The Slaying of the Spaniards (also known as the Spanish Killings; is, Spánverjavígin ) was the last documented
massacre in
Icelandic history
The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from the east, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest ...
. Some
Basque whalers went on a whaling expedition to Iceland and were killed after conflict in 1615 with local people in the region of the
Westfjords.
Background
In the first half of the seventeenth century
Spanish whalers set up the world's first large-scale whaling industry in
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. The center of this industry was some ten ports on the southern coast of
Labrador. During the peak years of the 1560s and 1570s the fleet comprised around 30 ships manned by up to 2,000 men, who killed approximately 400 whales each year. By the beginning of the seventeenth century Spanish whaling had reached Iceland.
Massacre

The year 1615 was a difficult year in
Iceland with ice up to shores until late summer and considerable loss of livestock. In mid-summer three Spanish whaling vessels put into Reykjarfjörður in
Westfjords. Icelanders and the Spaniards had a mutual agreement at the beginning as they both had benefited from the enterprise. When the ships were ready for departure in late September a terrible gale arose and the ships were driven on the rocks and crushed. Most of the crew members survived (approx. 80). The captains Pedro de Aguirre and Esteban de Telleria wintered at
Vatneyri (
Patreksfjörður
Patreksfjörður (, "Patrick's fjord") is an Icelandic village in the Westfjords with 721 inhabitants (2021 census).
The town was named after Bishop of the Isles#List of known bishops of Iona, Patrick bishop in the Hebrides who was the spiritual ...
) and left for home the following year. The crew of Martin de Villafranca's ship split into two groups; one entered
Ísafjarðardjúp
Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates to ''Depth of the fjord of sea ice''.
Ísafjörður, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in Sk ...
, the other went to
Bolungarvík and later to
Þingeyri.
The first conflict arose when one group entered the empty house of a merchant of
Þingeyri and stole some dried fish.
As retaliation, on 5 October, at night, a group of Icelanders entered the hut where the Spaniards were sleeping and killed 14 of them, only one young man called García, escaped.
Captain Martín de Villafranca of
San Sebastián
San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...
, whose father and grandfather had both been involved in
Terra Nova whaling was among those who were killed.
The bodies were mutilated and sunken into water.
Jón Guðmundsson the Learned
Jón is an Old Norse common name still widely used in Iceland and the Faroes.
According to Icelandic custom, people named Jón are generally referred to by first and middle names and those without a middle name are referred to with both first nam ...
wrote about the unjust and cruel deaths "dishonored and sunken into sea, as if they were the worst pagans and not innocent Christians".
Three days after the first slaying,
Ari Magnússon
Ari may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ari (name), a name in various languages, including a list of people and fictional characters
* Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572), Jewish rabbinical scholar and mystic known also as Ari
* Ari (foo ...
summoned a council at
Súðavík and twelve judges agreed to declare as outlaws all the Spaniards.
On 13 October Martin and the other 17 of his group were killed at Æðey and Sandeyri in
Ísafjarðardjúp
Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates to ''Depth of the fjord of sea ice''.
Ísafjörður, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in Sk ...
, while they were fishing, by the troops commanded by Ari Magnússon.
According to Jón Guðmundsson, the victims were stabbed in the eyes, their ears, noses and had their genitals mutilated.
The captain, Martín de Villafranca, was injured in the shoulder and chest with an axe, but he managed to escape into the sea however he was stoned in the water and dragged to the shore where he was tortured to death.
Two verdicts were instigated by sheriff Ari Magnússon of
Ögur, Ísafjarðardjúp in October 1615 and January 1616. The Spaniards were considered criminals after their ships were wrecked and in accordance with the
Icelandic law book of 1281 it was decided that the only right thing to do was to kill as many of them as possible. An estimated 32 Spaniards were killed.
Aftermath
Jón Guðmundsson the Learned
Jón is an Old Norse common name still widely used in Iceland and the Faroes.
According to Icelandic custom, people named Jón are generally referred to by first and middle names and those without a middle name are referred to with both first nam ...
(1574–1658) wrote a critical account condemning the decision of the local sheriff to order the killings: ''A True Account of Spanish Men's Shipwrecks and Slayings''. Jón says that they were unjustly killed; not wishing to take part in an attack on them, he fled south to
Snæfellsnes.
On April 22, 2015, a descendant of one of the victims, Xabier Irujo, set up a
stele
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
in
Hólmavík in memory of the massacre, along with Magnus Raffnson, whose ancestor was a perpetrator.
The opening ceremony was attend by Westfjords district commissioner Jónas Guðmundsson and , then governor of the
Gipuzkoa province in the
Basque Country
Basque Country may refer to:
* Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map)
* French Basque Country o ...
,
Spain. In the occasion, Guðmundsson formally revoked Ari Magnússon's 1615 decree.
See also
*
History of Basque whaling in Iceland
*
History of Iceland
*
Timeline of Icelandic history
References
External links and sources
Slaying of SpaniardsWhaling in Iceland history1615.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanverjavigin
17th century in Iceland
Conflicts in 1615
1615 in Europe
Massacres in Iceland
Westfjords
17th century in Spain
Basque history
Whaling