The early period: the Basques and the Romans

Strategically located on the River Arga, from its origins Pamplona has proved a strong will to exert its dominance over the rest of the territory. The Romanization of the area begins in the I century B.C. moment in which the Roman city is established producing the invasion of the primitive Basque people. The christianization of the territory and the cultural presence of Rome established Pamplona as the religious and political capital. Excavations round the Cathedral have manifested the existence of a fully developed city. The Museum of Pamplona holds evidence of this crucial stage in the history of the city, when the primitive Basque people were led into History by the Roman civilization.

The Kingdom of Pamplona

In the second half of the IX century, after the Visigoth, Muslim and Carolingian episodes, the city emerges as a Christian centre of growth which like its neighbouring kingdoms: Aragón and Asturias, formed a group of opposition to the Islam invasion of the territory that used to be under the Visigoth Monarchy. During the X century, the Jimena Dynasty is the centre of this social and political movement which gives birth to the Kingdom of Pamplona, known as such during the following two centuries and finally, in 1164 as the Kingdom of Navarre. This change meant to mark the supreme control over the whole of the territory, Navarre, and make the Crown of Castile especially aware of this as the kings of Navarrre had in the past occasionally been subjects to Castile.

The three medieval burghs

Pamplona city was not one, but three. Three urban settlements coexisted but each with their own city walls, local authority, law administration and they were socially distinguished. The primitive Basque settlement, that was later Romanised, were the people of Navarre, the first settlers in the burgh of Navarrería. The burgh of San Cernin, suburb known as San Saturnino, was the site for the powerful and prosperous burgess group mainly made up of merchants who brought their language and their own images to venerate - Saint Cernin and Saint Saturnino in Toulouse - from France. The third burgh, San Nicolás, consisted of a heterogeneous community in its origins and social condition but was essential for the development of the future Pamplona.

The city divided into burghs persisted during the XIII and XIV centuries, not without conflicts and violence that hindered its development. The tension reached its peak in 1276, when the arrival of a foreign dynasty -the Capetos, Monarchs of France - and the intense political crisis that it raised, provoked the attack on the Navarrería burgh, killing people and devastating their properties.

Pamplona united

The Evreux royal house in 1328 opened an era of political, economic and social consolidation and development. Charles III, the Nobleman, puts an end to the division of the city in 1423 ordering the union under a single town council and coat of arms. At last, the city is reconciled and a moment of great splendour begins. Testimony worth signalling of this, is the Cathedral in which the late gothic closter and the superb tombs of Charles III, the Nobleman, and his wife Leonor of Castile in the Cathedral.

The fortress on the borderline

The political crisis that shook Navarre during the XV century, principal cause of the civil war that broke out between 'agramonteses' and 'beaumonteses' had a negative effect on the capital of the Kingdom. The extreme weakness and social chaos of the moment was the opportunity Castile was waiting for to invade Navarre and lay siege to the capital. The Kingdom surrendered when Pamplona did in 1512 along with the Monarchs - Juan de Albert and Catalina de Foix - who sought refuge in the domains of the Lords on the other side of the border where they plotted secretly unsuccessfully to restore their Kingdom.

After the conquest, the capital of the Kingdom acquires a new strategic value as a fortress against the threat of invasion by the French Monarch who had been the persistent enemy of the Castilian Monarchy. During the XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries important works of fortification were undergone in order to uphold the French attack the city was fearined. Nevertheless, the capital continued to develop politically and spiritually. All the political institutions were united among which the most important, was the viceroy who substituted for the original monarchs.

The new city

Pamplona remained closed behind its walls until the beginnings of the XX century. The population lived compelled to the limited space between the city walls and unable to face the challenges of a society that was starting to abandon the lifestyles and working systems of the Ancient Regime.

Finally, in 1905 the walls fall, from the Taconera to the Labrit, allowing an organised urban expansion towards the South producing the second enlargement - the first enlargement was a timid expansion around the Ciudadela in 1888 -. New streets were opened from the Castillo Plaza in the way the enlargement was planned in Barcelona by Cerdá.