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Last modified: 2019-09-16 by ivan sache
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Flag of Brea de Tajo - Image by Ivan Sache, 1 July 2015
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The municipality of Brea de Tajo (568 inhabitants in 2014; 4,433 ha; municipal website) is located in the extreme south-east of the Community of Madrid, 70 km of Madrid.
Brea de Tajo, of Arab origin, was first mentioned in a document dated 26 June 1326. Brea remained a hamlet of Almoguera until 1401, when granted the status of villa by Gonzalo Núñez de Guzmán, Master of the Order of Calatrava. The grant was subsequently confirmed by the Catholic Monarchs. In 1538, Charles I sold Brea to Luis Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Móndejar.
Ivan Sache, 1 July 2015
The flag (photos) and arms of Brea de Tajo are prescribed by a Decree adopted
on 25 May 1995 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and
published on 13 July 1995 in the official gazette of the Community of
Madrid, No. 165, p. 9 (text) and on 4 August 1995 in the Spanish official
gazette, No. 185, p. 242 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: In proportions 2:3, panel made of four triangles formed by its diagonals, red at the top, yellow at hoist, green at the bottom, and white at fly.
Coat of arms: Quartered per saltire, 1. and 4. Vert a bend gules fimbriated or, 2. and 3. Or a Cross of Calatrava gules. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown.
The proposed coat of arms, modified after the recommendations of the
Assessors of the Community of Madrid, recalls the old lords of the town:
the Order of Calatrava and the Mendoza (house of Mondéjar), represented
by the cross of the Order and the arms of Mendoza. The latter feature
the characteristic division per saltire initiated by the first Marquis
of Santillana, on the model of the Royal house of Aragón, keeping on the
field or the arms of la Vega.
The resulting composition is harmonious and fully compliant with our
best heraldic style. Its blazon is "Per saltire, 1. and 4. vert a bend
gules fimbriated or, 2. and 3. Or a cross flory gules. The shield
surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown".
There is no objection to the proposed flag, rectangular, in proportions
2:3, divided into four parts by the diagonals, the upper, red, the
lower, green, at hoist, yellow, and at fly, white.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia. 192:3, 522-523. 1995]
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Figueroa (1415/1417-1479), the elder son of
Íñigo López de Mendoza, First Marquis of Santillana, was made Duke of the Infantado (full title, "Duque de las Cinco Villas del Estado del Infantado") in 1475; subsequently, the Dukes of the Infantado were made first-rank Grandees of Spain, and were therefore allowed to wear
their hat in the presence of the king. Íñigo de Arteaga y Martín (b. 1941) is the 19th Duke of the Infantado.
"Vert a bend gules fimbriated or" are the oldest known arms of
Mendoza; subsequently modified several times, the arms always included
a red bend on a green field. The arms quartered per saltire were
introduced by the first Marquis of Santillana and appear on a seal
dated 1440; the marquis quartered his father's arms (Mendoza) with his
mother's arms (de la Vega). His descendants were known as Mendoza de
Guadalajara or Mendoza de l'Ave María. In the representations of these arms, the first quarter is inscribed with "AVE MARÍA" while the third quarter is inscribed with "PLENA GRATIA" (or, at least "GRATIA").
[José Luis García de Paz (UAM), Los poderosos Mendoza]
Ivan Sache, 3 March 2018
