During the 1st millennium CE, under Roman influence, the region now encompassing Labourd, Lower Navarre, and Soule underwent its initial organizational evolution toward greater democracy.

The most unique of these assemblies, due to the exclusion of the nobility and clergy from decision-making bodies, was the Biltzar [fr] of Labourd, in comparison to the Souletin Cour d'ordre and the General Estates of Lower Navarre.

The institutions of the three provinces managed, to varying degrees, to preserve part of their privileges until the Revolution; these privileges were regularly renewed through royal letters patent from various suzerains to account for the region's economic poverty, the military devastation caused by repeated Spanish incursions, the maintenance of a significant local militia, and the demonstrated loyalty of the civilian populations to the reigning Crown through their armed mobilization in defense of the borders.

Until the end, Lower Navarre maintained and defended a special status as a frontier kingdom, which was acknowledged at the beginning of each new reign by a respectful and protective oath from the new French suzerain.

Despite strong opposition, unanimously shared by the three estates [fr] — the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners — the local institutions of the three provinces were definitively replaced by the rules established by the night of August 4, 1789.

[ME 1] In the Basque Country, the house (la maison) held, until the Revolution, a familial and legal status that had significant consequences on rural society's economic and political organization.

[EG1 1] The Tarbelles, a proto-Basque Aquitanian people, occupied a territory in the 1st century BC that stretches from the south of the Landes to the present-day French Basque Country, from Chalosse to the valleys of the Adour, and from the rivers of Pau and Oloron.

[ME 2] In the Late Empire, centralization undermined administrative organization: the emperor selected the curator who governed the city, relying on a network of imperial officials [fr] and lucrative positions, also known as prébendes.

[ME 3] The Pierre d'Hasparren,[3] discovered in 1660 and composed of five dactylic hexameters without elisions, which likely adorned the façade of a votive altar, serves as a testament to these changes: Flamen item dumuir quaestor pagiq.

magisterVerus ad Augustum legato munere functuspro novem optinuit populis seiungere GallosUrbe redux genio pagi hanc dedicat aram.Flamine and also duumvir, quaestor and master of the pagusVerus, having fulfilled his mission to Augustus,obtained the separation of the nine peoples from the Gauls;on his return from the city (of Rome), he dedicated this altar to the genius of the pagus.In 587, the date of the signing of the Treaty of Andelot, Lapurdum governed an enclave that included Labourd, and probably also the valleys of Baïgorry [fr], Cize, Ossès, and Arberoue [fr],[ME 3] though the institutions of this region are unknown.

In Labourd, the viscounty, seemingly created by Sancho III of Navarre, known as "the Great," between 1021 and 1023, holds direct administrative and judicial powers, while its subjects are consulted on certain matters.

On February 25, 1782, a deed of notoriety issued by the Chamber of Accounts of Pamplona further confirmed the allodial nature of the lands of both Navarre, whose people and inhabitants have absolute ownership [...].

[EG2 5] William I succeeded him in 1040 but was forced to seek refuge with Étienne de Mauléon, Bishop of Oloron, following an invasion by the Béarnais in retaliation for the assassination of Centulle IV of Béarn by the Souletins in 1058.

In 1307, following arbitration by Philip the Fair and Pope Clement V,[EG2 6] the English Crown regained control of Soule, replacing the viscount with a "captain-castellan" based in Mauléon, under the authority of the Seneschal of Gascony.

[EG2 8] Unlike its neighbors, the medieval viscount in Soule held sovereign authority over his entire fief and resided in the Mauléon [fr] castle for over two centuries, where he presided over a court of justice.

[EG2 10] Notwithstanding the presence of local fiefs, allodiality — although some lords, such as the Count of Tréville, seize the land, partition it, and lease it for rent — prevails, and the English crown chooses to maintain the social status of the free men of Soule.

A second meeting on July 22 brought together all the owners to settle accounts, distribute costs, and share the profits of the summer grazing (estive) based on the number of animals each contributed.

[ML 3] Étienne Dravasa identified the establishment of Labourd's customary law, registered at the Parliament of Bordeaux on June 8, 1514, as the formalization of freedoms gained by the Labourdins as early as 1106.

[ED 19] Étienne Dravasa, however, posits that the reason lies in the anticlerical sentiment of the Labourd population, who, despite being deeply religious, rejected the temporal and political power of the clergy.

[ML 6] Despite repeated attempts by royal authorities to curtail its power, only the judicial prerogatives of the Biltzar were altered, through the 1660 decree prohibiting it from enacting statutes or ordinances involving imprisonment, banishment, corporal punishment, or financial penalties.

It is also a legislative assembly that may clarify or amend unclear or controversial articles of the 1520 custom, and for this purpose, it sends delegations to the King's Council to obtain validation of the province's privileges.

The nobility includes the ten potestats — gentlemen who are required by their position to fulfill specific duties in exchange for material benefits[Note 23] — as well as all holders of noble properties.

[19] In the 18th century, Labourd lost its prerogatives regarding the maintenance of the road network, which it had previously managed through corvées (forced labor), within the community limits set by the intendant d'Étigny [fr].

[ED 24] Starting in 1694,[20] the syndic convenes, alongside the Biltzar, "without the interference of the obstacles created by centralization," an assembly of notables "the wisest (sic) and most enlightened that the country has honored with its trust."

These meetings take place either in Urrugne, Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, or Bayonne,[ED 25] and gather "former syndics and the most powerful (sic) or best-informed individuals about the interests of the country," as well as the king's prosecutor in Labourd and, if necessary, representatives of the nobility.

On November 30, 1727, under pressure from the nobility, the general syndic Armand d'Hegoburu presented the king with a request for deep reform of the Court of Order, aligning it with the other provincial estates of the Crown.

"[ML 19] Until 1733, the third estate and its leaders continued to show signs of opposition, sometimes violently, which ultimately justified the King's Council ruling of May 20, 1733, which prohibits "the dégans and deputies and anyone else from the land of Soule from holding assemblies, deputations, or levying funds without written permission from the intendant of the province.

"[ML 19] The letters patent issued by Louis XVI on January 21, 1789, organizing the Estates General, included Labourd in an electoral district that also encompasses the sénéchaussées of Bayonne, Dax, and Saint-Sever.

The three delegates, unsurprisingly given the privileges enjoyed by the Labourdins, highlight the administrative independence of the province, which "has its own leaders, assemblies, constitution, and particular laws," not to mention its bailiwick.

[EG2 13] The grievances expressed in the cahiers of the various estates uniformly reject the marks of monarchical power and call for the restoration of the institutions that Labourd knew up until the 15th century,[EG2 14] including the primacy of the Basque language and other national characteristics.