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Last modified: 2019-09-16 by ivan sache
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Flag of Begíjar - Image from the Símbolos de Jaén website, 31 August 2018
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The municipality of Begíjar (3,073 inhabitants in 2017, 4,300 ha; municipal website) is located in the center of the Province of Jaén, 10 km south-west of Baeza.
Begíjar, located in the rich plain of Guadalquivir, was already settled
in the Prehistoric times, as evidenced by the archeological sites of Las
Majadillas (3rd millennium BC, late Neolithic and Age of Bronze) and
Terrera del Goterón (Age of Copper).
Remains from an Iberian fortification were found near the railway
station, yielding typical pieces of painted pottery. The territory was
densely settled during the Roman period, with several villae, such as
Piedra Hincada, La Vega del Obispo, Las Delicias and La Casa del Amor
Hermoso.
Known during the Islamic period as Buxexal, the village was seized in
1226 by King Ferdinand III the Saint (r. 1217-1252), at the same time as
Baeza. It was subsequently fiercely disputed between the Council of
Baeza and the Bishop of Jaén, who competed for the income supplied by
agriculture. Ferdinand III eventually granted Begíjar to Baeza, as part
of the royal domain, soon to transfer the village to the Order of Calatrava; this was confirmed in 1254 by Alfonso X the Wise (r.
1252-1284). Another part of the village was transferred to the Bishop of
Toledo. In 1249, the whole village was eventually offered to the Bishop of Jaén.
Once century later, Begíjar was taken over by Alfonso XI (r. 1331-1350)
from Enrique Enríquez (d. 1366), Adelante Mayor of the Border, and
transferred again to Baeza. In the 15th century, Bishop Rodrigo de
Narváez (in office, 1383-1422) incorporated the castle of Begíjar to
the Bishopric of Jaén, causing the wrath of the Council of Baeza.
BegÃjar was soon an outpost held by the Bishop of Jaén and the Council
of Baeza against Jaén, which was controlled by Constable Lucas de Iranzo
(1453-1473) on behalf of Henry IV (r. 1454-1474). In 1477, the Catholic
Monarchs partially confirmed the right of the Bishop of Jaén on the
village, which remained a main residence for the bishops until the 19th
century. The bishops welcomed here celebrities, such as Philip II (r.
1556-1598) and the writer Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra (1547-1616).
Begíjar was granted in 1779 the title of villa by Charles III (r.
1759-1788), definitively separating from Baeza.
Begíjar is the birth place of the writer Patrocinio de Biedma y la
Moneda (1848-1927). After the death of her first husband, she moved in 1877
to Cádiz with Princess Ratazzi, where she founded the review Cádiz. Artes, Letras y Ciencias. She re-married in 1881 with José Rodríguez y Rodríguez, Chief Archivist at the Cádiz Provincial Government and director of Crónica Gadetana, who would die in 1914.
Organizer in 1888 of the Congress for Childhood Protection in Cádiz, she
was appointed in 1898 Vice President of the Spanish section of Ligue des
femmes pour le désarmement internationl (Women's League for
International Disarmament).
Patrocinio de Biedma y la Moneda published her poems and novels in Jaén,
Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid, and, mostly, in Cádiz (more than 100
works).
[Spanish National Library]
Ivan Sache, 31 August 2018
The flag of Begíjar, adopted on 13 July 2018 by the Municipal Council,
is prescribed by a Resolution adopted on 24 July 2018 by the Directorate
General of the Local Administration and published on 30 July 2018 in the
Andalusian official gazette, No. 146, pp. 80-81 (text).
The flag is described as follows.
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, width to length. Crimson red panel's background.
In the center of the flag is featured the gate of the Town Hall. The gate is composed of a semi-circular arch surrounded by two fluted columns over a pedestal and surmounted by a rectangular frieze. At the bottom of the gate are two parallel lines representing two furrows in plowed land. In the center of the upper furrow is placed a small inverted pyramid, a symbol of fertility and an allusion to the original location of the Iberian-Roman settlement in Piedra Hincá (lit. Planted Stone). The gate, the furrows and the pyramid constitute the flag's main charge, in pomegranate color, forming a whole whose proportions are 4/10 of the flag's width in width and 3/10 of the flag's width in length.
In the four cardinal points of an imaginary circle whose center matches the flag's center and whose radius is 3/10 of the flag's width, are placed four white stars in vertical position, symbolizing knowledge. Each star is inscribed in an imaginary circle in radius 0.4/10 of the flag's width.
In the center of the flag's upper part is a five-pointed star, in the center of the flag's fly is a four-pointed star, and in the center of the flag's lower part is an eight-pointed star, and in the hoist's center is a six-pointed star.
The gate of the Town Hall of Begíjar is the only original part of the
monument, which was built in 1560-1576 by Ginés Martínez de Aranda. The
columns are decorated with Corinthian capitals. The upper frieze is
inscribed with the names of the Council members who ordered the erection
of the building (Juan Rascón, Francisco Cerón, Bartolomé García, Alonso Linares and Juan Ortiz) and year "1561". The capital on the right side is inscribed "1808", most probably the year of reconstruction of the
Town Hall.
[Francisco Miguel Merino Laguna]
Ivan Sache, 6 October 2018
