The Carlist Wars period

The Carlist Wars period is anchored in the novel through Infernuko Errota, a remote mill whose wartime purpose joined local survival to the struggle of soldiers who had taken to the hills. The passage offers no precise dates or account of particular battles; instead, it makes the period tangible through the clandestine work of grinding grain and keeping people fed.

Historical Setting

Infernuko Errota was built during the Carlist Wars period. Set over three tree trunks crossing a river and made with wooden walls, it stood in a secluded landscape where reaching it meant following narrow, damp paths. Its construction and isolation frame the mill as a practical refuge within a time of conflict and scarcity.

The Mill and Wartime Survival

The mill was vital to soldiers who had retreated into the hills. During rationing, people from Baztán also travelled there at night with donkeys carrying grain, which they milled clandestinely into flour for their families. The journey demanded effort and risk, but the mill turned hidden labor into a means of survival. Its history gives the period a local, material scale: war is registered not only in armed resistance, but in the covert task of securing food.