Last modified: 2020-04-05 by ivan sache
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Flag of Villarubia de Santiago - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 September 2019
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The municipality of Villarrubia de Santiago (2,582 inhabitants in 2016; 15,500 ha; municipal website) is located on the border with the Community of Madrid, 70 km of Toledo and 30 km east of Aranjuez.
Villarrubia de Santiago was already settled in the Second Age of Iron, as evidenced by the archeological site of El Hoyo de la Serna, where a necropolis excavated in 1994; the graves and the artifacts they yielded indicated that complex funerary rites had been celebrated there.
In 1155, King Alfonso VII (1126-1157) granted to the Mozarab Gonzalo Aguacil the place named Biezma, where a village had developed around the castle of Tormón, named for tormo, "an isolated rock". Biezma and Villoría were transferred in 1173 to Lope de Varea and his wife, Sancha Pérez de Azagra, the daughter of Pedro Ruiz de Azagra, lord of Albarracín. for the sake of re-settlement. Later on, the domain became a Commandery of the Order of Saint James ruled by Sancha and her daughter. Abandoned under Alfonso VII, the castle was suppressed and substituted by a chapel where the Castellar Virgin first appeared.
Of alleged Arab origin, the castle was part of the northern defense line of Toledo, together with the castles of Oreja, Torrique, Alboer and Alharilla. After the reconquest of Toledo, the castle was attacked several times by the Almohads, as reported in details in the Toledo Annals.
Hernán González de Marañón, Master of the Order of Saint James, granted in 1204 a charter founding the Commandery of Villarrubia nearby the older Commandery of Biezma. The Commandery of Villoria, the third Commandery in the neighborhood, was established in 1207, according to the Chronicle of the Order of Saint James, but this might be the year it was chartered.
Soon after the foundation of Villarrubia, Biezma and Villoria were depopulated. Philip II's Relaciones report that the depopulated domains were subsequently acquired by the villagers of Villarrubia.
In the 18th century, 6,000 men supporting the claim of Archduke Charles to the throne of Spain, commanded by the Count of Galloway, were repelled by the villagers of Villarubia entrenched on the Tormón hill, thanks to the intercession of the Castellar Virgin.
Ivan Sache, 13 September 2019
The flag of Villarrubia de Santiago is prescribed by an Order issued on 19 May 2005 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 1 June 2005 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 109, p. 11,236 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, yellow with a blue horizontal stripe, in width 1/5 of the total. In the center the crowned coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Villarrubia de Santiago is prescribed by Decree No. 6 issued on 22 January 1985 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 29 January 1985 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 4, p. 99 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Or a castle azure port and windows gules masoned sable standing on a rock vert and surrounded by two Crosses of Saint James gules. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The arms are supported by a memoir released on 20 March 1982 by José Luis Ruz and Ventura Leblic.
The castle recalls the re-settlement of the area and the old castle of Tormón. The two Crosses of St. James recall the foundation of the town and the merger of the two older Commanderies. The red bordure makes the arms canting for Villarrubia, "red town".
[Historia de Villarrubia de Santiago]
The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed coat of arms, removing the red bordure, and slightly amending their original description.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 181:3, 433. 1984]
Ivan Sache, 13 September 2019