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Piña de Esgueva (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Last modified: 2015-01-17 by ivan sache
Keywords: piña de esgueva | valladolid |
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Presentation of Piña de Esgueva

The municipality of Piña de Esgueva (352 inhabitants in 2010; 2,982 ha; municipal website) is located in the east of Valladolid Province, on the border with Palencia Province, 30 km from Valladolid.

Piña de Esgueva already existed in the Visigothic times; a necropolis dated from the 7th century was found in 1932 in Las Pequeras, a place located 3 km south-east of the today's village. The artefacts (ceramics, jewels...) excavated in 1933-1934 from 167 tombs are shown in the Valladolid Archeology Museum.
The village must have been resettled at the end of the 9th century after the reconquest of the area by King Alfonso III the Great. The name of the village (from Latin, pinna, "a castle", "a tower", "a fortification") seems to indicate that a fortress was built there as part of the defence line set up along river Duero, then the border with the Muslim states. At the same time, the village of Mazariegos de Valdesgueva, deserted in the 17th century, was also resettled; the name of the village, referring to the Arab word for a mill, indicates that Mazariegos might have been resettled by Mozarabic millers. In the 13th century, Piña de Esgueva was known as Pinna de Valle Asgueua, subsequently (1345) changed to Pinna del Valdesgueva.

Ivan Sache, 1 May 2011


Symbols of Piña de Esgueva

The flag and arms of Piña de Esgueva (municipal website), approved on 21 February 1995 by the Municipal Council, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 26 July 1996 by the Valladolid Provincial Government, signed on 8 August 1996 by the President of the Government, and published on 22 August 1996 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 162 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular flag, with proportions 1:2, horizontally divided white and sky blue. In the middle of the flag is placed the municipal coat of arms in full colors.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Vert a castle or masoned sable port and windows of the same on waves argent, 2. Gules a Cross of St. John argent, a bordure or. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.

The bordure of the shield, of 2 cm in width, recalls the grain fields, symbolizing the main source of income of the municipality.
The Royal Academy of History rejected the bordure of the shield as totally irrelevant in Castilian heraldry. The waves should be represented as usual, covering the lower third of the panel. Finally, the use of the Cross of the Order of St. John in the field of the second quarter is inadequate; recalling that the village belonged to this Order would require a "chief of the Order". Accordingly, the amended arms would be: "Vert a castle or on waves a chief gules a cross argent. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown." The proposed flag with the amended coat of arms is totally acceptable (Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1997, 194, 2: 386).

Ivan Sache, 1 May 2011