Castle of Irulegi: A Medieval Fortress of the Kingdom of Navarre
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Iron Age, Medieval
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Navarre
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page12 sections
History
The Castle of Irulegi is a medieval fortress in Spain, built under the Kingdom of Pamplona and later associated with the Kingdom of Navarre during the late twelfth century. It occupied the summit of Mount Irulegi to defend Noáin, oversee the Pamplona Basin, and watch the route from Idoate toward Izagaondoa. Its keepers maintained the fortress, collected taxes, and monitored movement toward the Navarrese capital.
Early defensive role
The exact date of construction is uncertain, although the castle is documented from the late twelfth century and an early written mention is dated to 1276. Legends place a defensive complex on the summit during the eleventh-century raids of Almanzor, but this earlier phase remains uncertain. The fortress may have formed part of the early defensive system of the Kingdom of Pamplona, monitoring movement across the region. Its military importance declined as the kingdom expanded, although such strongholds could regain strategic value during wartime.
In 1371, the merino of Sangüesa, a royal administrative official, was ordered to establish whether the castle’s governor, Gonzalo Ruiz de Eransus, lived there with his family. The inspection took place in August 1374. By 1378, the permanent force had been reduced to five foot soldiers. During the civil conflict between the Agramontese and Beaumontese factions, the Count of Lerín was described as the castle’s owner, while the Beaumontese Juan Mearin served as governor toward the end of the fourteenth century. Control of Irulegi gave the Beaumontese command of the Pamplona Basin.
Artillery, conflict, and dismantling
A modernization in 1416 strengthened the fortress against artillery. A triangular addition placed in front of the keep produced the distinctive pentagonal, prow-shaped tower, while the enclosure was organized with corner towers. Later records concern the upkeep and provisioning of the stronghold.
The castle was dismantled during the efforts of the Navarrese rulers to end the civil conflict that had troubled Navarre for almost five decades. Part of it had already been demolished by 1492. In September 1494, Queen Catherine of Foix and her husband, King John III of Navarre, ordered further destruction to prevent people aligned with Castile from holding a strategically positioned possession near the capital. A commission involving Juan de Garro and Captain Remonet carried out the work later that year, and Johan de Méharin also received the royal order.
The keep, walls, corner towers, entrance gate, battlements, and other defensive elements were demolished, while the cistern was filled. The main tower may have continued as a residence for a time, but the fortress was eventually destroyed through prolonged deterioration and the lack of resources needed to adapt it. The dismantling also caused irregular layers of deposited material, limiting the survival of some unusual archaeological evidence.
Excavation and the earlier settlement
The Aranzadi Society of Sciences investigated the castle between 2007 and 2017, excavating almost the entire fortress and comparing its layered deposits with absolute dates. The remains survived in good condition because the terrain was not substantially altered after the destruction. Restoration and reconstruction, carried out through cooperation between the Aranguren municipal authority, Aranzadi, the Government of Navarre, local residents, and the Larrazkoa association, was completed in 2017.
The first archaeological intervention in 2007 also revealed an Iron Age settlement beneath the medieval complex and the open ground before it. Magnetic and electrical surveys in 2007 and 2008 confirmed the earlier occupation below the castle. Detailed excavation and study continued from 2018 under the direction of Mattin Aiestaran. The settlement represents a broad, possibly discontinuous sequence from the Late Bronze Age through the later and final phases of the Iron Age, in territory attributed by classical writers to the Vascones, an ancient people of the western Pyrenean and upper Ebro regions.
The final excavated phase belongs to the first quarter of the first century BC. Radiocarbon dates and recovered materials connect its end with a fire and abandonment during the Sertorian Wars, a first-century BC Roman civil conflict in Hispania involving the forces of Quintus Sertorius. Javier Armendáriz has proposed that this settlement was the original nucleus of Pamplona, although that identification remains an interpretation rather than an established fact.
Excavation of the final settlement phase took place from 2020 to 2022. The bronze Irulegi Hand was found on 18 June 2021 beneath adobe from collapsed house walls by archaeologist Leire Malkorra. During cleaning and restoration on 18 January 2022, Carmen Usúa revealed incised marks and dots on the object. The Government of Navarre announced the discovery on 14 November 2022. Javier Velaza and Joaquín Gorrochategui studied the signs, identifying the first word as SORIONEKU, related to the modern Basque word zorioneko, meaning “fortunate.” The inscription is regarded as the earliest known written trace of the Vasconic language and a Vasconic signary, and it has strongly influenced research into the history of Basque.
Remains
The medieval fortress occupies the summit of Mount Irulegi, also known as the Laquidáin crag, at 893 metres in Laquidáin, within the Aranguren Valley. The summit lies in the Pre-Pyrenean zone between the Pyrenees and the Ebro River, at the eastern edge of the Pamplona Basin. The surviving complex combines a rectangular enclosure, a prominent pentagonal keep, outer defensive works, internal rooms, paved areas, and a rock-cut cistern. The Iron Age settlement extends across the castle area and the open ground in front of it.
Medieval fortress
Keep and enclosing walls
The pentagonal, prow-shaped keep is the fortress’s most distinctive feature and has been described as unique among Navarrese castles. It stood against the defensive wall on the central-right part of the southern side. Its walls average about 2 metres in thickness. Surviving masonry rises more than 3 metres from the base and exceeds 4 metres on one side. The rectangular enclosing wall measured approximately 136 metres around its perimeter and enclosed about 569 square metres. Cylindrical towers occupied its corners, with an additional central tower on the southern side beside the keep.
Entrances and outer defenses
The southern wall is the best-preserved section and retains evidence of repeated maintenance during the fortress’s active life. It included a small gate. The northern side bordered a cliff and was easier to defend, while the principal entrance stood on the northwestern side toward the west. Its remains include a large opening, worn steps, and a paved area of approximately 9.6 square metres interpreted as a vestibule or entrance room. The door pivot was made from a single ashlar block measuring 36 by 39 by 40 centimetres, with a socket 22 centimetres in diameter.
A low outer wall, or forewall, formed a secondary defensive barrier outside the main enclosure. Built from two courses of small masonry laid directly on natural rock, it created a passage about 3 metres wide and approximately 27 metres long along the eastern and southern sides of the fortress.
Interior rooms and cistern
Three rooms were attached in parallel to the northern section of the enclosure wall. Because they overlay paving, they date from the beginning of the fifteenth century. One rectangular room covered about 14 square metres and followed the curved form of a minor or corner tower. It is interpreted as a chapel and contains evidence of several construction and occupation phases. Beside it was an L-shaped enclosure running first alongside the southern wall and then beside the western wall. Eight square metres of this space had been excavated. In the northwestern area, a step led to the circular northwestern tower between the wall and the entrance vestibule. The room’s southern extent is unknown, although it may have covered about 11 square metres.
The northeastern part of the enclosure contained paving made from two levels of locally quarried sandstone slabs. The courtyard, or parade ground, was also paved and covered approximately 42 square metres. The cistern was cut directly into the natural rock. It had a quadrangular plan measuring 3.85 by 4.25 metres, a height varying from 3.05 to 3.50 metres, and an estimated capacity of about 54,000 litres. It probably had a vaulted cover before being filled during the dismantling of the castle.
Iron Age settlement and Irulegi Hand
Settlement remains
The Iron Age settlement extended across the ground later occupied by the castle and its open forecourt. Its enclosing wall and subsurface structures survive, with the latter in good condition. The final excavated phase covered 370 square metres and included two houses with a combined area of 70 square metres, together with part of a principal roadway approximately 4 metres wide. This occupation ended in fire and abandonment during the Sertorian Wars.
The bronze hand
The Irulegi Hand is a right hand with outstretched fingers, cut from a sheet of bronze. It is approximately 14.5 centimetres long, 143.1 millimetres high, 127.9 millimetres wide, and 1.09 millimetres thick, with a weight of 35.9 grams. Its patina contains 53.19 percent tin, 40.87 percent copper, and 2.16 percent lead. The palm is smooth, while the reverse shows fingernails, with the nails of the ring, middle, and index fingers not preserved.
Forty signs are arranged in four lines on the reverse. A 6.51-millimetre hole near the wrist allowed the object to be fixed to a wooden surface. The hand is interpreted as a ritual inscription associated with good fortune and placed at the entrance of a dwelling. Its text combines preliminary cuts made with a pointed instrument and a later dotted engraving technique, a combination described as unknown in the ancient epigraphy of the Western world. The signary was derived from the Iberian writing system and adapted with signs for sounds not represented in Iberian.
Nearby sites
