Lucha de bandos y guerra a sangre y fuego

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new approach (Private War/Guerre de feu et de sang) to the study of Partisan disputes in the medieval Basque Country on the basis of both the analysis of a late medieval Basque text, Sancha Ochoa de Ozaeta's dirges for the death of her husband -Martin Báñez de Artazubiaga († 1464)-, and the comparison of this text with other European texts of the second half of the fifteenth century. This new approach also allows us to analyze the real value of the formulas used in old Basque epics.