Balmaseda (in Basque and officially, in Spanish: Valmaseda) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country. Balmaseda is the capital city of the comarca of Enkarterri, in western Biscay and serves an important role in the province thanks to its proximity to the capital city of Bilbao and the regions of Cantabria and Castile and León. Etymology Its toponomy probably comes from a union of the Spanish word val (apocope of valle), meaning "valley", and the Basque mahatseta, which means "vineyard", Val-Mahatseta would then mean "valley of vineyards", which would eventually evolve into Valmaseda, currently in use in Spanish, and Balmaseda, following the orthographic rules of the Basque language. History The lands in which Balmaseda is located had been inhabited since centuries before its official foundation, with evidence of ancient pastoral activity. In the eastern end of the municipality there is a Roman milestone which belonged to the Pisorica-Flaviobriga road, which connected the present-day cities of Castro Urdiales and Herrera de Pisuerga. This road is believed to have been in use at least since the 1st Century, as the milestone is dated 238. Even though the town's old bridge could have been built simultaneously, there are not any evidences of its existence until some centuries later. The territory in which today is located Balmaseda belonged to the valley of Mena, part of the Kingdom of Navarre. The Castilians occupied it in 1175, moment when the king handed over the territory to Lope Sánchez de Mena, Lord of Bortedo and kin of the Lord of Biscay. Lope Sánchez founded then the village, probably on the same location of a previous settlement, in one of the banks of the river Kadagua, granting the village the fuero of Logroño. Among the reasons for the foundation of the village were its protected location between mountains and the existence of a commercial road connecting to Castile and Biscay. The village was incorporated to the lands of the Lord of Biscay when the Lord Lope Díaz II de Haro married the daughter of Alfonso IX, thus obtaining the territories of Balmaseda and Orduña. In 1234, Lope confirmed the municipal charter establishing Balmaseda as a town. However, this first union with Biscay would not last much; in 1255 the town was converted back to Castile because of the disputes caused by Diego López III de Haro. In 1274 it was