Program of the 400 years commemoration week in Iceland 19th-23rd of April 2015 concerning the Slaying of the Basque Whalers in Iceland 1615

Program of the 400 years commemoration week in Iceland 19th-23rd of April 2015 concerning the Slaying of the Basque Whalers in Iceland (1615): Legal Organization, Cultural Exchange and Conflicts of the Basque Fisheries in the North Atlantic

SUNDAY, 19 April 2015
19:30. Concert by Oreka TX, Steindór Andersen, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Páll Guðmundsson and friends. At the Salurinn concert hall in Kópavogur (Hamraborg 6).

MONDAY, 20 April 2015

The Slaying of the Basque Whalers in Iceland (1615): Legal Organization, Cultural Exchange and Conflicts of the Basque Fisheries in the North Atlantic

Conference at the National and University Library of Iceland. (20 minute-lectures and 10 minutes for questions and comments.)

9:00. Opening of the Conference

Presentation and Program: The National and University Library of Iceland, The Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages, The Icelandic-Basque Association, Government of Gipuzkoa, Etxepare Basque Institute, Center for Basque Studies, Barandiaran Chair for Basque Studies.

9:00 Ingibjörg Steinunn Sverrisdóttir (National Librarian, National and University Library of Iceland). Manuscripts and texts by Jón lærði (Jón the learned) in the National and University Library.

9:10 Hólmfríður Garðarsdóttir (The Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages)

9:20 Martin Garitano (President of the Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa)

9:30 Mari Jose Olaziregi (Etxepare Basque Institute)

9:40 Xabier Irujo (Center for Basque Studies)

9:50 Viola Miglio (Barandiaran Chair for Basque Studies)

Moderator: Margrét Jónsdóttir Njarðvík (Icelandic-Basque Association)

10:00. Coffee.

10:30. Ragnar Edvardsson (Archeologist, University of Iceland, Research Center of the Westfjords). The Strákatangi whaling project in Strandasýsla. An archeological site in the Westfjords. “Þeir létust hafa lista gnótt, að leggja hval”: Archaeological remains of European whalers in Strandir from the 17th century.

11:00. Xabier Irujo (Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno). Legal Status of the Fisheries in the Basque Coastal States.

11:30. Alvaro Aragon (& Alberto Angulo Morales) (University of the Basque Country). Basque Whale Hunting and Cod Fishery in the North Atlantic in the 16^th-18^th Centuries.

12:00. Lunch.

 

13:00. Viðar Hreinsson (Independent literary scholar, The Reykjavik Academy). Violence, power relations, interests and truth. On the various accounts of the Slayings of the Spaniards.

13:30. Viola Miglio (Barandiaran Chair for Basque Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara). The Spanish Stanzas by Ólafur Jónsson, pastor at Sandar. Report of the Massacre by Jón Lærði.

14:00. Torfi Tulinius (Professor, Icelandic Medieval Studies, University of Iceland). Crime in a Peaceful Society. How the Icelandic Community Dealt with the Massacre of the Basques and its Aftermath.

14:30. Helgi Þorláksson (Professor, Historian, University of Iceland). Atrocious Icelanders vs. Basques. Unexpected violence or not?

15:00. Coffee

15:30. Magnús Rafnsson (Historian, Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft). Cultural Exchange and Socialization in the Westfjords.

16:00. Rikardo Etxepare (IKER, Centre de recherche sur la langue et les textes basques). The Newly-Discovered / A fourth Basque-Icelandic Glossary.

 

TUESDAY, 21 April 2015

The National and University Library of Iceland. (20 minute-lectures and 10 minutes for questions and comments.)

9:00. Mari Jose Olaziregi (Etxepare Basque Institute / University of the Basque Country) & Aurélie Arcocha-Scarcia (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, IKER). Representations of Whaling in Basque Literature.

9:30. Einar G. Pétursson (Professor emeritus University of Iceland). Jón Guðmundsson the learned. Sönn frásaga, in particular the repercussions, his flight from Strandir, his stay on Snaefellsnes and his position there.

10:00. Coffee

10:30. Hjörleifur Guttormsson (Naturalist and writer). Footprints of Jón lærði in Fljótsdalshérað and Bjarnarey.

11:00. Ólína Þorvarðardóttir (Dr. phil. Icelandic literature, ethnology).  Jón the Learned. A Ghost-buster, a Nerd and Speaker of Truth. The interaction of man and society in the era of sorcery-fear and premature justice in the first half of the 17th Century.

11:30.Tapio Koivukari (Writer, MTh). Ariasman and Spánverjavígin: Historical event and fiction. Perspectives on the background to and reasons for the slayings.

12:00. Lunch.

13:00. Michael M. Barkham (PhD, University of Cambridge. Historian and consultant). The Decline of Basque Whaling in Terra Nova and Their First Voyages to Brazil, Spitsbergen, Iceland and Norway in the Early 17th Century.

13:30. Sigurður Sigursveinsson (historian, Katla geopark). Selma Huxley Barkham and Martin de Villafranca – rendezvous in Iceland via Newfoundland and the Basque Country.

14:00. Ólafur Jóhann Engilbertsson (Historian, Icelandic-Basque Association). Commemorating a 400 year old massacre.

14:20. Sigrún Antonsdóttir, MA-student, Presentation of the exhibition about the Slaying

14:40. Presentation of the books / publications concerning the commemoration.

–Xabier Irujo (Center for Basque Studies) Presentation of the book. Basque Explorers in the South Pacific by William A. / Bill Douglass (Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno). The Ubiquitous Basque Mariners.

Presentation of the book. Spánverjavígin / Euskal Baleazaleen Hilketa / La matanza de los Vascos / Slaying of the Basques

–Viola Miglio (Barandiaran Chair for Basque Studies)

-Hólmfríður Matthíasdóttir (Literary scholar). About the translation of Sönn frásaga to Spanish.

15:00. Closure of the conference.

WEDNESDAY, 22 April 2015

13:00-15:00 Cultural event in the sorcery and witchcraft museum of Hólmavík (http://www.galdrasyning.is)
Address: Höfðagata 8-10, Hólmavík 510, Iceland
Phone Number: +354 451 3525

Iceland and Basque country are going to conciliate in a symbolic event. Political authorities are going to place the memorial sign in a Stone in front of the Museum of Witchcraft and Sorcery in Hólmavik. Xabier Irujo, descendant of one of the murdered Basque whale hunters and Magnús Rafnsson, descendant of one of the murderers will do the symbolic reconcile.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE EVENT
From the Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa: Martin Garitano, President; Ikerne Badiola, Provincial Counsilor for Culture and Garazi Lopez de Etxezarreta, Director for Culture.
From the Government of Iceland, The Culture Minister Illugi Gunnarson.
The District Commissioner of the Westfjords, Jónas Guðmundsson.
Esther Ösp Valdimarsdóttir and Jón Gísli Jónsson on behalf of the local authorities of Hólmavík.

16:00 Trip to visit archaeological settlement at Strákatangi.

THURSDAY, 23 of April 2015
Trip to visit archaeological settlements, either to Ögur or to Árneshreppur in the north Westfjords.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE EVENT
From the Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa: Martin Garitano, President; Ikerne Badiola, Provincial Counsilor for Culture and Garazi Lopez de Etxezarreta, Director for Culture.

Organizers and co-producers of the commemoration program and publications:
The Icelandic-Basque Association (https://baskavinir.is)
Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa (http://www.gipuzkoa.eus/eu/hasiera)
Etxepare Basque Institute (http://www.etxepare.eus/es),
Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno (https://basque.unr.edu),
Barandiaran Chair for Basque Studies University of California, Santa Barbara (http://violagmiglio.net/Violas_Site/Conferences.html),
The Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of foreign languages (http://vigdis.hi.is/en)
The Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (http://www.menntamalaraduneyti.is); National and University Library of Iceland (http://landsbokasafn.is).