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Flag of Almonacid de Zorita - Image by Ivan Sache, 6 September 2019
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The municipality of Almonacid de Zorita (720 inhabitants in 2018; 4,190 ha; municipal website) is located 70 km south-east of Guadalajara.
Almonacid is an Arab toponym, traditionally read as "almunia sidi", "the lord's garden", or "almones", "the monastery". After the Christian reconquest, Almonacid was incorporated to the Royal domain and placed under the rule of the castle of Zorita, then governed by Alvar Fáñez de Minaya (d. 111 Alfonso VII (1126-1157) granted Almonacid to Count Ponce de Cabrera (1105-1162), who sold the village in 1174 to Pedro Martí:nez de Magan. His wife, Sancha Martí:nez, offerred Almonacid in 1174 to the Order of Calatrava. The transfer was confirmed in Bulls signed by Popes Gregory VIII (1187) and Innocent III (1199, 1214).
Almonacid was the capital of one of the seven Commanderies that formed
the Province of Zorita; in the late 16th century, the capital of the
province was transferred to Almonacid. Charles I sold Pastrana, Sayatón
and Escopete to Ana de la Cerda (1540-1592), who expected also to
acquire Almonacid; the villagers, however, refused to leave the soft
power hithertho exerted by the Order on the King's behalf in the hands
of the foxy Ana. Charles I signed in 1542 in Logroño a privilege, still kept in the municipal archives stating that the town would remain
forever part of the Royal domain; to pay the fee - two millions
maravedÃs - to Hernando de Córdoba, Treasurer of the Order, the Village
Council had to sell plots, goods and houses, which were immediuatly
acquired by the villagers. The descendants of Ana de la Cerda and Ruy
Gómez de Silva (1516-1573), the influent Secretary of Philip II and
owner of Pastrana, Zorita and Albelate, attempted to acquire part of the
village, to no avail.
After the retirement of her brother Charles V in 1555, Mary of Hungary
(1505-1558), Governor of the Low Countries, announced she would also
retire to Almonacid. The rumor that she had been appointed lord of
Almonacid by Charles soon spread. Mary died in Cigales, on her way to the village.
The village of La Bujeda, located south of Almonacid, was granted in 1190 a charter by the Order of Calatrava. In the 14th century, the nearly deserted village was acquired by Almonacid. This was challenged by the neighboring town of Illiana; in 1462, Pedro Girón, Master of the Order, confirmed Almonacid's rights.
The village of Bolarque, located in the north of Almonacid, was selected
in the early 20th century to establish a dam and a waterfall to produce
electricity. After seven years of work, the dam was inaugurated on 23
June 1910 by King Alfonso XIII. In the 1970s, a second unit was built to
produce more electricity and to increase the water level of 200 m to
facilitate the transfer from Tagus to Segura.
The José Cabrera nuclear power plant was operated west of Almonacid from
1960 to 2016 by Unión Fenosa. A worker's estate was build nearby by the
company; the buildings of the former railway station located on the
Madrid-Alocén line were re-used as the chapel and general store.
Alvar Fáñez (1047-1114) was a relative of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid), who called him "mi anai" (Old Castilan, "my brother"), therefore
his nickname of Minaya. Presented in the Cantar as El Cid's alter ego
and best brother in arms, Fáñez was in the real life the most loyal
captain of King of Castile Alfonso VI, who defended the Tagus border and
prevented the Almoravids to reconqueer Toledo. El Cid and Fáñez were both named Knights of the Order of St. James in the church of Zamora; they contributed to the success of Sancho II, King of Castile, in the battles of Llantada (1068) and Golpejara (1072), fought against his
brother Alfonso, King of León. Fáñez ednured the Leonese attack that
resulted in the capture of Sancho, while El Cid counter-attacked,
liberated his king and captured Alfonso, who was exiled to Toledo, then
ruled by Almamun. After the murder of Sancho in Zamora in 1072, Alfonso
VI reunited the kingdoms of Castile and León and seized Toeldo from the
Moors in 1085, with the support of Fáñez. The fall of Toledo prompted
the Almoravids to invade Al Andalus; Fáñez was commissioned to defend
the Tagus border. His cavalry included the fierce "dawair" Moslims, who
had taken the Christian party after the Almoravid conquest. Following
the disaster of Uclés (1108) and the death of Alfonso's unique son,
Sancho, aged 12, and of the seven Castilian counts, Fáñez crossed the
Sierre de Altomira and headed to Zorita. He resumed resistance to the
Moors' advance, seizing Cuenca, soon lost, but resisted in Toledo to the
assault by Emir Ben Yusuf Tasufin.
After decades of fighting against the Muslims, Fáñez was killed in April
1114 in Segovia by partisans of Alfonso I the Battler, King of Aragón, who was in struggle with his wife Urraca, Alfonso VI's daughter.
[ABC, 2 July 2018]
Ivan Sache, 6 September 2019
The flag of Almonacid de Zorita (photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo) is prescribed by an Order issued on 6
May 2003 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 19 May
2003 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 72, p. 8,849 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular panel, with two horizontal stripe, the upper, 2/3 of the hoist, white with two red crosses flory of the Order of Calatrava, and the lower, blue.
The coat of arms of Almonacid de Zorita is prescribed by an Order issued
on 6 May 2003 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on
19 May 2003 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 72, p. 8,849 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Spanish shield. Quarterly, 1. and 4. Argent a cross flory of the Order of Calatrava gules with chains, 2. and 3. Vert a pomegranate proper (or and gules). The shield surmounted by a Royal crown in compliance with the constitutional regime of the Kingdom of Spain.
The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed symbols, requiring
minor modifications.
The Cross of Calatrava is featured on all seals used by the Village
Council: at the end of the 16th century - beginning of the 17th century,
the seals also featured a pomegranate, without any justification.
Accordingly, the proposed arms, based on a substantiated tradition, can
be accepted. However, it is "absolutely inacceptable" to substitute the
chains characterizing the cross of the Order of Calatrava by another
representation, and even more to change their arrangement. The chains
have to be placed where they belong.
Two flag proposals were submitted, one (not described) was rejected, the
other was deemed acceptable.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 200:2, 168. 2003]
The seal used in 1400 by the Village Council was described by the public
writer, Gregorio Martines, as "The seal of Almonesçir features two
crosses and two superimposed chains, in yellow wax; appended to it, silk
and cotton threads, red, white, yellow and black." In the 18th century,
different seals featured two Crosses of Calatrava. Since the beginning
of the 19th century, Alomnacid has been using a bronze stamp, of 3 cm in
diameter, featuring a shield quartered with crosses of Calatrava and
pomegranates, represented open, with grains and other botanical details;
a circular writing reads "Villa de Almonacid de Zorita".
In 1862 appeared a colored seal featuring a shield quartered with
castles and lions, and, in base, a tree or a plant, and surmounted by a
Royal crown ensigned by a cross. The whole emblem is surronded by a
narrow border featuring either three ermine spots or three crosses
trefoiled.
[Los Escritos de Herrea Casado, 15 June 1990]
Ivan Sache, 6 September 2019
