Last modified: 2019-09-16 by ivan sache
Keywords: carrión de calatrava |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
![[Flag]](../images/e/es-cr-ci.gif)
Flag of Carrión de Calatrava - Image by Ivan Sache, 10 May 2019
See also:
The municipality of Carrión de Calatrava ((3,080 inhabitants in 2018; 9,577 ha: municipal website) is located 10 km north-east of Ciudad Real.
Carrión de Calatrava has been the site of a fortified castle defending
the crossing of river Guadiana since the oldest times. The fortress was
increased by the Arabs, who named it Qal'at-Rabat, the Success' Castle.
It remained an obstacle to the Reconquest after the seizure of Toledo, which resisted several times to Christian assaults. Alfonso VII
eventually seized the fortress in January 1147. The castle was
transferred on 13 February 1147 to Raimundo, Archbishop of Toledo, who
consecrated the former mosque and dedicated it to the Virgin, and
commissioned in 1150 the Order of the Temple to defend the place.
After Alfonso's death, the Muslim invaded the Campo de Calatrava, prompting the
Order of the Temple to call for King Sancho's help. Local knights led by
Raimundo de Fitero and Friar Diego Velázquez re-settled the fortress and
founded a militia named for it, the Order of Calatrava. From there, they initiated the definitive reconquest of La Mancha. The name of the town
might refer to the origin of the colonists, the valley of river Carrión
(Palencia).
In 1217, the Order abandoned Calatrava la Vieja (Old Calatrava) for another fortress established in the Sierra Morena, Calatrava la Nueva (New Calatrava). This caused the depopulation of the town, whose inhabitants moved to neighboring settlements. The castle was transformed in 1296 into an ordinary commandery, eventually transferred in the late 14th-early 15th centuries to Turrillo. For whatever reason, Turrillo was depopulated in the 15th century, its inhabitants moving to Carrión. The seat of the Commandery of Calatrava la Vieja and Carrión . Carrión was granted the status of villa in 1488, incorporating Turrillo.
Ivan Sache, 10 May 2019
The flag of Carrión de Calatrava (photo, photo, photo, photo), which does not seem to have been officially registered, is white with the municipal coat of arms in the center.
The coat of arms of Carrión de Calatrava is prescribed by Decree No.
3,519, adopted on 14 December 1972 by the Spanish Government and
published on 28 December 1972 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 311,
p. 23,157 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Argent a Cross of Calatrava gules, 2. Gules a castle or masoned sable port and windows azure on a base vert in base waves argent and azure. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The Royal Academy of History approved the proposed arms, which are
supported by "a scholarly report, written by Ramón José Maldonado,
corresponding member of the Academy, which justifies in a very succinct
but expressive manner the proposed organization of the arms".
Carrión de Calatrava, which developed around the castle of Calatrava la
Vieja, has a fairly good emblematic representation, as well as river
Guadiana, a watercourse of significance in the history of the town.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 171:2, 413. 1974]
The arms of Carrión de Calatrava were submitted on 2 February 1972 by
Ramón José Maldonado y Cocat, who had been commissioned on 4 December
1971 by the Municipal Council to design them.
The first quarter features the emblem of the Order of Calatrava. The
second quarter represents the castle of Calatrava la Vieja (Old
Calatrava) standing over green soil and river Guadiana.
[Ramón José Maldonado y Cocat. 1973. Heráldica municipal de la provincia de
Ciudad Real. Cuadernos de Estudios Manchegos 4, 84-109]
Ivan Sache, 10 May 2019
