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Last modified: 2016-05-26 by ivan sache
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Flag of Villavieja del Lozoya - Image by Ivan Sache, 7 August 2015
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The municipality of Villavieja del Lozoya (275 inhabitants in 2014; 2,360 ha; municipal website) is located in the north of the Community of Madrid, 80 km of Madrid.
Villavieja del Lozoya is first documented by the Ordinances on the use of irrigation, released in 1485. The settlement, however, is much older; it must have been re-settled after the Christian reconquest of the region of Buitrago. The Mudéjar arch, probably dating back to the 13th-14th century, is located on the top of the hill; it was probably part of an Arab or Jewish estate at the origin of the name of the village, being the old (vieja) estate (villa) abandoned when the new settlement was established downhill; the old chapel located near the house was subsequently transformed into the church of the Immaculate Conception.
Ivan Sache, 7 August 2015
The flag (photo) and arms of Villavieja del Lozoya are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 1 August 1996 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 20 September 1996 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 225, pp. 20-21 (text), and on 22 October 1996 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 255, p. 31,650 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: In proportions 2:3. Red panel with two green parallel stripes, in width 1/10 of the panel's width, forming a "V" whose upper points reach the upper points of the hoist and fly and the lower reach the middle of the lower edge. Centered in the upper part, the municipal coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Argent waves azure and argent ensigned with a wall with an arched gate gules, 2. Quarterly per saltire, 1. and 4. Vert a bend gules fimbriated or, 2. and 3. Or with the legend "Ave María". The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed coat of arms, provided some modifications are implemented. The first quarter features the Mudéjar arch recently discovered, while the waves recall the significance of irrigation supplied by river Lozoya. The representation of some charges should be amended. The wall shall fill the quarter, from side to side. The waves shall be azure and argent and shall fill the whole base of the shield, ca. its lower third, and shall not be limited to two waves and leave empty space around them. It appears more suitable to have the wall standing directly on the waves, without space in between. The second quarter features the arms of the Dukes of the Infantado, quarterly per saltire Mendoza and Vega.
The Academy validated the proposed flag "without any inconvenience".
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1994, 197:2, 392]
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 website]
Ivan Sache, 7 August 2015
