The burning Balmaseda
The burning of the French
The town of Balmaseda, faithful to its customs and traditions, makes use of history to commemorate one of its many past events: the celebration of the burning of this Village by Napoleon’s troops during the War of Independence, on 8 November 1808, with a popular representation of the events.
The uprising against the French in Madrid on 2 May 1808 marked the beginning of the War of Independence. This event was also echoed in Balmaseda. Initially, here as in the whole of the SeñorÃo de Bizkaia, opposition to the French was belated. After the uprising in Bilbao was quickly suppressed, the Provincial Council began to send circulars to the neighbouring towns encouraging them to cooperate in the uprising.
The village became a transit point for the armies of both sides, with cross attacks and costly supplies and burdens for the people of Balmaseda.
In this advance and retreat of the troops through our area, in the period from October to November, it is worth mentioning the battle that took place on 5 November, which was a major setback for the French, under the command of %22Villate%22, who lost a cannon, ammunition wagons and a great deal of baggage in their retreat.
These attacks reached Napoleon, who was in Bayonne, so he sent Lefévre with more troops from Bilbao to pursue Blake and Marshal Victor from Orduña and Amurrio against Balmaseda.
On 7th November, the French took the direction of Balmaseda, through the Cadagua Valley, with the Divisions of Sebastiani on the left, Villate on the right and Leval in the centre.
Due to French superiority, the Blake troops retreated in an orderly fashion along the Balmaseda road to Nava de Ordunte, leaving a rearguard to cover the withdrawal.
On the rainy day of 8th November 1808, the French troops with the Villate, Sebastiani and Leval Divisions occupied the Village, while Marshal Victor reached Orrantia, forcing the Spaniards to retreat towards Nava and the rearguard that remained in Balmaseda retreated in the direction of Santander.
Perhaps upset by the battles they had lost a few days earlier, either as a punishment for not having been supported by the town or because it had been abandoned to its fate, the soldiers of General Chassé’s Brigade set fire to Balmaseda as an example for other towns, on 8 November 1808, the greatest known disaster for our town.
