Last modified: 2019-08-28 by ivan sache
Keywords: robledillo de la jara |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
![[Flag]](../images/e/es-m-roj.gif)
Flag of Robledillo de la Jara - Image by Ivan Sache, 22 July 2015
See also:
The municipality of Robledillo de la Jara (103 inhabitants in 2014; 2,035 ha; municipal website) is located in the north of the Community of Madrid, 80 km of Madrid.
Robledillo is named for the oaks (robles) that profusely grew in the area. "de la Jara" refers to the feudal division of Cuarto de la Xara, part of the Community of the Town and Land of Buitrago, named for the rockroses (jaras) that profusely grew in the area.
The village might date back to the Roman Empire, as evidenced by a tombstone found in the deserted village of El Villar. Incorporated in 1131 to Buitrago, Robledillo was subsequently transferred to Íñigo López de Orozco, and, eventually, in the 15th century, to the Mendoza family.
The El Villar Dam (45.5 m in height) was erected from 1869 to 1882 on river Lozoya, as part of the dam networks aimed at supplying Madrid with freshwater. The dam was the first of the arch type, presented as a scale model at the 1878 World Fair.
Ivan Sache, 22 July 2015
The flag (photos,
photo) and arms of Robledillo de la Jara are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 7 December 1995 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 22 December 1995 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 304, p. 5 (text), and on 25 January 1996 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 22, pp. 2,495 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: In proportions 2:3, red with a green stripe along the hoist and the fly, in the center the municipal coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Or an oak eradicated vert surrounded by five flowers of rockrose proper [argent], 2. The arms of the Mendoza family. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown.
The Royal Academy of History suggested some modifications to the proposed coat of arms. The joint use of an oak [roble] and a rockrose [jara] forms an acceptable allusion to the name of the municipality; the other quarter features the arms of the Dukes of the Infantado, using the well-known quartering of Mendoza and Vega per saltire. The Academy rejected the division per fess of the shield, deemed inadequate because of the vertical development of the tree and the rockrose that surmounts the tree. Using a per pale division would be more preferable to represent this quarter; similarly, the arms of Mendoza do not fit well the landscape format imposed by the per fess division. The motto shall not be suppressed form the arms of Vega; moreover, the circumlocution originally used to described the rockrose is improper.
The Academy validated the proposed flags, stating that the width of the green stripes was not specified.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1997, 194, 1: 194]
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 wear
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; subsequently modified several times, the arms 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's 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").
[José Luis García de Paz (UAM), Los poderosos Mendoza]
Ivan Sache, 22 July 2015
