Last modified: 2015-01-17 by ivan sache
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Flag of Peñaranda de Bracamonte - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 February 2014, coat of arms by "Wikivid231" (Wikimedia Commons)
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The municipality of Peñaranda de Bracamonte (6,800 inhabitants in 2012, therefore the 5th most populous municipality in the province; 2,296 ha; municipal website) is located in the northeast of Salamanca Province, 40 km from Salamanca.
Peñaranda de Bracamonte was probably established in the 12th-13th
centuries by colonists coming from Peñaranda de Duero (Burgos
Province). In the 15th century, the village was known as Peñaranda de
Cantaracillo, subsequently changed to Peñaranda del Mercado. The town
took its current name in 1602, when King Philip III granted the title
of Count of Peñaranda to Alonso de Bracamante y Guzmán.
Located at the crossing of transhumance roads, Peñaranda de Bracamonte
was granted a weekly market in 1370 by King John I. The market boosted
the economic development of the town; in the 16th century, the town
was famous for its shoemakers, tailors and couturiers, while it
specialized in the 18th-19th centuries in raw cloth manufacturing.
In the Middle Ages, Peñaranda de Bracamonte belonged to the Land of
Alba; in 1771, the town was listed as part of the "cuarto" of
Valdevilloria, one of the four administrative divisions of the Land of
Salamanca. On Tomás López' map, the town and the neighbouring villages
are included into Ávila Province; all of them were transferred in
1833 to Salamanca Province, Peñaranda de Bracamonte being made the
capital of a judicial district (partido judicial).
The most famous member of the Bracamonte family was Gaspar de
Bracamonte y Guzá‡n, 3rd Count of Peñaranda (1595-1676; biography).
Gaspar de
Bracamonte represented Philip IV at the Peace of Westphalia (1648),
and was President of the Council of the Indies (1653), and Viceroy of
Naples (1659-1664); he established in Peñaranda a Carmelite Convent,
to which it bequeathed most of its artworks collection; the convent is
considered as the most important historical monument in Salamanca
Province. Following the death of the 4th Count of Peñaranda without
legitimate heirs, the town was transferred in 1703 to the Dukes of
Frías.
Peñaranda de Bracamonte was granted the title of ciudad in 1903 by Alfonso XIII. In 1939, a big part of the town was destroyed by the blast of a powder magazine.
Ivan Sache, 19 February 2014
The flag of Peñaranda de Bracamonte (photo, photo, photo, photo) is purple with the municipal coat of arms in the middle.
The coat of arms of Peñaranda de Bracamonte is "Azure five castles or
placed 2, 1 and 2". According to Higinio Orgaz (La Gaceta Regional,
1997-1998), these arms, "used by the municipality for more than 100
years", belongs to a Peñaranda family not related with the town, which
should rather use the arms of Bracamonte.
The design of the coat of arms used by the municipal administration,
and on the flag, does not comply with the standards of modern
municipal heraldry in Castilla y León. The shape of the shield is oval
instead of the Spanish, rectangular and rounded-off in base shape.
Moreover, the shield is placed on a sketchy cartouche and surmounted
by a coronet instead of the Royal Spanish crown.
Ivan Sache, 19 February 2014
