Jaun Zuria (

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

for "the White Lord") is the mythical first

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

and founder of the

Lordship of Biscay The Lordship of Biscay ( es, Señorío de Vizcaya, Basque: ''Bizkaiko jaurerria'') was a region under feudal rule in the region of Biscay in the Iberian Peninsula between 1040 and 1876, ruled by a political figure known as the Lord of Biscay. One ...

, who defeated the Leonese and Asturian troops in the also-mythical Battle of Padura, in which he chased off the invaders to the Malato Tree, establishing there the borders of

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

. There are three accounts of its legend, one by the Portuguese count Pedro Barcelos and two by the chronicler Lope García de Salazar.Jaun Zuria entry
at the Auñamendi Entziklopedia (Spanish) According to the legend, Jaun Zuria had been born from a Scottish or English princess who had been visited by the Basque deity

Sugaar In Basque mythology, (also , , , ) is the male half of a pre-Christian Basque deity associated with storms and thunder. He is normally imagined as a dragon or serpent. Unlike his female consort, , there are very few remaining legends about . Th ...

in the village of

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. It has been suggested that Jaun Zuria might have the same origin or be the same mythical figure as

Olaf the White Olaf the White ( non, Óláfr hinn Hvíti) was a viking sea-king who lived in the latter half of the 9th century. Life Olaf was born around 820, in Ireland. His father was the Hiberno-Norse warlord Ingjald Helgasson. Some traditional sources por ...

, an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

sea-king from the 9th century.{{citation needed, date=October 2021

Accounts of the legend

Bienandanzas e Fortunas

The

chronicler Lope García de Salazar (1399–1476) mentions the Jaun Zuria on his ''Bienandanzas e Fortunas'', book that he begins to write in 1471. He speaks of the daughter of a Scottish

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, who arrives by ship at

Mundaka , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and gives birth to a son in the village. Afterward, both mother and son move to

Busturia es, busturiano , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone ...

, where the boy spends most of his childhood. When the son is 22 years old, the Biscayans choose him to be captain of their troops to stop the progress of the army of an Asturian king's son. He is chosen because of his royal blood, as it had been a requirement of the Asturian prince, in order to engage in a formal battle. The Asturian prince and his army are defeated in

Arrigorriaga Arrigorriaga is a town and municipality located in the province of Bizkaia, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. Arrigorriaga is located 7 km south of Bilbao and is part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. Its offici ...

on the Battle of Padura or Arrigorriaga. Thus, the Biscayans choose him to be the first

Lord of Biscay The Lordship of Biscay ( es, Señorío de Vizcaya, Basque: ''Bizkaiko jaurerria'') was a region under feudal rule in the region of Biscay in the Iberian Peninsula between 1040 and 1876, ruled by a political figure known as the Lord of Biscay. On ...

and Lord of

Durangaldea Durangaldea (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Duranguesado'') is a comarcas of Spain, comarca of Biscay located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. It is one of the seven ''eskualdeak/comarcas'' or regions that compos ...

,Libro XX de las ''BIENANDANZAS E FORTUNAS DE LOPE GARCÍA DE SALAZAR'' Edición realizada por Ana María Marín Sánchez.
/ref> and give him the Basque name of ''Jaun Zuria'', that is the White Lord, because of the whiteness of his skin and hair.

Book of the Lineages

The

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Count of Barcelos

Pedro Alfonso ''Pulcher ut Absalon, virtute potens quasi Sanson, instructisque bonis, documenta tenet Salomonis''. " edrois handsome as Absalom, as strong as Samson, and he possesses the wisdom of Solomon." —'' Poema de Almería'', ...

speaks about a similar story on a similar background, on his ''Libro dos Linhagems'' ("Book of the Lineages"). According to him, Biscay was a Lordship before even Castile had kings, but for a lot of time it remained without a lord. An Asturian count named don Moñino knew about this situation, and thus forced the Biscayans to give him as a tribute a cow, an ox and a white horse every year. Soon thereafter, arrived by ship a brother of the king of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

named From. He came with one of his sons, named Fortun Froes, and they settled in the village of

. From, being told about the tribute, promised to defend the Biscayans as long as they called him Lord. The Asturian count then, engaged in battle against From and the Biscayans, and was defeated near

. After From's passing, Fortun Froes became the Lord of Biscay.

References

*Bilbao, Jon. "Sobre la leyenda de Jaun Zuria, primer señor de Vizcaya" in ''Amigos del País, hoy'', Real Sociedad Vascongada de Amigos del País (Comisión de Vizcaya), Bilbao, 1982, pp. 235–263. *Ramos Merino, Juan Luis (2014). "Merlín, Arturo y Jaun Zuria en la Vizcaya medieval: la reelaboración de un mito cultural europeo" in Zarandona, Juan Miguel (ed.) ''De Britania a Britonia La leyenda artúrica en tierras de Iberia: cultura, literatura y traducción''. Peter Lang, Bern, 2014, pp. 117–143. Basque mythology Demigods

Accounts of the legend

Bienandanzas e Fortunas

Book of the Lineages

See also

References