Last modified: 2020-04-01 by ivan sache
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The municipality of La Torre de Esteban Hambrán (1,702 inhabitants in 2018; 5,100 ha) is located 50 km north-west of Toledo and 25 km north-east of Torrijos.
La Torre de Esteban Hambrán is named for the knight Esteban Illán, who defeated and killed nearby a Muslim lord called Adhembran. After the reconquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI, several Moors, Adhembran included, withdrew to the mountains, where they threatened the "peaceful villagers" established in the reconquerred area and caused "troubles". Back to Toledo, Esteban was triumphally welcomed by the court at Puerta del Cambrón and sheered by Alfonso VIII, who nicknamed him Ambrán. The scene is featured on a painting set up in the vault of the early cathedral, transferred in 1726 to the entrance of the St. Ildefonso chapel.
Granted to Esteban Illán in 1168, La Torre de Esteban Hambrán was acquired on 15 April 1436 by Álvaro de Luna, Constable of Castile, and in 1568, by Diego de Vargas, Philip II's Secretary.
[Entre Pueblos]
Jose Ignacio Muro Benayas, Professor of Journalism at Universidad Carlos III, considers the official origin of La Torre de Esteban Hambrán as an historical forgery portraying a good Christian, Esteban, and a bad Moor, Hambrán. The writer claims that Esteban Hambrán was a single person, here a Mozarab lord, who maintained family links with Esteban Illán, another Mozarav lord. Among the descendants of the two Esteban is Gonzalo Pétrez Gudiel, the first bishop of Toledo (of Mozarab origin) (1280).
[Buenayas, puento de encontro, 9 June 2007]
Ivan Sache, 9 September 2019
The flag of La Torre de Esteban Hambrán (photo) is prescribed by an Order issued on 8 October 1997 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 24 October 1997 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 48 p. 6,607 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Panel in proportions 2:3, vertically dividezd in the middle, the right part horizopntally divided 1:2.
1. Yellow, three red horizontal stripes superimposed by a white tower masoned in black and with red port and windows. A border chequered yellow and blue, two orders.
2. Red, a white crescent reverted and a base of the same color.
3. White, three horizontal blue wavy stripes.
The coat of arms of La Torre de Esteban Hambrán is prescribed by an Order issued on 8 October 1997 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 24 October 1997 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 48 p. 6,60 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1.Or three fesses gules superimposed by a tower argent masoned sable port and windows gules a bordure chequy azure and or, 2a. Gules a crescent reverted argent on a base of the same, 2b. Argent three fesses wavy azure. The shield surmounted by a Spanish Royal crown and the motto "STRENUITAS ET FORTITUDO".
The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed symbols. The supporting memoir relates the history of its lords, from the 12th to the 19th century, which were used to design the municipal arms. This basic idea is adequate, since the town was the capital of an important feudal domain, not a secondary part.
The arms of Esteban Illán, of Alvaro de Luna and of the Vargas lineage recall the fundamental periods of the domain's history. The resulting composition could be considered as excessively complicated, but this flaw can be accepted thanks to the harmonic beauty of the style of traditional arms.
The Academy also validated the proposed flag, which is a banner of the arms.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 195:2, 383. 1998]
The facade of the Town Hall features a coat of arms placed on a cartouche and surmounted by a mural crown; the shield shows a three-storeyed tower surrounded by two trees. Of "immemorial use" by the municipality, the arms allude to the name of the town and to the surrounding mounts planted with holly oaks.
From the first quarter of the 17th century to the suppression of the feudal system, the town might have used the arms of the Marquisate of La Torre de Esteban Hambrán, erected in 1628 by Philip IV for Diego de Vargas y Ayala, 3rd lord of the town.
The motto, alluding to the force and eagerness to work of the inhabitants, appears to be a recent addition. It is omitted on the municipal arms featured on an old engraving of the town's patron saint, Our Lady of Linares.
[José Luis Ruz Márquez & Ventura Leblic García. Heraldica municipal de la Provincia de Toledo. 1983]
Ivan Sache, 9 September 2019
