Spain: Irish-Basque connections are often the subject of myths and misunderstandings. The highly dubious legend that Basques colonised Ireland in ancient times generated a plethora of erroneous beliefs, writes Paddy Woodworth
One was that Irish Catholic priests fleeing persecution in the 16th century could easily make themselves understood in Bilbao, because of the supposed similarity of the Irish and Basque languages. If any fugitive cleric ever took this canard seriously, he must soon have found that a cúpla focal would have been as comprehensible in Beijing as among the Bilbainos. The Basques, who have no Celtic connections, speak Euskera, an ancient language of obscure origins, which is not even Indo-European.
It pays, therefore, to know where one is going before one travels. A rather large group of Irish visitors to the Basque Country who seem to have been well aware of this principle is the subject of Amaia Bilbao Acedos's small but significant book.
The Catholic Irish diaspora to other parts of Iberia in the 17th and 18th centuries is quite well-known, as UCC professors Patrick Flanagan and Julian Wharton point out in their preface. However, the quite numerous Irish emigration to Bilbao in the same period is very little known in either country, perhaps precisely because it was so successful that it became absorbed into the host society.
The author's exhaustive but rather dry investigation of primary documents builds up a new, thorough and convincing picture of an Irish mercantile and industrial elite, followed by numerous craftsmen, who found a prosperous niche for themselves in a Basque community notorious for its suspicion of outsiders.
The elite came largely from dominant families in the major Irish ports, especially Waterford. They shared capital, facilities, and, above all, excellent international connections, themselves often based on family ties. They inter-married and encouraged relatives to join them, and quickly occupied strong positions in the trading and, to a lesser extent, manufacturing sectors.
The firm of Linch y Killi Kelly y Moroni, for example, united three families in successful commercial ventures for much of the 18th century. Other prominent names (often hispanified) included Lawless, O'Hagan, Cruise, Bodkin and McMahon. These families show up especially in the iron, cod and leather sectors. It was for the latter that large numbers of craftsmen were encouraged to emigrate, and the Irish virtually monopolised the tanning industry for several decades. Social divisions between the immigrants were, Acedos notes, fairly rigidly maintained.
The title of the book is rather misleading, as Acedos's focus is almost entirely on her namesake city of Bilbao, and the surrounding province of Bizkaia (Biscay) rather than the much larger area covered by "the Basque Country".
Even in this relatively cosmopolitan area, the Irish faced considerable hostility, though their Catholic background - Acedos finds no Irish Protestants among them - gave them considerable advantages with a sympathetic Spanish crown.
The Basque Country enjoyed unusually extensive versions of the regional rights known as fueros, however, which meant that the crown's writ did not always run in Bilbao. The Irish were not just periodically abused as "drunks and crooks" (plus ça change) but were, more seriously, known as "Jews". This forced them to seek proof of "pure" Christian blood and "nobility" - the supposed basis of the Basques' exceptional citizenship rights under the Spanish monarchy. Furnishing such proof was not easy for people whose relationship with the authorities in their country of origin was, at best, problematic.
One ends the book wanting to know much more. More, for example, about "Madama Jons", an Irish publican in the township of Deusto, who had an adulterous relationship with a Spanish sailor. Historical documents, especially commercial and legal ones, can be thin on human interest. More, above all, on how this Irish community almost abruptly disappeared among the Basques at the start of the 19th century, and who their descendants are today.
But we can be grateful to Acedos for breaking new ground in research so that such questions can arise.
Paddy Woodworth is the author of Dirty War, Clean Hands: ETA, the GAL and Spanish Democracy (Yale University Press)
The Irish Community in the Basque Country c.1700-1800. By Amaia Bilbao Acedos, Geography Publications, 114pp, €15