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Saceruela (Municipality, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain)

Flag of Saceruela - Image by Ivan Sache, 2 June 2019

Presentation of Saceruela
Symbols of Saceruela

See also:

Presentation of Saceruela

The municipality of Saceruela (577 inhabitants in 2018; 24,728 ha) is located 80 km west of Ciudad Real.

Saceruela is the starting point of the Camino del Sácer, the last part (114 km) of the pilgrimage road connecting Levante to the Guadalupe Royal Monastery (Cáceres). The road was "inaugurated" in 1463 by King Henry IV (r. 1454-1474) and Pedro Girón, Master of the Order of Calatrava (1445-1466), although their detailed itinerary is unknown. At the same time, the king granted the status of villa to Saceruela, which was separated from Piedrabuena.
In the 16th century, Saceruela-born Alonso Rodríguez de Amargo, a priest of the Order of Calatrava who served as Mayor of Toledo in 1570, merged the brotherhoods of the town to form the Order del Sácer, whose task was to run hospices on the Camino and to assist pilgrims who walked through depopulated areas.
[Caminos a Guadalupe]

Ivan Sache, 2 June 2019

Symbols of Saceruela

The flag of Saceruela (photo, photo) is prescribed by an Order issued on 5 November 2004 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 18 November 2004 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 219, p. 18,696 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular panel in proportions 2:3, gironny of eight yellow and black quarters, with the cross of the Order of Calatrava superimposed in the center.

The flag, designed by the Instituto de Heráldica y Vexicologia Borbone, was inaugurated on 12 December 2003 by Infante Alicia of Spain (1917-2017).
[Saceruela blog, 20 February 2010]

The coat of arms of Saceruela is prescribed by Decree No. 813, issued on 12 March 1964 by the Spanish Government and published on 7 April 1964 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 84, pp. 4,350-4,351 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Argent a cross of the Order of Calatrava, 2. Or a chain sable. The shield surmounted by an old royal crown.

The arms were proposed on 10 August 1962 by Ramón José Maldonado y Cocat (1916-1990), as follows:
"The settlement of the present-day's town of Saceruela is much old; it existed as a nucleus in the Roman times and as a hamlet of Piedrabuena after the Christian reconquest, part of the dominion of the glorious Military Order of Calatrava. The town was named for a post, or sacer, erected to indicate the limit with old Oretania, as reported in Hervás y Buendía's Diccionario histórico geográfico, biográfico y bibliográfico de la provincia de Ciudad Real (1890).
Saceruela was granted the title of villa, separating from Piedrabuena, in 1463 by Pedro Girón, Master of the Order of Calatrava, who also granted as 'print' or coat of arms the 'chain' representing the Master's dignity."
[Ramón José Maldonado y Cocat. 1973. Heráldica municipal de la provincia de Ciudad Real. Cuadernos de Estudios Manchegos 4, 84-109]

Ivan Sache, 2 June 2019