^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

El Boalo (Municipality, Community of Madrid, Spain)

Flag of El Boalo - Image by Ivan Sache, 1 July 2015

Presentation of El Boalo
Symbols of El Boalo

See also:

Presentation of El Boalo

The municipality of El Boalo (6,982 inhabitants in 2014; 3,959 ha; municipal website) is located in the north-west of the Community of Madrid, 50 km of Madrid. The municipality is made of the towns of El Boalo, Cerceda (2,959 inh.) and Mataelpino (1,702 inh.).

El Boalo was first documented in a serranilla (short poem) written in the 15th century by Íñigo López de Mendoza (1398-1458), 1st Marquis of Santillana. Cerceda and Mataelpino were documented much earlier, being listed in 1208 as part of the Community of the Town and Land of Segovia.
Part of the domain transferred in 1383 by King John I to Pedro González de Mendoza, the three settlements were subsequently granted the status of villa, in 1747 (Cerceda) and 1751 (El Boalo and Mataelpino). In 1752, the Ensenada Cadaster lists El Boalo and Mataelpino as forming a single Council, as did Cerceda, the three settlements belonging to the Duchess of the Infantado.

Ivan Sache, 1 July 2015

Symbols of El Boalo

The flag (photos, photo) and arms of El Boalo are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 9 June 1994 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 7 July 1994 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 159, p. 13 (text) and on 27 July 1994 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 178, p. 24,234 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, divided in three parts by two lines starting from the midpoint of the flag's upper edge and ending in its lower angles. The colours are blue for the lateral parts and white for the central one. In the center is placed the municipal coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Argent per pile inverted azure three crowns countercoloured, 2. Quarterly per saltire, 1. and 4. Vert a bend gules fimbriated or, 2. and 3. Or the motto "AVE MARÍA". The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown.

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, 1 July 2015