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Villanueva del Ariscal (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Villanueva del Ariscal, three versions - Images after the Símbolos de Sevilla website, 5 June 2014

Presentation of Villanueva del Ariscal
Symbols of Villanueva del Ariscal

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Presentation of Villanueva del Ariscal

The municipality of Villanueva del Ariscal (6,244 inhabitants in 2013; 470 ha; municipal website) is located 10 km of Seville.

Villanueva del Ariscal was granted - its mills excepted - in 1253 by Alfonso X the Wise, as Villanueva Aliscar, to he Order of St. James. In the 14th century, the town was a local center of power of the Order. The domain was sold in 1537 to George of Portugal, the 1st Count of Gelves. In 1629, Leonor María Colón de Portugal y Portocarrero, Vice Countess of Torquemada, was made Marchioness of Villanueva by King Philip IV. The title was cancelled in 1663, while Leonor was made Marchioness of Almonacid de los Oteros.

Ivan Sache, 5 June 2014

Symbols of Villanueva del Ariscal

The flag of Villanueva del Ariscal (photo, photo) is horizontally divided celestial blue-white-celestial blue with the municipal coat of arms in the middle.

The coat of arms of Villanueva del Ariscal is "Per fess, 1. St. James riding a horse clad argent holding in the left hand a flag argent charged with the Cross of St. James and in the right hand a sword, 2a. Per pale León and Castile grafted in base the arms of the house of Colón (Azure a globe surrounded by four dolphins), 2b. Portugal (Gelves). The shield surmounted by a Marchioness' coronet" [Municipal website].

The ill-designed coat of arms portrays the town's patron saint, St. James, at the legendary battle of Clavijo. The arms of Castile and León are of little significance here, only recalling the reconquest of the town by Ferdinand III the Saint. The incorrect grafted base might have been intended as religious arms. The arms of Portugal and the crown are a reference to the Marchioness of Villanueva.
[Juan José Antequera Luengo. Heráldica oficial de la provincia de Sevilla]

Ivan Sache & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 June 2014