Ricardo Cuesta. Muséu del Pueblu d'Asturies 

Around 1431, Constable Don Álvaro de Luna received the King in his palace in Escalona. At a banquet
“…The stewardesses entered with the delicacies, carrying before them many minstrels and trumpets
and tambourinos: and thus the table of the King was served,…”

'FLUTE PLAYERS, TAMBORINOS, XABEBAS AND FIFANS FROM CASTILLA AND FLANDERS AT THE DAWN
OF THE RENAISSANCE' by Ana LOPEZSUERO

1448 meal entertainment for King John II of Castile when he visited Escalona. The meal was presented:
“with many minstrels, trumpets, and tamborinos before them … After the tables were cleared, those
young knights danced with the maidens”

‘Music and Courtly Culture in the Time of the Catholic Monarchs’ by Francisco Parralejo Masa, 2025

In the Navarrese law courts recorded designations for the pipe-and-tabor player were juglar de tamborina,
juglar de tamborín, or simply juglar.

In the 15th century there are records of tamborinos playing in Corpus Christi processions.

Engagements for taborers during the 16th and early 17th centuries were typically for specific, one-off performances.

At this time “the Corpus Christi festival was the occasion that most frequently called for tamborinos
alongside celebrations marking significant events within the royal family. Specifically, the births of princes, royal visits,
and the accession of Philip III prompted towns to hire minstrels or tamborinos, as well as dancers clad in jingle bells
and performing high leaps. The century closes with processions characterized by "abundant music from minstrels
and drums," and featuring the ‘ttun-ttun’ (string drum), as a percussion instrument accompanying the flute.”

1507 is the earliest documentary evidence of a flauta y tambor player in Navarre.

1507 In Tafalla Pedro ‘el Tamboril’ was hired by the town council to liven up the festivities for San Sebastián,
the city's patron saint.

1562 at a baptism in Sunbilla: Thirty or forty guests attended and the godfather brought twenty-one companions
among whom was Bernart de Ozate, "a drummer with his drum and flute."

1585 Irurita:
Many towns and villages had their own taborer. In 1585 Irurita: a large number of residents from the Baztan Valley
gathered to celebrate Easter Sunday with merrymaking, dancing, and rejoicing. Each group brought its own minstrel
—complete with drum and flute—resulting in a gathering of five or six musicians.

A notable lawsuit followed when:
“... to celebrate Easter a large number of residents of the valley gathered in the town of Baztan to relax, dance
and rejoice. Each group brought its minstrel with his pipe and tabor so five or six gathered” in one place. 
A fight broke out, one taborer’s drum was kicked, which triggered a fight between two sides in which
weapons were drawn.

1595 Ordinances of the City of Pamplona stipulated that dances had to end four hours before supper
and could not be held in entryways or vestibules, even in rainy weather; they also mandated that the minstrel
stop playing his instrument the moment he observed any impropriety.

From the mid-17th century onwards the tabor player became a civil servant or public employee on a contract.

18th century: the outset of this century saw a proliferation of condemnations from the Catholic hierarchy
—compounded by doctrinal missions led by Jesuits, Carmelites, and Franciscans—driven by an obsession
with the supposedly corrupting influence of ‘tamboril’ dancing. Punishments for those who violated standards
of propriety and decency included the tamboril player:
"if, after being warned, he plays that tune—or the rapid, frenetic passages used to conclude the dance—he shall
be immediately thrown into jail, where he will learn to play calmly rather than sounding the alarm."

In 1716 public dancing started to be regulated: it was prohibited during religious services and after nightfall.
The tamborilero could be punished with both fines and jail time.

However musicians, including taborers, were hired to accompany the city council on official outings to both
religious and secular events, the saint’s procession, and bullfighting festivities. They were also required to
enliven the streets during the morning hours. With the vogue for pastoralism by the aristocracy rural
and folk music and instruments became included in orchestral ensembles.

The desire to organize and control popular festivities led to a degree of standardization of both instruments
and players. So in other parts of Spain there developed “a split into two modes or schools: that of rural
tamborileros (belonging to an oral tradition—generally lacking formal musical training and preserving music
passed down through generations—and that of 'txistularis' in larger towns and cities who were salaried
public employees with musical training who performed music specifically composed for the txistu. However
in Navarre the practice of contracting players for individual performances remained the norm.

19th century municipal bands of txistularis were established. They would become the cornerstone
of the instrument's future.

1816 For the San Fermín festivities taborers from outside the town provided the music, one of them
specifically to accompany the giants.

It was a requirement to obtain prior authorization to hire a taborer for any event from the municiple authorities. 
This was no trivial matter as unauthorized hiring was severely punished. Also there was still pressure on taborers
to uphold morality and order when they played. By the end of the 19th century, lacking power and supplanted
by bagpipes, brass bands, quintets, and accordions, the txistu no longer captured the attention of young people,
nor did it even provoke the sort of bawdy revelry it once had.

1838 English newspaper music review:London Evening Standard 24 April 1838

1839 English newspaper report on a dance display, Pamplona:Morning Chronicle 28 September 1839

In the Navarrese pre-Pyrenean valleys—characterized by very small settlements—it can be said that the txistu
remained the dominant instrument for patron saint festivals until the second decade of the twentieth century.
It was subsequently replaced by the bagpipe, the accordion, or brass quintets. Up until this time family dynasties
have been numerous in the history of the Basque txistu.

1918, the Society of Basque Studies (Eusko Ikaskuntza) was established. In 1922 the Society’s conference
included a recommendation to provincial councils: they should gift txistus to individuals who could derive some
artistic value from them. In the 1930's they were provided only to organizations and to areas where the art of
playing the instrument had died out.

The Civil War brought txistulari activity to a halt, and the instrument was even suppressed. A revival started in 1953.

1942 the txistulari band system was set up.

1960 the Pamplona City Council promoted txistu instruction at the Municipal Music Academy.

A very detailed history, from which the above extracts were taken, see:
'Notebooks of Ethnology and Ethnography of Navarre - El txistu y el tamboril en Navarra' by Mikel Aranburu Urtasun, 2012 here