History of cutlers in the Basque Country
Did you know that cutlers have been working in the Basque country since the 13th century?
Bayonne’s master cutlers were affiliated for several centuries with the Faures guild (blacksmiths in Gascon), one of the city’s three most important guilds.
In 1693, they asked for the right to create the cutlers’ guild, which was granted (other sources date this creation to 1712). In the 14th and 15th centuries, Bayonnais cutlers, whose workshops were located in the rue des Faures, had a very high reputation, especially for their penknives and nibs, mentioned in inventories of the nobility (Henri II, Guillaume de Montmorency). In the 17th century, one of them, Pierre de Lesseps, spent fifteen years touring France. But their hour of glory came with the invention of the bayonet in the 16th century, a weapon first known as the “Bayonnais knife”. The fusiliers regiment, under Louis XIV, was the first to be armed with these bayonets. Following a 1696 edict requiring individuals, groups, corporations and towns to declare and register their coats of arms for tax purposes, Bayonne, having failed to comply with any formalities, was granted, by ordinance of February 1700, “the shield of black sable with a bayonet in pale argent, the hilt of gold, the guard of argent, sharpened in point”. The Bayonnais paid 100 livres for the registration of this coat of arms, but never used it.
Maîtres Couteliers Bayonnais :
Bernard de Loubis 1583 Jean Desbarbés 1694 Arnaud Taniet , Charles Videlin and Bernard Dissequis 1712 Jacques Larran 1726 Jacques Lizardie 1731 Baptiste Berlon, Martin Bordenave, the widow Lesbats, Clément Dupuy and Jean Casenave at the end of the 18th century
Couteliers Pays Basques et Béarn
Pascoal d’Andragnes 1627-1702 SAINT JEAN ¨PIED DE PORT Michel d’Andragnes 1655-1700 SAINT JEAN PIED DE PORT Pierre Lalanne 1828-1887 HASPARREN Guillaume Lalanne 1873- ? BAYONNE Isaac Bordabehere ? -1898 SAINT PALAIS
Jean-Pierre Mathieu 1809-1879 HASPARREN Pierre Bourdale 1812-1876 OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn) Jean Deville 1769- ? SAINT JEAN PIED DE PORT Arnaud Lagarde 1799- ? MAULEON LICHARRE Tristan Bidart 1651-1727 BIDART et ISTURITS François Loge 1755-1828 OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn) Pierre Loge 1792-1819 OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn) Jean Dabos 1832- ? SAINT JEAN DE LUZ Jean Labarthe 1815- 1855 SALIES DE BEARN (Béarn) Germain Labarthe ? -1860 SALIES DE BEARN (Béarn) Pierre Dufourcq 1810-1871 ESPELETTE Jean-Louis Dufourcq end of 19th century ESPELETTE
Jean Dufourcq 1846-1909 SAINT JEAN DE LUZ Antoine Lacourtoisie 1674-1744 OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn) Pierre Conte 1841- ? OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn) Pierre Barcuchet 1705-1775 ARAUJUZON (Béarn) Clément, Barthélémy Sassus 1848- ? OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn) Grégoire Etchecoin 1827- ? SAINT JEAN DE LUZ Pierre Beterbide 1804- ? SAINT JEAN PIED DE PORT Baptiste Fonrouge 1828-1873 SAINT JEAN PIED DE PORT Jean Bonne 1820- ? OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn) Pierre Bonne 1826- ? OLORON SAINTE MARIE (Béarn)
Joseph Vignès 1709-1775 ARAUJUZON (Béarn) Master cutler André Dalleas 1823- ? PAU (Béarn) Arnaud de Doxe XIVth century NAVARRENX (Béarn) Pierre Emerycousin XVIIIth century ORTHEZ (Béarn) Phillipe Meric XVIIIth century ORTHEZ (Béarn) Jean d’Arraing XVth century MAULEON LICHARRE Paul Labourdette XVIIIth century ORTHEZ (Béarn) Francisco de Aguerre XVIIth century Irissarry Pierre Bordenave de Garris (Pays Basque), cutler immigrated to Buenos Aires in 1849
