Brotherhood in Vizcaya. The people of Vizcaya formed a Brotherhood to punish criminals. In 1320, the mayors of the Brotherhood were already mentioned when Martiartu and the people of Zamuda burned the sons of Diego Pérez de Leguizamón for treacherously killing his eldest son. Vizcaya drew up a book of criminal laws. As Iturriza rightly points out, we do not know the date on which this first Brotherhood was established, but its existence is recorded in 1329 when María Díaz de Haro, Lady of Vizcaya, ordered the mayors of the Brotherhood to ute the rebels they found guilty. According to Iturriza, it must have been established in the 13th century in imitation of the one formed by Ferdinand III in 1245 to persecute the golfines who killed and robbed in the mountains and unpopulated areas of the regions of Toledo, Talavera and Ciudad Real; and another Brotherhood formed in 1282 by the Infante D. Sancho, prelates, rich men and lords of Castile, León and Galicia, as a result of the outrages committed by Alfonso the Wise. On 22 June 1342, the Lordship, meeting in the General Assembly of Guernica, agreed on several chapters aimed, above all, at punishing criminals. These chapters did not achieve the desired public peace. And in 1376, in view of the fact that there were so many criminals in the Lordship, the noblemen and farmers asked Prince Don Juan to provide them with a remedy. To this end, he sent Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, his chief lender, to the councils, mayors and provosts of the towns and villages of the Lordship, instructing them not to allow the aforementioned criminals to obtain food by force or commit outrages. This remedy was not sufficient, as there were more and more criminals. Therefore, in early 1394, the Lordship sent representatives to Henry III, to whom they presented a petition exposing the many ‘evil deeds and misdeeds’ committed by the criminals, who remained unrepentant despite all attempts to reform them. In February of that year, the monarch responded by authorising the Lordship to organise a ‘good and suitable’ brotherhood and to draw up a document containing the necessary provisions for judging criminals.
The people of Biscay gathered under the tree of Guernica and, together with the Corregidor Gonzalo Moro, established and organised the second Brotherhood. Their notebook consists of 55 chapters, with the aim of defending themselves against criminals and punishing them with capital punishment according to the crimes they committed. This notebook was confirmed by Henry III. However, before approving it, the king commissioned Dr Gonzalo Moro to convene a General Assembly in Guernica to ask the people of Vizcaya if any of the chapters of the Brotherhood contained any contrafuero (unlawful provisions). Gonzalo Moro did so and, at the Assembly, all the people of Vizcaya d that none of the chapters of the Brotherhood contained any contrafuero. At the same time, around this time, Gonzalo Moro also granted some Brotherhood Ordinances to Las Encartaciones. In the same year, 1394, Castro Urdiales and other towns joined the Brotherhood.
Labayru poses the following question: Who could doubt that this powerful association, established and accepted with such desire and goodwill, would be ineffective? Labayru himself answers that the Brotherhood did not produce the expected and desired results. Thus, this institution was unable to quell the ferocity of the time, especially when it came to intervening in the pacification of the fighting factions. The rebellious partisans who despised the Brotherhood were exiled. Among them were Juan de la Guerra and Martín de Leguizamón, from Bilbao, who were sent to the siege of Tarifa during the reign of Henry III; Gonzalo Gómez de Butrón, whom Admiral Diego Hurtado de Mendoza took to the war in Portugal. Juan Iñiguez de Retuerto, Iñigo Sánchez, Sancho García Cardo de Muñatones and others were also condemned to serve in the same war for killing Ochoa Ortiz de Arteaga. During the same reign, Sancho de la Sierra, Martín Pérez de Poveña, Pedro Estantado, Sánchez Viejo and Pedro San Lorenzo, all residents of Las Encartaciones, were forced to leave for Portugal. In 1450, during the war in Naples, six of those exiled by the Múzquez factions died. In this same war, Juan de Villela and Pedro de la Hoya, among others, were confined for the murders they committed in the fighting the factions.
In 1415, the Brotherhood of Vizcaya opposed Corregidor Gonzalo Moro's decision to ship wheat to the ports of Asturias, considering this act to be a violation of their privileges. The leading knights of Vizcaya joined forces with the Corregidor and attacked the Brotherhood. Among those accompanying the Corregidor was Juan de Avendaño, who had been banished from court for the disturbances he had caused in Munguía. On Friday, 15 November of that year, the Brotherhood was attacked in Erandio ‘and they died,’ says Lope García de Salazarallí Martín Ortis de Martierto, a mayor of Busturia, and others who died in the pursuit, and others who drowned in the passage of Luchana, which were all up to sixty men. The king rewarded Juan de Avendaño with the leadership of Urbina (montazgo). In 1417, as a result of the excesses committed by Sancho López de Marquina and Ochoa de Landaburu, they were beheaded in Bilbao by the mayor of the Brotherhood, Alfonso Fernández de León. Several strongholds were demolished because they were used as refuges by the acotados and banderizos.
For all these reasons, says Iturriza, the Brotherhood was renewed for the third time with several laws granted by Juan II on 3 August 1439. By royal letter, issued in Valladolid on 3 August 1449, it was ordered that in order to achieve peace and tranquillity in the republic and to keep the people away from scandals, movements and uprisings, as well as to defend the towns and villages, the Brotherhood should be established and those who joined it should help each other. The marshals Santiago de Estúñiga and Sancho de Londoño were appointed for this purpose, and the chief lender of Vizcaya and Iñigo López de Estúñiga, Sancho de Leiba and Lope de Rojas were ordered to assist the former in this task. Iturriza says he does not know how many laws and chapters this new Brotherhood consisted of. This letter was addressed to the Lordship of Vizcaya, the land and district of Guipúzcoa, the brotherhoods of that land and the cities of Vitoria and Orduña, with all the land of Álava, and the towns of Valmaseda and the land of Mena (including the land of Frías, the towns of Pancorbo, Miranda de Ebro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada and the district of La Rioja).
As in 1479, Labayru states, the Brotherhood that ruled in Vizcaya for the persecution of criminals and the maintenance of public peace expired, and the constitution of a new Brotherhood authorised by the Catholic King was arranged. To this end, the Corregidor of Bilbao, Rui González de la Puebla, was commissioned to extend the term of the Brotherhood. On 23 June, from Trujillo, the RR.CC. ordered the appointed Corregidor to collect the rods of authority from all those who held public offices of justice in cities and towns, and the Lordship to join with him to make the appropriate arrangements regarding this point of the Brotherhood. On the same date, Queen Isabella issued another letter addressed to the councils, justices, faithful, aldermen, moneylenders, merinos, provosts, noblemen, procurators and good men of the plains, city and towns. In it, she authorised the Lordship to extend the Brotherhood and to join with the Corregidor to formulate the new Brotherhood that it would govern.