Editing Basques (section)

===Society===
[[File:Weiditz Trachtenbuch 125-126.jpg|thumb|Senior Basque women during the 16th century; the attire was forbidden on [[Pierre de Lancre]]'s intervention in the Basque Country (1609–1612)]]

Historically, Basque society can be described as being somewhat at odds with Roman and later European societal norms. [[Strabo]]'s account of the north of Spain in his ''[[Geographica]]'' (written between approximately 20 BC and 20 AD) makes a mention of "a sort of woman-rule—not at all a mark of civilization" (Hadington 1992), a first mention of the—for the period—unusual position of women: "Women could inherit and control property as well as officiate in churches." The evidence for this assertion is rather sparse however.<ref>Kurlansky, Mark. ''The Basque History of the World'' (p.94)</ref>

This preference for female dominance existed well into the 20th century:
<blockquote>... [[matrilineal]] inheritance laws, and agricultural work performed by women continued in Basque country until the early twentieth century. For more than a century, scholars have widely discussed the high status of Basque women in law codes, as well as their positions as judges, inheritors, and arbitrators through ante-Roman, medieval, and modern times. The system of laws governing succession in the French Basque region reflected total equality between the sexes. Up until the eve of the French Revolution, the Basque woman was truly 'the mistress of the house', hereditary guardian, and head of the lineage.<ref name="treilo">Gimbutas, M. ''The Living Goddesses'' University of California Press: 2001</ref></blockquote>

While women continued to have a higher position in Basque than other western European societies, it is highly unlikely that any point the society was 'matriarchal', as is often falsely claimed about pre-Indo-European peoples in general. The 'Basque matriarchy' argument is typically tied to 20th century nationalism and is at odds with earlier accounts of the society.<ref>Bullen, Margaret. ''Basque Gender Studies'' (p.118-120)</ref>

Although the [[Kingdom of Navarre]] did adopt feudalism, most Basques also possessed unusual social institutions different from those of the rest of feudal Europe. Some aspects of this include the [[elizate]] tradition where local house-owners met in front of the church to elect a representative to send to the ''juntas'' and ''[[Juntas Generales]]'' (such as the ''Juntas Generales de Vizcaya'' or ''Guipúzcoa'') which administered much larger areas. Another example was that in the medieval period most land was owned by the farmers, not the Church or a king.<ref name="Trask1997"/>{{Page needed|date=November 2010}}<ref name="oprmay">Collins, R. ''The Basques'' Blackwell: 1986</ref>