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Last modified: 2017-02-04 by ivan sache
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Flag of Arquillos - Image from the Símbolos de Jaén website, 30 November 2015
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The municipality of Arquillos (1,937 inhabitants in 2008; 6,500; municipal website) is located 80 km north-east of Jaén.
Arquillos was first mentioned in 1254, when King Alfonso X the Wise granted the hamlet of Arquillos to the town of Baeza. Another document signed by the king states he had seized Arquillos, which indicates that the village is of probable Muslim origin. In the 13th century, Arquillos was occupied by Ferdinand III the Saint and transferred to the town of Úbeda. Arquillos, however, still depended on Baeza for religious matters, as confirmed in Ximena Jurado's Annals (1652).
Arquillos was re-established as part of the New Settlements of Sierra Morena and Andalusia, established by Royal Letters (text) signed on 5 July 1767 in Madrid by King Charles III. The document contains "instructions and the settlement charter to be applied in those [settlements] newly established in the Sierra Morena with natives and Roman Catholic foreigners". The Preamble of the Letters states that Pablo de Olavide, Knight of the Order of St. James, "Assistant" of the king in Seville and Intendent of the Army of Andalusia, is appointed Superintendant General in charge of the direction of the new settlements to be established in Sierra Morena. The king "proposes" that Juan Gaspar de Thurriégel, of Bavarian citizenship and Roman Catholic religion, introduces 6,000 Roman Catholic, German and Flemish colonists in the kingdom.
Pablo de Olivade decided to establish a new nucleus at the junction of the Granada-Cuenca and Valencia-Seville roads. The originally planned name of Campomania was eventually not retained for the new village. Arquillos is one of the New Settlements that has best preserved its original design, based on a regular lattice.
In 1823, Arquillos welcomed General Riego during the last times of the liberal insurrection; as a reward, Queen Isabel II granted in 1833 the status of municipality to Arquillos, which was separated from Santiesteban del Puerto.
Ivan Sache, 30 November 2015
The flag (photo) and arms of Arquillos, adopted on 3 March 2006 by the Municipal Council and submitted the same day to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, are prescribed by a Resolution adopted on 10 March 2006 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 27 March 2006 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 58, pp. 50-51 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular flag, in proportions 2:3, made of two equal vertical, crenellated stripes, red with a Latin cross at hoist and yellow at fly.
Coat of arms: Shield divided per fess embattled of three pieces. 1. Or the monogram "C III" gules, 2. Azure twelve five-pointed stars argent placed in a circle. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.
The upper part of the coat of arms features the monogram of King Charles III, who established the town in 1767 for German colonists, who were exempted of tax and granted a Royal Charter in 1771. The lower part of the coat of arms recalls that the main building of the town is the church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, to which Charles III had a specific devotion. The embattlement symbolizes a fortress that defended the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquest.
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía. Jaén]
The symbols were inaugurated, together with the revamped Town Hall, on 7 October 2006. Beforehand, Arquillos used an unofficial coat of arms based on the arms of the neighbouring town of Baeza, of which Arquillos depended in the past. The flag was sketched by Jesús Solano and designed by the expert in vexillology Vicente Tocino.
[Ideal, 8 October 2006]
Ivan Sache, 12 July 2009
