Ainhoa (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association.
Geography
Location The commune of Ainhoa is in the traditional Basque province of Labourd.
Ainhoa is some 20 km due south of Bayonne and is directly on the Spanish border which forms the southern border of the commune. The commune is mountainous and forested in the south-east portion but with farmland in the northwest of the commune. There is one border crossing to Spain on the southern border at the village of Dantxana.
Ainhoa and Sare, together with the two Spanish communes of Zugarramurdi and Urdazubi, form a cross-border territory, called Xareta. Straddling the border with Spain, it is a passage for the Way of St. James (Baztan way) from Bayonne to Pamplona.
The commune's border with Spain is in the Dancharia area and accesses the area of Dantxarinea d'Urdazubi.
Access The commune is connected to Espelette in the north-east by Highway D20 which passes through the village and continues south to the Spanish border. Highway D305 branches west off the D20 and continues west to join Highway D4 before Cherchebruit. A network of small country roads covers all parts of the commune.Google Maps
Hydrography Located in the watershed of the Adour, the Nivelle river runs along the southern border and forms the border between France and Spain. Numerous streams arise in the commune and flow down to the Nivelle including the Opalazioko erreka, the Lapitxuri and its tributaries, the Larreko erreka, the Erdiko erreka, the Farendeiko erreka, the Haitzagerriko erreka, and the Barretako erreka. Paul Raymond mentions the Haïçaguerry, a tributary of the Nivelle, which descended to Gorospila on the Spanish border, and which crossed the territory of Ainhoue (the old spelling of Ainhoa).
Localities and hamlets
Agerrea Akatenea Arbonakoborda Armaia Armaiaetxeberria Arotxenborda Barnetxekoborda Capera Chapelle d'Arantze Col de Gorospil Dantxaria Dolharekoborda Esponda Ezpondakoborda Fulianborda Gaskoinenborda Haizagerri Haltienborda Hariztoienborda Harotxarenborda Janmarienborda Joaniorenborda Kanpainia Kontxoenea Mazondoa Mendiondoa Mentaberria Murruenea Narkoinborda Okilaua Olhatxoa Ordokikoborda Ordosgoitikoborda Patzikoenborda Peorteikoborda Perlaenborda Tanburinborda Ukutea Urrutieneko Errota Xara Handia Xarak
Géoportail, IGN
Toponymy The commune name in basque is the same - Ainhoa.
Brigitte Jobbé-DuvalBrigitte Jobbé-Duval, Dictionary of Place Names - Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 2009, Archives and Culture, suggested that the name could come from the Basque aino which means "goat".
The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.
Name Spelling Date Source Page Origin Description Ainhoa Aynoa 1238 Orpustan Village Aynho 1243 Orpustan Aignoa 1249 Orpustan Aynoa 1249 Orpustan Haynou 1289 Orpustan Anhoe 1289 Orpustan Nostre-Done d'Ainhoe 1511 Raymond Saint-Claire Añoa 1650 Map Anhoue 1684 Raymond Collations Ainhoüé 1750 Cassini Mendiate 18th century Ldh/EHESS/Cassini Mendiarte 1793 Raymond Ainhone 1793 Ldh/EHESS/Cassini Ainhoue 1801 Ldh/EHESS/Cassini Bulletin des lois Ainhoa 1801 Ldh/EHESS/Cassini Bulletin des lois Ainhoue 1863 Raymond Ainhoa 19th century Lhande Capéra Capéra 1863 Raymond Chapel Dantxaria Dancharia 1863 Raymond Hamlet Landibar Landibar 1863 Raymond Bridge on the Haïçaguerry
Sources: Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque ToponymyJean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque Toponymy, Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, 2006, Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011 Map: The Map of the Government-General of Guyenne and Gascony and the neighbouring region Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750Cassini Map 1750 – Ainhoüé Ldh/EHESS/Cassini: Lhande: Pierre Lhande, Basque-French DictionaryPierre Lhande, Dictionnaire basque-français, 1926
Origins: Saint-Claire: Titles of the Abbey of Sainte-Claire of BayonneTitles of the Abbey of Sainte-Claire of Bayonne - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Collations: Collations of the Diocese of BayonneManuscripts from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
History The ancient redoubt of Urrizti reflects the ancient past of the area.
From the 13th to 17th centuries Paul Raymond noted on page 4 of his 1863 dictionary that the parish of Ainhoa was in the gift of the Abbot of Urdax (Spain). The Curacy of Ainhoa was created by the Priory of the Premonstratensian of Urdazubi in the 13th century.
On 27 April 1238 the new king Theobald I of Navarre purchased the toll rights formerly instituted by Viscount Juan Pérez de Baztan, Ainhoa being then at the borders between the Duchy of Aquitaine since 1151, run by the Angevin Kings of England and the Navarrese kingdom.
Such tolls were charged to pilgrims and traders traveling to Santiago de Compostela on the Way of St. James in Galicia, Spain. Military clashes between the "English run" Basques of Aquitaine and the Navarrese in 1249 led the Seigneur of Ainhoa, in 1250, to recognize the suzerainty of King Henry III of England. By 1265 Gonzalvo Juanis, Seigneur of Ainhoa, also known as Gonzalvo Ibáñez or Gonzalvo Yáñes, did not recognize either the English or the Navarrese. However he died in 1289 and opened the way to conquest based on old historical claims. Then, Garda Arnaut de Espelette, with loyalty to the "English run" Basques of the Duchy of Aquitaine, sent a letter, dated 29 July 1289 praying the Ainhoa people to adequately connive with him. The outcome of such frontier business was to set up an "undivided" land as had been done also previously with the nearby Aldudes close to the Baztan valley.
Documents from Estella dated September 1369, some 80 years later, proved that the people from Ainhoa paid taxes to both the King of Navarre and the "English" Seneschal of the Landes territory in return for their fiscal and personal privileges.
When "English run" Bayonne surrendered to the French in 1451 it is not known if these "undivided status" villages on the English-Navarrese frontier were taken by the French as well.
In the Spanish Invasion of 1636 in the Labourd territories many villages, including Ainhoa, were razed. Later, probably because of the 1659 "Treaty of the Pyrénées" whereby the Spanish-born Queen regent of France Anne of Austria with the help of Cardinal Mazarin, the First Minister of France, set up an advantageous (for the French) peace and also obtained Maria Theresa of Spain as a wife for her son Louis XIV of France. Ainhoa was then repopulated again.
Disputes between the new settlers and the old residents concerning the use of communal lands for cattle grazing and fodder and the access by newcomers to town hall positions, schooling, church grants, etc. had to be settled by the then autonomous Parliament of Bordeaux in the sense of paying for access to village privileges.
Ainhoa was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and then rebuilt. The only remains from before the destruction are the church and the Machitorénéa House.
The 18th century
In 1724, following the revolts in Saint-Jean-le-Vieux (1685) Mouguerre and Saint-Pierre-d'Irube (1696), the people of Ainhoa revolted against the salt tax and against other new taxes. This was a prelude to the uprisings in all of Labourd in 1726 against the said taxes. Bayonne and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port followed in 1748.Philippe Veyrin, The Basques, Arthaud, 1975, , page 179.
The Law of 4 March 1790Philippe Veyrin, The Basques, Arthaud, 1947, Re-ed. 1975, , page 185. determined a new administrative landscape of France by creating departments and districts. This resulted in the creation of the department of Basses-Pyrénées and reuniting the Béarn, the Gascon lands of Bayonne and Bidache, and the three French Basque provinces. For the latter, three districts were created: Mauleon, Saint-Palais, and Ustaritz which replaced the Bailiwick of Labourd. The seat of Ustaritz was transferred almost immediately to Bayonne. Its Director persuaded a large number of municipalities to adopt new names conforming to the spirit of the Revolution. So Ainhoa was called Mendiarte, Ustaritz became Marat-sur-Nive, Itxassou became Union, Arbonne became Constante, Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry became Thermopyles, Saint-Palais became Mont-Bidouze, Louhossoa became Montagne-sur-Nive, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port became Nive-Franche, Saint-Jean-de-Luz became Chauvin-Dragon (the name of a young soldier killed in action), and Souraïde became Mendialde.
In 1794, at the height of the Terror and after the desertion of forty seven young people from Itxassou, the Committee of Public Safety (Decree of 13 Ventôse Year II - 3 March 1794) arrested and deported some of the inhabitants (men, women and children) of Ainhoa, Ascain, Espelette, Itxassou, Sare, and Souraïde and decreed that these communes like the other communes of the Spanish border were "infamous communes".Philippe Veyrin, The Basques, Ed. Arthaud, 1975, , page 187. This was extended to Biriatou, Cambo-les-Bains, Larressore, Louhossoa, Mendionde, and Macaye.
The people were "united in various national houses, or in the district of Ustaritz or in the Great Redoubt, like Jean-Jacques Rousseau".National Archives, AF II 133/1014, cited by Manex Goyhenetche, General History of Basque Country - Vol 4, Elkarlanean, 2002, , page 300 In reality, they were gathered together in churches and then deported in very precarious conditionsThe Mayor and the Municipal officer of Capbreton requested instructions from the representatives of the people by a letter (text transcribed by P. Haristoy, The Parishes of the Basque Country during the revolutionary period, Pau, Vignancour, 1895–1901, pages 256–257) of 24 Ventôse Year II (14 March 1794) for the 229 prisoners in their charge: How much bread to give to every man (we do not have bread, so it does not matter)? Can we consent for them to buy wine or other provisions? We note that we have no meat. Can we allow them to have light at night from a lantern? Can we allow them to have their mattresses or palliasses? We have let them bring straw to sleep Can we allow them out two by two to wash their clothes If there are sick, are we allowed to take them out of the prison house to show the others that they are to be treated?" in Bayonne, Capbreton, Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse, and Ondres. The Departments where people from the communes were interned were the Lot, the Lot-et-Garonne, the Gers, the Landes, the Basses-Pyrénées (partly béarnaise), and Hautes-Pyrénées.