Last modified: 2014-08-02 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: montoito | pile | cross(maltese) | cross(fleury) | cross(avis) |
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It is a fairly typical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on background quartered (town rank) of white and green.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 Dec 2007
The arms are Gules on pile Argent between two Maltese crosses Argent cross fleury Vert. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "MONTOITO".
Meaning:
The town crown was granted because Montoito was a standalone municipality from 1517 to the early 1800-ies. (This is not strictly according to the relevant law but has been the common practice of the heraldry authority.)
"Montoito" seams to mean something like "hill 8", though the actual etymology must be something else. Even so, the pile on the arms may refer the percieved hill. The crosses shown stand for the local historical importance of the warrior-monk orders of Malta (a.k.a. of Rhodes, and of St. John of Jerusalem) and Avis . Though not fully canting, these arms are without any doubt one of the best designed among the more than 4000 civic arms in Portugal, both aesthetically and symbologically.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 Dec 2007
Flag and arms adopted and published in the official journal Diário da República: III Série in 1995.09.21.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 Dec 2007
Montoito Commune is one of the two communes of Redondo municipality (q.v.). It had 1273 inhabitants in 2001 and covers 61,81 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 Dec 2007
back to Redondo Communes click here