Last modified: 2016-04-25 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-mu-az.gif)
Flag of Alguazas - Image by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2015
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The municipality of Alguazas (9,593 inhabitants in 2014; 2,374 ha; municipal website) is located in the center of the Region of Murcia, 20 km of Murcia. The municipality is made of the town of Alguazas and of the villages of El Paraje (393 inh.), Huerta de Arriba (283 inh.) and Las Pullas (132 inh.).
Alguazas is named for an Arabic toponym, Aluazta/Alhuasta, meaning "in
the middle". The town is indeed located between rivers Mula and Segura.
In the last years of the Moorish rule, Alguazas belonged to Dame Al-Horra, the wife of Vizier Abubacre Abenhuaddah. After the Christian
reconquest, King Alfonso X the Wise transferred the town to his wife,
Violante. Several queens further stayed in the town: Constance - the
wife of James II of Aragón -, María de Molina - the mother of Sancho IV of Castile -, and, more briefly, Infante Constance of Portugal.
Peñaranda, Bishop of Cartagena (1327-1349), fortified the castle of Alguazas, which served as the headquarters of the church in the Kingdom of Murcia; the castle was used as a shelter by the bishops, as a jail, and as the base of raids targeting the neighbouring towns. Several war acts, including a raid led by Chico, King of Granada, who seized and burned down the castle, caused the depopulation of the area.
Alguazas was re-settled by Mudéjars, who eventually converted to the
Christian religion in 1501, so that the town was granted municipal
status. After a flood by river Segura in 1528, the town was
transferred to its modern location. Alguazas was granted by Philip II
to Gaspar de Pina, but the transfer was cancelled since the buyer had
attempted to forge the sale; the town was eventually sold to Alonso de
Tenza Pacheco, Regidor of Murcia.
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2015
The flag (photo, photo, photo) and arms of Alguazas are prescribed by a Decree adopted of 5 June 1987 by the Government of the Region of Murcia and published on 24 June 1987 in the official gazette of the Region of Murcia, No. 142, p. 2,615 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Tierced horizontally, double in the middle. The upper stripe red, the central stripe celestial blue, and the lower stripe flag green, the central strip being twice wider than the other ones. The blue stripe charged with the coat of arms of the town.
Coat of arms: Shield in Spanish style. Quarterly, 1. Vert a tower or masoned sable port and windows gules on waves argent and azure, 2. Azure two eight-pointed stars or a bend vert fimbriated or charged with a cotice gules fimbriated or, 3. Azure a two-handed vase argent two lilies of the same, 4. Vert a mitre and a crozier all or. A bordure or with the motto "HONRAD Y ENNOBLECIDA" in letters sable. The shield surmounted with a lord's coronet.
The symbols were designed by Luis Lisón Hernández.
The Royal Academy of History recommended to simplify the coat of arms,
as "Per fess, 1. Vert a tower or on waves argent and azure, 2. Azure a
bend vert fimbriated or charged with a cotice gules fimbriated or. A
bordure or with the motto 'HONRAD Y ENNOBLECIDA' in letters sable. The
shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed."
The Academy validated the proposed flag.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1987, 184, 2: 391]
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2015