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Villabasta de Valdavia (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Last modified: 2015-01-17 by ivan sache
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Flag of Villabasta de Valdavia - Image by "Valdavia" (Wikimedia Commons), 25 December 2010


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Presentation of Villabasta de Valdavia

The municipality of Villabasta de Valdavia (34 inhabitants in 2009; 1,119 ha; municipal website) is located 70 km from Palencia.

Villabasta de Valdavia is named for the estate (villa) founded by a Mozarab landlord named Abasta, and the neighboring valley of river Abia. In the mid 14th century, Villabasta was a behetría, meaning that the villagers could freely select their lord, here the powerful Juan Rodríguez de Cisneros. In the 18th century, Villabasta was a Royal village (realenga).

Villabasta de Valdavia is the birth place of Father Lucas Espinosa Pérez (1895-1975), an Augustinian priest and philologist. After his studies, Espinosa was sent in 1920 to Iquitos (Peru), where he would stay until 1938; he studied there Tupi dialects, especially Kokama, Kokamilla and Omagua (Los Tupí del Oriente peruano, estudio lingüístico y etnográfico, 1935). Back to Spain, he wrote several contributions to Amazonian linguistic (Contribuciones lingüísticas y etnográficas sobre algunos pueblos indígenas del Amazonas peruano, 1955 and three subsequent volumes, including Breve diccionario analítico Castellano-Tupí).

Ivan Sache, 25 December 2010


Symbols of Villabasta de Valdavia

The flag and arms of Villabasta de Valdavia are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 26 January 2004 by the Municipal Council, signed on 4 February 2004 by the Mayor, and published on 13 February 2004 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 30, p. 2,021 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: With proportions 2:3, cantonned in upper hoist. At fly, red or gules a castle or or yellow port and windows azure or blue. In the hoist canton, the arms of the Mendoza.
Coat of arms: Of Spanish shape. Gules a castle or port and windows azure a canton with the arms of the Mendoza, Dukes of the Infantado: Quarterly per saltire, 1. and 3. Vert a bend gules fimbriated or, 2. and 4. Or the wording "AVE MARÍA". The shield surmounted with the Royal Spanish crown.

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Figueroa (1415/1417-1479), the elder son of Íñigo López de Mendoza, First Marquis of Santillana, was made Duke of the Infantado (full title, "Duque de las Cinco Villas del Estado del Infantado") in 1475; subsequently, the Dukes of the Infantado were made first-rank Grandees of Spain, and were therefore allowed to keep their hat in the presence of the king. Íñigo de Arteaga y Martín (b. 1941) is the 19th Duke of the Infantado.
"Vert a bend gules fimbriated or" are the oldest known arms of Mendoza; these arms were modified several times, but always included a red bend on a green field. The arms quartered per saltire were introduced by the first Marquis of Santillana and appear on a seal dated 1440; the marquis quartered his father's arms (Mendoza) with his mother arms (de la Vega). His descendants were known as Mendoza de Guadalajara or Mendoza de l'Ave María. In the representations of these arms, the first quarter is inscribed with "AVE MARÍA" while the third quarter is inscribed with "PLENA GRATIA" (or, at least "GRATIA").
[After Los poderosos Mendoza, by José Luis García de Paz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid]

Ivan Sache, 25 December 2010