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Last modified: 2016-05-31 by ivan sache
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Flag of Villanueva del Rey - Image from the Símbolos de Córdoba website, 23 September 2015
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The municipality of Villanueva del Rey (1,134 inhabitants in 2013; 21,579 ha; municipal website) is located in the center of the valley of Guadiato, 70 km north-west of Córdoba.
Villanueva probably emerged after the conquest of Córdoba by King Ferdinand III the Saint (1236). The original settlement was located in a place called Villar de Dos Hermanos, established around the Dos Hermanos estate, which must have succeeded a Muslim farm. Located 4 km north-east of the today's village, the settlement was inhabited until the second half of the 14th century.
Villanueva was granted the title of villa in 1320 by Alfonso XI, with jurisdiction over Espiel and Navas del Serrano. Espiel was granted the title of villa on 10 July 1545 by Charles I, but the two villages decided to keep the territory undivided and managed it jointly. The delimitation and exploitation of the proper territory of Villafranca, Espiel and Navas was a bone of contention and the source of several court cases.
Transferred in 1656 by Philip IV to Pedro Gómez de Cárdenas, the village was renamed Villanueva de Cárdenas. Philip IV eventually erected in 1656 the Viscounty of Villafranca for Pedro Gómez de Cárdenas; Philip V upgraded it in 1711 to a County. Navas del Serrano was granted the title of villa on 28 November 1775 by Charles III and renamed Villaviciosa de Córdoba. The territorial dispute between the three villages was eventually settled on 17 August 1778 by the Pajarejos Concord. Article 5 of the Concord clearly suppressed the undivided status of the territory.
The feudal domain of Villanueva de Cárdenas was suppressed on 6 August 1811 by the Cortes of Cádiz, which allowed the restoration of the former name of the village, Villafranca del Rey. The territorial dispute between Villanueva and Espiel re-emerged in the 1960-1970s; the Supreme Court settled the case on 13 April 1976, partially fulfilling Villanueva's claims: the municipal territory was increased from 14,279 ha to 21,579 ha. The actual delimitation of the two municipal territories was achieved on 19 April 1977, which ended a long dispute that had started more than three centuries before.
Ivan Sache, 23 September 2015
The flag of Villanueva del Rey, adopted on 16 May 1990 by the Municipal Council and approved on 14 June 1991 by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed by Decree No. 191, adopted on 15 October 1991 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 3 December 1991 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 106, p. 9,725 (text). This was confirmed by a Resolution adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular panel, horizontally divided into three parts of equal width, the upper ochre red, the central white, and the lower yellow. In the center is placed the municipal coat of arms
The coat of arms of Villanueva del Rey, adopted on 25 March 1986 by the Municipal Council and approved by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed by Decree No. 187, adopted on 26 August 1987 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 315 September 1987 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 78, p. 4,522 (text). This was confirmed by a Resolution adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1a. Azure five houses argent placed on three rows, 1b. Vert a bunch of grapes or, 2. Or two wolves sable in pale. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown closed.
The coat of arms in use (municipal website) is surmounted by a Royal crown open, instead of the prescribed crown closed.
The houses and the grapes recall two of the four known names of the places, Lugar de Casillas (The Huts' Place) and Villanueva de las Viñas (Villanueva of the Grapevines), respectively. The wolves come from the arms of Cárdenas, lords of the village, then named Villanueva de Cárdenas, since the 17th century.
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía. Córdoba (PDF file)]
Ivan Sache, 23 September 2015
