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Last modified: 2015-01-17 by ivan sache
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Flag of Ciudad Rodrigo - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 January 2014, coat of arms by "SanchoPanzaXXI" (Wikimedia Commons)
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The municipality of Ciudad Rodrigo (13,646 inhabitants in 2012, therefore the 3rd most populous municipality in the province; 24,011 ha; municipal website, unofficial website) is located in the southwest of Salamanca Province, close to the borders with Portugal and Cáceres Province (Extremadura), 90 km from Salamanca.
Ciudad Rodrigo was the site of a castrum (fortified village) during
the Age of Bronze, as evidenced by the so-called Ciudad Rodrigo idol,
kept in the National Archeological Museum (Madrid). The place was
probably also inhabited during the 2nd Age of Iron by the Vettones, as
evidenced by verracos de piedras (stone statues representing boars)
found there in the past, of which only one has been preserved.
The Romans settled Ciudad Rodrigo from the 1st to the 5th century.
Several artifacts (coins, pottery pieces, engraved stones) indicate
that the settlement was of significance. The three columns shown on
the municipal coat of arms date back to that period, as well as a
stone excavated near the columns, listing the limits between the towns
of Bletisa (Ledesma), Salmantica (Salamanca) and Mirobriga (Ciudad
Rodrigo, according to some historians). Nothing is known about the
place during the upper Middle Ages; the lack of Visigothic remains
seems to indicate that the town was either deserted or of very small
size.
Ciudad Rodrigo was mentioned for the first time in 1136, as Civitatem
de Rodric, alluding to a failed re-settlement of the town by a Count
Rodrigo, commissioned by King Alfonso VI. A few decades later, King
Fernando II made of Ciudad Rodrigo a stronghold watching the borders
with the Moorish states and the emerging Kingdom of Portugal: the town
was surrounded by thick walls, a bishopric was established (recognized
in 1175 by the Holy See) and a charter was granted in 1185. The
building of the cathedral and of several other religious and civil
buildings was initiated at the time. Due to its strategic
significance, the town was involved in the wars against Portugal and
the civil wars that scoured Castile and León in the 13th-15th centuries.
Ciudad Rodrigo experienced its Gilded Age in the 15th-16th centuries.
Most of the palaces, noble manors and religious buildings (the
cathedral, the Cerralbo chapel, the Sts. Peter and Isidor church, the
Town Hall, the castle, the Eagle's Manor, the Palace of the 1st
Marquis of Cerralbo, the Hospital of the Passion) still visible in the
downtown date back to that period. The downtown was proclaimed an
Historical and Artistic Monument in 1944. The town wall, revamped in
the 18th century for the sake of artillery, is more than 2 km in
length and 13 m in height at some parts, and defended by seven gates;
the wall is considered as one of the best preserved town fortifications
in Spain.
The town was damaged again during the War of Portuguese Independence
and the War of Succession of Austria. Seized by the Napoleonic troops
in 1810 after a long siege, Ciudad Rodrigo was liberated by Lord
Wellington on 19 January 1812; Wellington was rewarded by the Cádiz
Cortes with the title of Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Ivan Sache, 16 January 2014
The flag of Ciudad Rodrigo (photo) is purple with the municipal coat of arms in the middle.
The arms of Ciudad Rodrigo are "Azure three columns or. The shield
surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown".
The three columns' monument (photo), excavated in the 16th century, is the
traditional emblem of the town.
The three columns are shown per fess on most representations of the
coat of arms, including the one currently used by the municipality.
However, the coat of arms used on the flag shows the columns 2 + 1, as
does the coat of arms of the town used in the 1st quarter of the coat
of arms of the Salamanca Province).
Ivan Sache, 16 January 2014
