La oficialidad del euskera en procesos postmedievales (con documentos inéditos)

Abstract

Although medieval references to a high population of Basque speakers are well known, the situation seems to be different concerning the language use in the ecclesiastical and administrative domains. Here we intend to provide new data that show how particularly in the latter case, bilingual interpreters were employed for official purposes.
   We know that at the end of the Middle Ages both the church and the court addressed their Basque speaking audience in Basque. We now offer some unpublished documents which provide evidence of specific practice of bilingual professionals in the reception of Basque speaking witnesses in legal processes. This got to such apoint that an official clerkship was created.