Arnaud Oihenart

Arnaud Oihenart was the first Basque writer, historian and critic that wasn't priest. He has born in Maule (Zuberoa) in 1592 and he died in Donapaleu in 1667 when he was doing a collection about the history of the Basque Country.

Oihenart's most famous works speak about history of the Basque Country's: Notitia Utriusque Vasconiae, tum Ibericae, tum Aquitanicae (1638). In this collection Arnaud write about the Basque Country's history along the years. In De silabarum quantitate article, he broke with the model of poetry and he propose other. In other books like L'art poetique basque (1665) he described the rules of Italian and Spanish poetry taking the models from the Middle Ages Latin rhyme. He wanted to enrich poetry in form and topic. In Les Proverbes Basques (1657) he recovered 706 Basque poems and proverbs and proposed some new spelling rules.

He was the first Basque author that wrote love poems. These love poems were dedicated to different imagine women like Graziana, Beltxarana, Argia, Xuria or Margarita. He also wrote some poems to his own wife. When he married with Joana, Navarra's vice-chancellors' widow, he become part of Navarra's nobility. He also took part in Baja Navarra's Parliament as a lawyer and he was the lawyer of Agramont House.

Oihenart introduced a change in Basque literature, he marked the first line between priest writers and non priest writers. He opened new era from poetry in Basque Country.