French dynasty, it became the gateway to the sea of a richer, bigger and growing Castilian monarchy.
In 1248, and for the first time, the King of Castile will have naval forces in San Sebastián that will take part in rendering useless the Moorish troops and Triana Bridge, which brought about the surrender of Seville.
Alfonso Vlll swore the fueros and began carrying out the many privileges granted to San Sebastián; some fueros meant to keep alive the trade with Navarre, others a priviled position for traders from San Sebastián in the Castilian market.
The King's heirs, Fernando III, and in 1256 Alfonso X the Wise, will found new towns, with the aim of providing security and adequate infrastructure to the route which passes through Araba and Gipuzkoa, and links Castile with San Sebastián port. That meant a more free-flowing business activity from Castile, which together with Navarre's will be the basis of San Sebastián's prosperity.
That prosperity will help San Sebastián recover from the various fires suffered from 1266 onwards, when the town was burned down six times in 225 years.
The Anglo-French antagonism will give rise to the Hundred Years' War. Due to Castile's naval strength, both Powers will try to ally themselves with Castile, and Alfonso X openly chose the French side (1336 Treay and others in 1345), but without breaking away from the English and, therefore, keeping Gipuzkoa's trade links with Aquitaine, which was under English rule.
A fratricidal struggle between King Peter the Cruel and Enrique the Merciful led to a division in Gipuzkoa, leaving San Sebastián, Mutriku and Getaria separated from the rest. While Gipuzkoa that already had a Brotherhood ruled by the "Elders" chose Enrique, San Sebastián on the other hand, a town of freemen free from oligarchic lineages, and against the "Elders", will choose Peter I.
La Antigua hermitage. Zumárraga.
After Peter's death in 1369, at the hands of his half brother Enrique de Trastamara, and after the bastard Enrique came to the throne, the Crown of Castile will reinforce his alliance with the French King. Such an attitude gave rise to strained relations with English Aquitaine, having a serious effect on trade between Aquitaine and San Sebastián.
On the other hand, the War of the Bands reached its peak in Gipuzkoa at the time of the Trastamaras, when oñacinos and gamboínos lashed out against each other, hindering domestic trade for the people of San Sebastián. We can still add a new and negative factor, when due to dynastic reasons, Navarre, a rich and key trading part with San Sebastián port, chose the French side.
In the middle of the 14th century, the three aforementioned reasons had a serious consequence for San Sebastián: there was a shift in the main traffic lines towards Bilbao, replacing San Sebastián as the centre of gravity for trade.
At a time when the entire province was suffering the ravages of the War of the Bands, and the small towns were trying to form an alliance to resist the Bands, San Sebastián was a haven of peace. The freemen of San Sebastián could live at peace behind the town walls, but outside them, and in the nearby areas, the "Elders" dynastic and economic power, drawn from the growing foundry industry, was weakening the outskirts of San Sebastián, resulting in a shrinking of the town boundaries. First it was Hondarribia, later on Oiartzun then Hernani, Andoain, Orio, Usurbil, etc. the townships that one by one will separate from San Sebastián.
In January 1489 a fire burned the town to ashes; as a result of that, the town was rebuilt using stone. Although it was the last fire in San Sebastián in medieval times, the town would be burnt down again in 1813.
From the late 15th century onwards, and due to its strategic location, the trading centre of San Sebastián became a military town. The main trading port of Pasaia will become a naval base for the Escuadra Cantábrica, a sea power that for centuries (until the 1 9th) will fight against the French, Duch and English fleets.
In its new role as a fortres to stop the French attacts, San Sebastián adopted a different course that brought it the title of Noble and Loyal.
In the three-hundred- year lapse between the Catholic Monarchs and Phillip V, the town was besieged many times.
The on-going war situation meant a sharp economic decline for San Sebastián, owing to defence costs, the garrisons' up-keep, and the continuous decline in sea trade that worsened from 1573 onwards, when Seville secured the monopoly in its transactions with America.
In 1662 Phillip IV granted San Sebastián the title of town, after two hundred years of heroic war effort.
In 1659, and during the reign of Phillip IV, the so-called Peace of the Pyrenees with France was achieved, and so the leading classes in San Sebastián went back to their trading activity. Thus, in 1682 el lltre. Consulado y la Casa de Contratación was founded, providing important services to trade and shipping in Gipuzkoa.
But everything had been an illusion; the war went on, and the town had to be fortified. Therefore, an angry dispute between those in favour of keeping the protective walls, and those wanting to concentrate the defence in the castle started.
The dispute was still on when, in 1719, San Sebastián was captured, for the first time, by a strong French army under the command of the Duke of Berwick, who founded a town not adequately fortified, as well as a garrison lacking in supplies and ammunition. 2,000 French soldiers occupied the town until August 25th, 1721, when it was evacuated after the Peace of the Hague.
Peace and economic recovery in the following seventy years: foundation of la Compañia Guipuzcoana de Caracas in 1728, and restoration of free trade with America. Both the Government that wanted to regain control over the American trade, and the group of traders from San Sebastián that wanted to find an outlet after the loss of wool trade from Castile (controlled by Bilbao) and Navarre (diverted to Baiona) cooperated in the foundation of the above company.
A growing population, together with the abandonment ol increasingly old and useless town defences, gave rise to a lack of space behind the town walls; the first urban development of the town was then planned, though it was not carried out until the 19th century.
Owing to the war against the French Convention, San Sebastián was once again occupied by the French, on August 4th, 1794; the town was badly protected by useless walls, and General Molina, the Military Governor, did not make any attempt to defend it. The Convention troops left behind a guillotine which was subsequently set up in the Plaza Nueva (now called Plaza de la Constitución) and used for some deserters.
San Sebastián was occupied by Napoleon's army in 1808, and José I (José Bonaparte) was named King of Spain; on July 9th, he entered San Sebastián, and went through Calle Narrica but every window remained closed.
On June 22nd, 1813, and while the main body of Napoleon's army had to withdraw crossing the border, Emmanuel Rey, a French General, took control of the town with 2,600 soldiers. The allies, the Anglo-Portuguese troops under the direct command of Sir Thomas Graham, and the supreme commander of the Duke of Wellington, besieged and cut the town off with a large contingent of troops and weapons.
From that time onwards, and up to the town's capture on August 31st, both sides carried out tactical movements prior to the battle. In the meantime, the French got out thousands of pro-French supporters who were in San Sebastián, invited the population to evacuate the town, seized San Bartolomé convent, and set fire to the buildings outside the town walls. The Anglo-Portuguese troops tightened up the siege, and positioned every battery.
The first attack on the town took place on July 25th, as soon as it was thought the shells had opened a big enough breach; but the attack was repelled by the French, who inflicted heavy losses on the Anglo-Portuguese troops.
On August 4th, twenty one people, who got away from San Sebastián prior to the siege, sent the Duke of Wellington an account of the town's predicament, due to the siege, in which they made a plea on behalf of their neighbours and the town itself. The letter never reached the English supreme commander because Alava, the Spanish General, did not consider it appropiate.
On August 31st, 1813, at two o'clock in the morning, and after several days of heavy bombing which widened the breach (French troops went through the same in 1719) a column of volunteers called the desperadoes started the attack. When they arrived at the upper part of the breach opened in the wall, they found themselves, much to their surprise, to be four metres above ground; taking advantage of their confusion, the French, unhesitantly, riddled them with bullets.
When a new withdrawal seemed to be most sensible course of action, an accidental fire, as well as the explosion of a French ammunition dump, provoked chaos on the French side. The attackers took advantage of the incident, forcing the French troops to withdraw towards the castle, where they surrended on September 8th.
During this time, the allied troops burned, looted, raped and killed. Looting went on for six and a half days, and only two parish churches and thirty five houses in the Calle de la Trinidad, nowadays called 31 de Agosto, were saved from the fire. The houses were not set on fire, because they were used as lodgings for British and Portuguese officers, while they attacked the castle.
The population that had been 5,500 before the siege dropped to 2,600.
Two memorial tablets were erected to commemorate the sad event: one of them at the entrance of the Calle San Jerónimo, on which the allies are openly blamed; the other one was unveiled by the British Ambassador in the castle's courtyard on August 31st, 1963.
The most representative neighbours got together in the outskirts, in Zubieta, and decided to rebuild the town.
In this task of reconstruction, it is worth noting the work of the architect Pedro Manuel de Ugartemendía. In 1816 a final plan was approved, and a clash between military men and civilians started, due to different criteria on town planning, and the advisability of keeping the defence walls. The work was done under the protection of King Fernando VII who retained the walls.
The kingdom was divided up into fifty two provinces, and the capital of Gipuzkoa established in San Sebastián; until then, the capital had by turns been in Tolosa, Azpeitia, and Azkoitia, according to the place where the meetings of the Assemblies were held, and where the Chief Magistrate took up residence (he was the King's representative in the province).
A coat-of-arms of the town of Tolosa, which has a great tradition in
paper production.
In 1823 the invasion of the "Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis" brought about an absolutist regime; the capital of Gipuzkoa was then moved to Tolosa. In 1854, San Sebastián was finally proclaimed capital of the province; customs were moved back up to the River Ebro (a beneficial measure for the province), and its port closed for trade with America.
The province saw the development for two political parties: Liberals and Carlists; the former in favour of the Constitution. Both parties upheld the fueros but in a different way. While San Sebastián chose Liberalism, most of rural Gipuzkoa opted for Carlism.
On September 29th, 1833, and after Fernando VII's death, his three-year-old daughter Isabel inherited the Crown. Two days after the King's death, Carlos, the King's brother, claimed his right to the Crown. San Sebastián Town Council was the first to recognize Isabel as Queen of Spain; she was proclaimed Queen in front of her portrait in the "Plaza Nueva" (today called "Plaza de la Constitución") on October, 2nd.
As a consequence, the First Carlist War, also called "The Seven Year War", began.
On December 6th, 1835, the Carlists were outside the town urging it to surrender. The town refused and was bombed. From July 10th, 1835, and to protect the liberal cause, San Sebastián had an English legion under the command of General Sir Lacy Evans; San Sebastián defended the town suffering many casualities. Once the task was completed, the English legion was dissolved and sent back home in 1813, leaving behind many people dead and wounded.
On September 28th, 1924, and in their honour, the so-called "English Cemetery", located in Mount Urgull, was opened. The British troops were lodged in Ategorrieta, in the site where Notre-Dame School was built later on. To protest against Carlist absolutism, the troops named the nearby square Constitution Hill; the farmers in the area translated it as "death to the Constitution" (in the Basque language "hil" - "hill" means death).
In 1839 Espartero and Moroto, head of the Carlist forces signed the Bergara Convention that put and end to the war. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, and when the Spanish Parliament reassembled, the foral system of the Basque provinces was recognized.
Hernialde. A rural enclave in the Gohierri area.
Demographic growth meant overcrowded living conditions for the 9,000 people living within the town walls. After eight years of negotiations and confrontations with the military, who wanted to keep the walls, and thanks to General Lerchundi's and General Prim's mediation, an order to demolish the walls was welcomed by the Town Council and the inhabitants. Eustasio Amilibia, the Mayor, was at the Principal Theatre when he got a telegram from the Duke of Mandas informing him of the Government's consent to demolish the walls.
On May 4th, 1863, and to the strains of a march specially written for that occasion, the first stone was removed; the stone was then broken into pieces, and the pieces distributed among the most important guests.
It was an important historical event, because it changed the course of San Sebastián. No longer a fortress, San Sebastián became the capital of the province; the town started to expand according to Cortazar Plan. But the plan gave rise to a fierce controversy between those in favour of a boulevard or avenue that divided the old part from the new part (pro-boulevard), and those against it (anti-boulevard).
In 1872 the Third Carlist War began. Faced with a new threat, in 1873, San Sebastián built a new defence wall from Santa Catalina up to San Bartolomé, in replacement of the old wall.
In 1875 around 5,000 Carlists started shelling the town. The flashes could be seen from Mount Urgull, and a bell was used to inform the population they had only fourteen seconds to protect themselves against the shells. On January 20th, 1876, a shell fell on the Principal Theatre, the home of Indalecio Bizkarrondo, the theatre's caretaker, and a popular Basque poet, better known as Bilintx; the bomb mangled both legs and caused his death.
In 1876 the foral system was abolished at the end of the last Carlist War, and replaced by various Economic Agreements in force up to 1936.
After King Alfonso Xll's death, his widow Queen Regent María Cristina, moved the Court to San Sebastián every summer; Miramar Palace was then the royal summer residence. In gratitude for her work on behalf of the town, San Sebastián Town Council designated her honorary mayoress. Later on, and at the time when the new urban development by Cortazar was being carried out, a casino was built in 1887, thus helping to increase the number of holiday makers.
Early in the 20th century, and following the trend at the close of the preceding century, San Sebastián went on developing as a summer resort, and the province's administrative and political centre. Municipalities also experienced both a population growth and industrial development. It was also the time for the consolidation of banking, followed by the establisment of several banks and savings banks.
In 1904 the first nationalist nucleus became known in San Sebastián.
At that time San Sebastián built parks and leisure venues (Ulía, Igeldo, Ondarreta Beach, bought Urgull's fortress), opened up health centres, and set up a public transport system, in the 20s it even took part in the building of the golf course, Lasarte racetrack and Zubieta racecourse.
Santa Catalina Bridge, detail.
In 1914, at the outset of the First World War, San Sebastián became Europe's most cosmopolitan city. Mata Hari, Leon Trosky, Ravel, Romanones, Pastora Imperio, famous bull fighters, flamboyant bankers, and celebrities from all over the world, met at its casino. It was the time of the Belle Epoque, when the French operetta company, the Russian ballets, opera singers and famous artists performed in the city.
As a result of the First World War, the growing industrialization in the area was consolidated, giving rise to a significant migratory movement, base of important proletarian groups, out of which the working-class movement was born.
Primo de Rivera's (1923-1930) repressive dictatorship led to difficult times for Basque trade unions, U.G.T.'s members in San Sebastián falling from 4,000,to 2,700.
In 1925 gambling was banned and the casino closed down. The summer season lost part of its original glamour, but San Sebastián went on developing its role as capital of the province, in its task as public administration centre. In that decade the city had more than 61,000 inhabitants.
In 1930 the leaders of different political Republican parties met in San Sebastián to agree on a common front and ideology known as the San Sebastián Agreement, which was to bring down the monarchy, and lead to the Republic.
On September 13th, 1936, and soon after the beginning of the Civil War, San Sebastián was captured by Franco's forces. In the following years there were food and petrol shortages, tobacco rationing, lack of materials for the industry, as well as long queues to get many basic things.
Once the war was over, the "Quincena Musical" (a two- week music festival) opened up its doors at the Kursaal Theatre; in 1940 it moved to the Victoria Eugenia Theatre. From then on, big shows and big names in the music world were brought to San Sebastián.
During the Franco years, San Sebastián continued to be a summer resort. From 1940 to 1975, every summer Franco spent the month of August in San Sebastián living in Ayete Palace; the Palace was bought by the City Council, and offered to the Head of the State. Cabinet meetings were then held at the Palace.
In the 40s and early 50s there was a further development of the city: the new urban development of the Egia district was planned, and work began on the Amara district, on the Urumea marshes. In 1950 San Sebastián had 113,776 inhabitants, which was 30% of the province's total population.
Around this time a specific identity of Basque artists began to take shape, and the Gipuzkoa Arts Association was born. It was also the golden age for amateur theatre in the city, which staged a new play every Sunday.
The Film Festival opened for the first time in 1953, bringing to San Sebastián top film stars such as Ava Gardner, Vittorio Gasman, Charlton Heston, and many more.
Prince Juan Carlos de Borbón, heir to the throne, and his brother Infante Don Alfonso lived in those days in Miramar Palace.
The increased birth rate in the province, and the number of immigrants attracted by the growing industry lead to the building of many new houses in the sixties. The city continued to develop the Amara district.
Both San Sebastián and the outskirts received large numbers of immigrants; 40% of them came from outside the Basque Country. The more populated districts of Altza, Amara, Gros and Egía also took the largest number of immi- grants.
The migratory flow, together with the fact that San Sebastián was a summer resort, was the cause of a strong demand for land; real state investment was, thus, a safe and profitable source of income.
In 1965 San Sebastián suffered one of the worst storms in the country; 15m-high waves went over Kursaal Bridge, leaving the streets in the Old Town flooded at the time of high tide.
In 1966 San Sebastián City Council joined in the initiative to pass a motion asking for the abolition of the 1937 decree that deprived Gipuzkoa of the Economic Agreements.
The Jazz Festival opened the same year, and it was the only one in Spain for many years.
In the sixties San Sebastián was the centre of the Basque Cultural Renaissance, and of the nationalist political movement. At the time of the State of Emergency in 1968 and 1969, many demonstrations took place in the city. This situation went on until the end of the Franco era in 1975.
A political reform after 1975, together with the Statute of Gernica, brought about a new Economic Agreement in 1981.
San Sebastián is still the administrative, cultural, business and tourist centre; industry, on the other hand, is located in the outskirsts, and in smaller towns throughout the region.
In 1990 San Sebastián had a population of 183,944, that is 26% of the total population in the province.
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Last modified: Nov, 02, 1999