Last modified: 2009-01-24 by eugene ipavec
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El Real Cortijo de San Isidro (518 inhabitants; 1,126 ha), a former Royal estate (cortijo) was made a "minor local entity" by Decree on 23 August 1957. The village is administratively part of the Municipality of Aranjuez (49,920 inh.), but has its own Village Council.
On 14 July 2008, the Village Council approved a flag and a coat of arms and commissioned a specialist in urbanism to increase its competency on that matter.
These decisions were considered as "independentist" and caused the wrath of the Municipal Council of Aranjuez, that claimed that the Village Council legally had no competency on these matters. A formal complaint against the Mayor of El Real Cortijo de San Isidro for "corrupt practices" has been logged at the Madrid Community, which should be assessed in September 2008.
None of the sources I have consulted gives details on the symbols of El Real Cortijo de San Isidro, unfortunately.
(Not so oddly enough, the main source of anger does not seem to be the adoption of local symbols but the urbanism question. Knowing that El Real Cortjijo de San Isidro, an agricultural village, is located only 6 km from the town of Aranjuez, I understand that the "urbanistic independence" claimed by the village probably does not match the urbanization plans of Aranajuez.)
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 24 Aug 2008
The village of Valdesimonte is part of the municipality of Cantalejo, located 50 km north-east of Segovia.
Valdesimonte was mentioned for the first time, as Valle de Simeon in a document dated 13 August 1192, in which King of Castile and Toledo Alfonso VIII (1155-1214, crowned in 1158) confirmed the rights of the monastery of Santo Tomé del Puerto on several villages in the region. The rights of the monastery were further by Fernando III (1199-1252), King of Castile in 1271 and of Léon in 1230. On 2 August 1424, Pedro Fernandez, Vicar of Sepúlveda, transferred several villages, including Valdesimonte, to the municipal administration of Sepúlveda.
The historiana and chronicler Diego de Colmenares (1586-1651) served as the parish priest in Valdesimonte from 1611 to 1617. He has remained famous for his Historia de la insigne Ciudad de Segovia y compendio de las historias de Castilla (History of the famous Town of Segovia and compendium of the history of Castile), which he published in 1637 after 14 years of work; Colmenares' history of Segovia covers the time period between the Deluge and 7 November 162, including the foundation of Spain (as Hispania) by patriarch Tubal (the son of Japhet and grandson of Noah) and of Segovia by Hercules.
Sources:
To preserve its identity in spite of the merging into the municipality of Cantalejo, the village of Valdesimonte decided to a adopt a flag and a coat of arms. The symbols of the village were unveiled on 19 July 2008 and blessed during a mass. Afterwards, the village mayor, Ángel Benito, explained the meaning of the symbols, which were designed by the heraldist and vexillologist Vicente Tocino and the historian Juan Cuéllar. The shield is argent with, in chief, a 12- pointed star azure, representing the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption, the patron saint of the town, in base, a fountain gules, representing the Fountain of the Commons, dexter, a pine vert, and sinister, an oak vert, the two trees representing the village's territory. The flag is bordered with 12 white stars on a blue field surrounding the two tress from the coat of arms on a white field. Following the ceremony, the villagers were invited to enjoy a paella prepared by the mayor himself.
The story was reported on 23 July 2008 in "El Norte," with a colour photography of the mayor and the parish priest presenting the coat of arms in the church, but, alas, no image of the flag. From the above description, I guess that the flag is white with a blue border charged with 12 white stars and the two trees in the middle. Neither image nor aroma of the paella, either :-)
(Yet another example of wise adoption process of a symbols, involving specialists but also concerned citizens.)
Source: El Norte, 23 Jul 2008
Ivan Sache, 23 Jul 2008
![[Smaller Local Entity of Vegaviana (Extremadura, Spain)]](../images/e/es-ex-vv.gif)
2:3
image by Ivan Sache, 21 Feb 2007
The "entidad local menor" (smaller local entity; 959 inhabitants) of Vegaviana, located in Extremadura and currently in the process of seceding from Moraleja, has officially adopted a flag and a coat of arms, reports M. Pascual in "El Periódico Extremadura."
The designs of the symbols of the village were presented in August 2005 for the celebrationb of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the village, and have been recently adopted by the competent authority, El Consejo Asesor de Honores y Distinciones de la Dirección General de Administración Local.
The flag is horizontally divided into five red-white-red-white-red stripes. According to the picture of the flag presented by the Mayor shown on the source, the white stripes are thinner than the red and green stripes. Juan Caro, Mayor of Vegaviana, explained the colours as green for irrigation, orange red for the roof tiles and white for lime, which was at the origin of the foundation of the village. The image on the source is too small to see the exact shade of red, and I have kept a standard red on my image.
The coat of arms has a green field and is divided per bend by seven white houses with a red roof; in chief a cork oak or on sinister and a lion rampant of the same; in point; three wavy bends argent. The shield is surmounted by a Royal crown. According to Caro, the lion was taken from the coat of arms of the mother municipality of Moraleja.
Source: El Periódico Extremadura, 4 April 2006
Ivan Sache, 21 Feb 2007
Villoslada (119 inhabitants, aka Villoslada de la Trinidad) is a "minor entity" of the municipality of Santa María la Real de Nieva, Province of Segovia. The main monument of Villoslada is the single- naved church of St. Michael of Párraces, built in Romanesque style in the 13th century.
Source: Municipal website
On 4 December 2008, "El Norte" reports the adoption of the flag and arms of Villoslada. A public competition for the village symbols was launched on 27 September 2007. The winning proposal, designed by the villager Víctor Manuel Sastre Jiménez, was forwarded to Alfonso Ceballos-Escalera Gila, Herald of Arms of Castile and Leon, who suggested modifications to match the rules of vexillology and heraldry.
On 20 October 2008, following reception of the last comments by the Herald of Arms, the Village Council definitively approved the flag and arms of the village.
The flag and arms will be officially unveiled on 6 December 2008, the day of the village patron saint, St. Nicholas of Bari.
Source: El Norte, 04 Dec 2008
Ivan Sache, 07 Dec 2008
"El Adelantado" reports the official presentation of the symbols of Villoslada: the flag is with proportions 2:3, crimson red and charged in the middle with the municipal coat of arms.
The coat of arms is "Per fess, 1a. Azure a shepherd's staff ("garrota") and a sling ("banda") argent from which holds a shepherd's bag ("zurrón") of the same, 1b. Gules a two-storey aqueduct argent masoned sable on ten rocks of the same, 2. Vert the St. Michael of Párraces or flanked by wheat spikes of the same."
The first quarter is a tribute to the founders of the village, founded in 1088 by emigrants from Villoslada de Camaros, then part of the Kingdom of Navarra and today part of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja. The crossed shepherd's staff and bag have been borrowed to the coat of arms of Villoslada de Camaros*.
The second quarter recalls that Villoslada belonged to the Community of the Town and Land of Segovia, as the capital of the "sexmo" (administrative division made of several villages) of La trinidad. The aquaduct was borrowed from the coat of arms of Segovia. The third quarter represents Villoslada proper, with the St. Michael of Párraces hermitage and the wheat spikes symbolizing agriculture. The shield is surmonted by a Spanish Royal crown.
Source: El Adelanto, showing a colour drawing of the coat of arms, but not the flag
Footnotes:
Ivan Sache, 08 Dec 2008