At the end of the fourteenth century, the Oñacino fighter Beltrán Ibañez de Loyola constructed a tower of ashlar stone in attempt to control the inhabitants of a rich village in the valley of the Iraurgui (now Urola): Azpeitia.
In 1456, a grandson of Beltrán, the elder relative of the Oñacino Juan Pérez de Loyola, challenged the villains of Azpeitia to fight for the supremacy of the area. Shortly afterwards King Henry IV entered Gipuzkoa with the support of the Brotherhood of Gipuzkoa, formed by militias from the villages, and they defeated the capturers of Loyola. They condemned the capturers into exile and dismantled their towers, transforming them into residences. In 1460 the tower was rebuilt and the workers, who were possibly Moorish, built the upper half with bricks and in Mudejar style, with large windows and defensive designs on its corners.
In 1491, Juan’s son, Beltrán Ibáñez de Oñaz, and his wife, María Sánchez de Licona, a native of Ondarroa, had their eighth and last son, Iñigo López de Loyola, who would become Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He went on to work for the Count Major of Castile, Juan Velázquez de Cuellar, and after that he served as the knight of the Duke of Nájera.
On May 20th, 1521 the French and Navarrese troops of the Albrettes besieged Pamplona. Present were the Castilian troops, the Navarrese supporters of Castile and a sampling of Gipuzkoa’s Oñacino troops, which included among its ranks Iñigo. He was stationed on a wall that lacked proper defensive structures when a cannonball passed between his legs, breaking one of them and fracturing the other. Iñigo was seriously injured for three or four days, until the square was surrendered and he was allowed to be transferred to his ancestral home, located in the Urola Valley between Azpeitia and Azkoitia. During his rest, he read books about the life of Christ and had a vision of the Virgin Mary. After this experience, which took place in 1521, he decided to dedicate his life to God. In 1534, after recovering from his wounds, he founded the Society of Jesus by swearing “to serve our Lord, stopping all the things of the world.” After his death, he was beatified in 1609 and canonized in 1622.