San Bernabé
The origins of the French invasion date back to the feeling of unhappiness of Navarre due to its incorporation into the Castilian crown, which French crown did not like, either, so this dissatisfaction increased after Charles I became the king.
The Revolt of the Comuneros provoked a French military action in order to increase the French influence and to support the Independence of the kingdom of Navarre, once the royal power had been weakened by the civil war.
Then, in 1521, -rather late from a strategic point of view because in April the Comuneros had been defeated in Villalar, finishing this way the conflict and, therefore, the release of officers to fight other fronts-, André de Foix, Lord of Asparrot and Count of Foix, officer in charge of the French army, invades Navarre easily, which was in favour if his interests. Only the Castilian garrison in Pamplona slightly resists his departure.
Meanwhile, Logroño hosts all soldiers who had escaped from Navarre as well as its own garrison. On the 21st May, by means of an open council meeting, the city decides to resist the attack of the French, who had already conquered Viana thanks to the support of the population of Navarre. On the 25th May, the French, who had invaded San Francisco and Madre de Dios Convents, could be easily sighted, located outside the city walls.
The Municipal Committee of Defence decided to reject the French surrender proposal, so the attack was immediately started by trying to conquer the bridge which, thanks to its resistant construction, could avoid the assault. After this first failure, the French went across the river near Varea –east of the city- and started some small intimidatory attacks.
On the 31st May, the assault to the city was commanded, but the real attack took place on the 4th and 5th June, at night, weakening the Gallic army.
On the 10th June, the French army began being flooded by mean of a witty ruse about the irrigation channels, by cutting these channels and diverting them. On the 11th June the withdrawal of the besiegers starts due to the arrival of Castilian reinforcement.
These events are remembered annually at San Bernabé Festivity (11th June) with a series of rituals which keep alive in the inhabitants’ memory a historical event considered as half-mythical and half-real: for instance, there is a procession in which the Mayor waves the flag in the exact locations where the gates of the city were found, the shots by the cannons or the delivery of bread, wine and fish at the Gate of Revellín, built in the 16th century to commemorate the victory.
The tradition establishes that the wine kept in cellars, the bread made of corn from the barn and the fish, caught furtively in the subterranean corridors which perforated the wall, were the food that allowed the survival. Therefore, wine is the symbol of the sustenance and the defence of the city.
Scenes taken from the Dramatized Routes in which these historical events are acted in a humorous and entertaining way.
