The “gótico vascongado”: archeology of a historiographic concept.

Abstract

The concept of "gótico vascongado" has long since ceased to be relevant in Spanish historiography. However, during the 20th century, this term was used to refer to a group of churches with a hall plan, idiosyncratic of the Basque Country in the Modern Age. Formalized by Vicente Lampérez in 1909, it had a certain trajectory within Basque historiography, and, not by chance, also in a certain part of foreign historiography. Although, from its very beginnings, the idea was regarded with suspicion, rejected by many, and rarely vindicated as a coherent idea for the analysis of the Basque hallenkirchen. What is it that can make us return to it now? Like almost all historiographical concepts, the "gótico vasco" is loaded with a series of values, related ideas and abstract constructions of which we are often unaware. This article will focus on analyzing its bibliographical origins, the intellectual traditions on which it is based, the identity components that shape it, the ideological implications and the historiographical uses it has had, which will perhaps allow us to reflect on how a certain part of the historiography of art in the Basque Country, and, in general, national historiographies, has been constructed.