Los irlandeses en los pleitos de hidalguía del Señorío de Bizkaia. Estudio comparado de fuentes

The protocols for the naturalization of foreigners in the Lordship of Biscay involved the proof of hidalguia of the applicant. This legal procedure required a comprehensive description of ancestry and origin of the outsider, and its ratification by several witnesses. Hence, these demonstrative tools signify a source of high historical value for the sociodemographic characterization of migrant groups in early modern Biscay. This paper addresses such an analysis for the exiled Catholic Irish people, who fled from their island as a result of the English protestant invasion and repression during 17 th and 18 th century. This study complements and enlarges previous studies aiming at composing a census of Irish migrants in Biscay during that period, and it exposes the relevance this group accomplished within the Biscayan society.