Amaya o los vascos en el siglo VIII (Amaya, or the Basques in the eighth century) is a Romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 historical novel

Historical novel

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...

 published in 1879 by Francisco Navarro-Villoslada, a noted novel by a Navarrese author. The story is placed during the invasion of Visigoth

Visigoth

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...

ic Spain

History of Spain

The history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain...

 by the Moors

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

.

Plot summary

Mixing history and legend, it presents a situation in which pagan

Paganism

Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

 and Christianized

Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...

 Basques

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 unite under the first king of Navarre and ally with Pelayo

Pelayo

Pelayo is the Spanish form of the Latin name Pelagius. It may refer to:*Pelagius of Asturias, founder of the Kingdom of Asturias and beginner of the Reconquista*Pelayo of Oviedo, bishop and chronicler...

, the first king of Asturias to defend Catholic Iberia against the invading hordes of Islam

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

.

Amaya is a Christian noblewoman, daughter of a Basque woman and Ranimiro, the ruthless Visigoth general. She is a niece to pagan leader Amagoya, who prefers her other pagan niece as heiress to the secrets of Aitor

Aitor

Aitor is a Basque masculine given name, created by Agosti Xaho for a Basque ancestral patriarch descending from the Biblical Tubal in his work "The Legend of Aitor" ....

, the Basque ancestral patriarch. Pacomio is a machinating Jew conspirating in disguise among Muslims, Visigoths and Basques. Eudes

Eudes

There are several notable people with the Old French name Eudes.* Odo of Aquitaine, died about 735* Odo , Count of Paris* Eudes-Henry , Duke of Burgundy * Eudes, Count of Penthièvre and Count of Brittany...

, duke of Cantabria

Cantabria

Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...

, is Pacomio's son, but, by hiding his Jewish origin, has reached a high post in the Visigoth kingdom and aspires to power beyond what his allies and his father would allow.

At the end, the secret of Aitor is revealed, to recommend Christianity, the pagan Basques (except for Amagoya) convert, and Amaya marries the Basque resistance leader, García, becoming the first monarchs of Navarre.
The legends of Teodosio de Goñi and San Miguel de Aralar, the Caba Rumía, the Table of Solomon in Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

, and others are also mentioned in the plot.

Influences

The novel is influenced by the works of Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

 and Carlism

Carlism

Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of Molina , and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws and widespread...

, presenting the Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

se as the defenders of Spanish monarchy and Christianity. The myth of Aitor as an ancestral Basque patriarch comes from Joseph-Augustine Chaho.

"Amaia" and "Amagoia" (in modern spelling) are used today as Basque female names.

Jesús Guridi

Jesús Guridi

Jesús Guridi Bidaola was a Spanish Basque composer, and is a key player in the Spanish and Basque music of the twentieth century. His style fits into what we might call the late romantic stamp, directly inherited from Wagner, and with a strong influence from the Basque culture...

's opera Amaya (inspired by the novel) debuted at the Coliseo Albia of Bilbao in 1920.