Last modified: 2016-05-12 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: macedo de cavaleiros | bordure | snowflake | chestnut |
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![[Macedo de Cavaleiros commune]](../images/p/pt-mcd.gif)
2:3 image by Sérgio Horta, 3 Apr 2016
It is a quite typical Portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a field gyronny of eight of green and yellow.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 1 Apr 2016
![[Macedo de Cavaleiros commune CoA]](../images/p/pt-mcd).gif)
image by Sérgio Horta, 3 Apr 2016
The shield is Argent, a chestnut twig fruited Or and leaved Vert and on a a bordure Sable nine spur wheels Argent. Mural crown Argent with five visible towers (city rank) (town rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "MACEDO DE CAVALEIROS".
Meaning:
"Cavaleiros" means "Horsemen’" —. The spur wheels might be alluding to those horsemen and thus might be a canting element. On the other hand, this town lies indeed in a region where chestnut trees are grown in great numbers, and where you can have as much snow as possible in Portugal. Both charges (snow flakes and chestnuts) and disposition (bordure) are almost unique in Portuguese municipal heraldry (no idea about communal heraldry, though).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 6 Sep 2003 and Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 may 2016
![[Macedo de Cavaleiros commune 1935]](../images/p/pt-mcd4.gif)
2:3 image by Sérgio Horta, 1 Apr 2016
It was a quite typical Portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a background quarterly of yellow and green. Both flags, old and new, have the same colours, but note that the post-1999 law orders the colours of the flag as green and yellow (gyronny), while the 1935 law had yellow and green (quarterly). The way to represent this is the vexillologist's way, with the colours ordered as they appear, from top to bottom, along the hoist. The order of enunciation of the colours for the tassels and cord remains unchanged.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 1 Apr 2016
![[Macedo de Cavaleiros commune CoA 1935]](../images/p/pt-mcd4).gif)
image by Sérgio Horta, 1 Apr 2016
The former arms had been similar with a mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "VILA DE MACEDO DE CAVALEIROS". One non-trivial change was the position of the central element, even though the blazon is identically worded: The new arms show the trunk of the twig pointing upwards (hanging twig), while the previous version had it pointing downwards (standing twig). I presume, this was a kind of heraldic correction, dully applied to the image upon change, and based on the implicit orientation of such a charge.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 6 Sep 2003 / 1 Apr 2016
On 11 November 1999, Macedo de Cavaleiros was officially upgraded from town to city status, that happened in an date that neither me or Sérgio Horta could find out yet (nor the municipal website informs about), but modified flags might have existed immediately after the upgrade, even if the changes in the symbols were officialized long after, old flag and arms had been published in the official journal Diário do Governo: I Série on 27 April 1935
António Martins-Tuválkin, 1 Apr 2016
Macedo de Cavaleiros municipality had 17 432 inhabitants in 2000 (18 590 in 1990), and it is divided in 38 communes, covering 698 km2. It belongs to the Bragança District and to the old province of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 6 Sep 2003
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