Acceso usuarios
Julen Arriolabengoa
The "lbargüen-Cachopín� Chronicle has been a source of interesting materials for Basque linguistics and literature (Canto de Lelo, escrituras de Andramendi, Cantares de la Quema de Mondragón, etc.). Nevertheless this Chronicle is still unpublished and its preserved condition is quite fragile. The author of the present paper has embarked in a complete reconstruction and transcription of the Chronicle, to which end he has devoted the last few years. As could be expected, numerous and diverse materials have sprung from the detailed transcription of the Chronicle. Amongst them, the heretofore unknown ballads presented in this article have surpassed all expectations.
These ballads recount episodes of the band (�bandos�) wars which took place in the Basque area during the Middle Ages, specifically in the XVth century. The first poem, the �Cantar de la Señora de Butrón� has two stanzas: in the first one, Gómez González's widow moans the death of her husband as a result of treason from within his own band; in the second stanza, a Ganboino partisan reminds the widow that the village of Mondragon was fairly burnt to avenge the Asteasu deaths. The author of this paper proposes a new reading of the Cantar. Finally, the Cantar. is included, which tells of Rodrigo's escape from the Tower of Villa Real de Alava where he had been imprisoned by the Abendaños. This poem -previously unknown- stands out because of its very high narrative and lyrical richness as well as for its length.
