Joan Perez de Lazarraga

Joan Perez de Lazarraga, Lord of Larrea Tower (1548? – April 11, 1605) was a Basque writer, who was born and died in Larrea, Álava.

A page in Lazarraga's own handwriting

Lazarraga was the Lord of Larrea, and a member of a family originating in Oñati. As a writer, he was one of the few Renaissance authors in Basque. In around 1567, he left 21 copies of a collection of written papers, which form together a pastoral novel titled Silbero, Silbia, Doristeo, and Sirena.

In 2004, the manuscript was found in an antique shop in Madrid. It is one of very few Basque-language texts to have survived from the 16th century, and the oldest from the Southern Basque Country. The Foral Government of Gipuzkoa purchased the text and made it available via the internet. Patri Urkizu prepared the first edition, titled "Dianea and Couplets." This first edition appeared as a collection of papers and was made quickly, without the necessary checks, so a group of Basque experts is preparing a better edition.

The find is very important for Basque linguistics, as it is a very important tool to explain the history of the Basque dialect of Álava and Western Basque, presenting forms and words which have never been documented before.

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