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Last modified: 2019-10-18 by ivan sache
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Flag of Aguilafuente - Image by Ivan Sache, 5 August 2019
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The municipality of Aguilafuente (587 inhabitants in 2018; 6,057 ha; municipal website) is located 40 km north of Segovia and 30 km south-east of Cuéllar.
Aguilafuente was already settled in the Neolithic, as evidenced by the
axe found in the 1940s by Ricardo García and kept in the Segovia Museum.
In the 1980s, pieces of black pottery without any ornamentation were
found in Cuesta de la Rebilla; they were dated to the late Bronze Age
(Cogotas I) / early Iron Age (Soto I), c. 800-700 BC.
The Santa Lucia villa (4th century) yielded mosaics, frescoes and pieces
of pottery in late sigillated Hispanic style; the site was subsequently
settled by the Visigoths, who established in the 6th century a
necropolis with 200 tombs; stone, anthropomorphic sarcophagi were
excavated from another necropolis also located in Aguilafuente.
After the Christian reconquest, Aguilafuente was transferred to the
Cathedral of Segovia, as evidenced by a document signed on 18 March
1154, and would remained so until the 16th century.
Bishop Arias Dávila organized from 1 to 10 June 1472 a synod in the St.
Mary church of Aguilafuente. The acts of the synod were compiled in the
book printed by Juan Parix and subsequently famous as Sinodal de
Aguilafuente; now kept in the Museum of the Segovia Cathedral, this is
the first book ever printed in Spain and the first book ever printed in
Spanish.
In the last decades of the 15th century, the General Councils of the
Mesta, the powerful sheep-breeders syndicate, gathered four times in
Aguilafuente, which reflects the significance of the town at the time.
In the early 16th century, the Cathedral of Segovia sold the town, as a retaliation for its support to the revolted Comuneros. The Count of Miranda was most interested in Aguilafuente as a dowry for his daughter, Teresa Enríquez, whom he expected to marry with the elder illegitimate son of the Duke of Béjar, Pedro de Zúñiga; the sale, however, was not completed. In 1528, Charles I legitimized the duke's sons; as the elder, Pedro should have been granted a domain composed from possessions of his father and his spouse, María de Zúñiga; after a long lawsuit, Pedro had its rights recognized in 1532 and could eventually marry Teresa Enríquez. The couple acquired the town of Aguilafuente in 1536 for 12 millions maravedis (32,000 ducats), with the approval of Pope Paul III. The next year, Pedro de Zúñiga was created Marquess, without specific title; his son, also named Pedro de Zúñiga, would adopt in 1572 the title of Marquess of Aguilafuente; this was confirmed in 1575 by Philip II.
Ivan Sache, 5 August 2019
The flag (photo) and arms of Aguilafuente are prescribed by an Agreement adopted
on 31 August 2016 by the Municipal Council, signed on 24 July 2019 by
the Mayor, and published on 1 August 2019 in the official gazette of
Castilla y León, No. 147, p. 36,882 (text).
The symbols, which were validated on 7 October 2016 by the Chronicler of
Arms of Castilla y León, are described
as follows:
Flag: Diagonally divided from the hoist's lower angle to the fly's upper angle. The upper part, blue, and the lower party, white; charged in the center with the crowned coat of arms of the municipality.The flag was indeed inaugurated soon after its approval by the Municipal Council, on 1 January 2017.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. argent an eagle sable over waves azure and argent, 2&. Azure a closed book or with its title on three fesses "SI/NO/DAL" in letters sable, 2b. Argent a bend sable orled by a chain or. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown.
The proposed symbols are supported by a memoir submitted on 12 September
2016 by José María de Olmos.
The name of the place appears to be of Visigothic origin (Boagilafuente
< Vagilafuente < Aguilafuente); the eagle (aguila) has been its proper
symbol since the Middle Ages. A letter dated 1878, kept in the National
Historical Archives, states that a seal featuring an eagle was in used
since 1849, when municipalities were ordered to adopt a proper seal;
this seal has been kept in use until now.
The proposed coat of arms is divided into three parts.
1. A black eagle, with different meanings. First, it symbolizes the
town's name and was used on municipal seals. Second, the connection with
the Cathedral of Segovia cannot be represented by its arms, a vase of
lilies, because this charge is already used all over Spain in municipal
heraldry and lack specificity; rather, the "Spanish" black eagle
featured on the arms of Bishop Juan Arias Dávila is used. Finally, the
eagle is placed over water waves to make the arms canting, featuring an
eagle (aguila) over water (fuente, lit., "a fountain").
2. The book inscribed with "SINODAL" is a straightforward reference to
the most salient event that occurred in medieval Aguilafuente, the
Aguilafuente Synod.
3. The coat of arms of the Zúñiga lineage, represent the rulers of the
town since the 16th century; they are locally well-known and featured on
several significant buildings in the town.
The flag uses the most important colors of the coat of arms.
Juan Arias Dávila conveyed the Aguilafuente synod with a very ambitious
agenda. Now that the Muslim threat had been repelled to the south, the
bishop pushed a reform of the Castilian society, both clerical and
civil. Accordingly, he conveyed three synods, in Aguilafuente (1472),
Segovia (1478), and Turégano (1483), respectively.
With a keen, humanist interest in arts and literature, Dávila was
commissioned by the kings of Castile to advise different religious
orders and the universities of Salamanca and Valladolid. He eventually
exiled to Rome after having been sued for the alleged Jewish origins of
his family.
In 1469, Juan Arias Dávila commissioned the cathedral's Dean, Juan
López, to issue a Bull for raising funds required for the building of
the new cathedral and to investigate Gütenberg's invention, whose fame
has spread all over Europe. López convinced the German printer Juan
Parix, from Heidelberg, to establish a printing press in Segovia in
1476, where he would print the Sinodal de Aguilafuente and another eight
books.
The Sinodal de Aguilafuente is a small book (235 x 175 mm), composed of
48 printed sheets and another 14 left blank for poetntial subsequent
additions. Fallen into oblivion for the next centuries, the book was
re-discovered by the great local historian Diego de Colmenares, who
established in his Historia de Segovia (1637) ir was among the first
books printed in Spain. In 1930, the cathedral archivist, Canon Cristino
Valverde, discovered the orginal book and confirmed that Segovia was the
first Spanish town to have a printing press.
[Cathedral de Segovia]
Ivan Sache, 5 August 2019
