Los fueros vascos en la Constitución de Bayona. Antecedentes políticos e ideológicos. Resultados

Abstract

The paper, in its first part, describes the political and institutional precedents which conditioned the behaviour of the Basque representatives in the Bayonne Assembly. This includes the evolution of the system of ‘Fueros’ in the 18th century, as well as the commotion and unrest that was caused by the War of Convention between the Spanish monarchy and the French Republic, with the consequences of Godoy’s political hostility towards the Basque and Navarrese ‘Fueros’. It explores the opposing ideologies with regards to the ‘régimen foral’ (the body of institutions and code of laws of an autonomous administration) embodied by Larramendi, an exponent of the provincial way of thinking, and Llorente, the spokesperson for the absolutist despotism that has been previously alluded to. The second part of the paper deals with the political situation in each of the provinces at the time the assembly was called, and the co-operative disposition of the representatives towards Napoleon and José I at the Bayonne Assembly. They were rewarded with Article 144 of the Constitution, which preserved the ‘Fueros’, albeit on a provisional basis.