Tourism

Born in Madrid on the 7th August 1533, Alonso Erzilla enjoyed spending long periods of time in Bermeo, as the atmosphere in Madrid was not to his liking.

A poet and solider. Alonso accompanied Philip II to England, as his page, on the occasion of Philip’s marriage to Mary Tudor. Alonso decided to go to America and reached the bay of Penco in Chile where he found inspiration for his great heroic poem, La Araucana. This famous epic poem and a work of great literary and historical value, which describes the conquest of Chile by Valdivia and the encounters of the conquerors with the indomitable Araucanians, was published in two parts, in 1569 and 1589. It centres not only on the conquest of Chile but also the rest of America. The author dedicated the poem to Philip II and earned the praise of Quevedo and Cervantes.

To quote a strophe from this poem (canto XXVII):

Mira al poniente a España, y la aspereza de la antigua Vizcaya, de do es cierto que depente y procede la nobleza por todo lo que vemos descubierto; ves a Bermeo cercado de maleza cabeza de Vizcaya, y sobre el puerto los anchos muros del solar de Ercilla, solar antes fundado que la Villa.

This epic poem is an example of the perfection then achieved by the Spanish language. In La Araucana, we can find all the Renaissance clichés, but moving away from traditional rhetoric and assimilating all this into the uniqueness of the Spanish mentality. Alonso de Ercilla achieved a harmonious combination of educated Europeanism, American primitivism and Spanish grandeur. He died in December 1954.