Last modified: 2016-06-04 by ivan sache
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Flag of San Sebastián de los Reyes - Image by Ivan Sache, 25 July 2015
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The municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes (locally known as Sanse; 83,329 inhabitants in 2014; 5,866 ha; municipal website) is located 20 km north-east of Madrid. The municipality experienced a demographic boom in the last decades of the 20th century, its population increasing from 3,350 inhabitants in 1960 to 15,447 in 1970 and 58,389 in 2000.
San Sebastián de los Reyes belonged to Alcobendas until 1492. In 1486, several villagers met on the Clavel hill, close to the chapel dedicated to St. Sebastian, and asked to be considered as citizens of Madrid. Upset, the lord of Alcobendas, Juan Arias Dávila, burned down their huts and jailed some of the applicants. On 12 February 1486, the villagers gathered on the Viveros bridge, which crosses river Jarama in Barajas, to ask protection to King Ferdinand the Catholic, on his way from Alcalá de Henares to Madrid.
On 2 May 1492, the king signed in Medina del Campo Royal Letters granting protection to the revolted villagers and ordering the liberation of the prisoners. Since then, the place has been known as San Sebastián de los Reyes (Of The Monarchs). This did not prevent Juan Arias Dávila to exert more retaliation against the villagers; accordingly, the Council of Madrid fixed the limits of San Sebastián de los Reyes, which would remained unchanged until the middle of the 19th century.
The conflict between Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes did not stop. The villagers of Alcobendas took the opportunity of the death of Isabel the Catholic (1506) and of Ferdinand the Catholic (1516) to sack San Sebastián de los Reyes. The church of
San Sebastián de los Reyes was consecrated in 1508 but it took seven years to have the first mass celebrated by the priest of Alcobendas, on 23 November 1515. Cardinal Cisneros ordered the next year the clergy of Alcobendas to appoint a priest dedicated to San Sebastián de los Reyes. Denied on 1744 by the Government Council of the Archbishopric of Toledo, the parish of San Sebastián de los Reyes was eventually erected in 1791 by Cardinal Lorenzana.
Established in 1822, the municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes was renamed San Sebastián de la Soberanía from 13 November 1868 to 7 February 1869, and San Sebastián de Madrid from 1936 to 1939.
San Sebastián de los Reyes is famous for its encierros (runnings of the bulls; official website), which yielded the nickname of "Pamplona Chica" (The Little Pamplona) to the town. A letter sent on 23 March 1525 by Charles III to the Archbishop of Toledo about the local festival mentions correr toros.
During the Town's Festival, celebrated the last week of August, groups of bulls are released from the bull's parks (corrales) and run through the streets of the town to the bull ring (plaza de toros). The length of the itinerary is 820 m, with an average duration of the run of 2'15". The runners (corredors) run before or among the bulls, as a proof of courage and respect of the taurine tradition. The encierros are today strictly organized and regulated by the Regulations of Popular Taurine Festivals. Everyone aged 16 or more can participate (special runnings are organized for children aged 6 and more). People "exhibiting symptoms of alcoholic intoxication, drug abuse, or any mental disorder" will be excluded "at first sight".
Press reports of the encierros (see, for instance, El Mundo, 26 August, 27 August, 29 August, and 30 August 2014) look like reports of usual sports events. The number of runners, the duration of the race, and, most of all, the name of the bull farm, are given, together with specialist's comments on the quality of the race (from "quiet running" - only three runners injured - to "atypical").
Ivan Sache, 25 July 2015
The flag of San Sebastián de los Reyes (photos, photo, photo, photo, photo, photo) is vertically divided red-white-red (1:2:1) with the municipal coat of arms in the middle. The flag does not appear to have been officially approved.
The coat of arms of San Sebastián de los Reyes is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 30 March 2000 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 13 April 2000 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 88, p. 28 (text). The municipality wanted to modify its coat of arms to make it compliant with the norms of heraldry. The Heraldry Assessors validated one of the proposed designs on 25 March 1999. This was approved on 25 March 1999 by the Municipal Council.
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Argent a bridge proper on waves argent and azure in chief a strawberry tree vert fructed gules superimposed with two arrows sable per saltire dexter the initial "Y" crowned for "Isabel" sinister the initial "F" crowned for "Ferdinand". The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown.
The previous coat of arms of San Sebastián de los Reyes was prescribed by a Decree adopted on 5 December 1984 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 2 January 1985 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 1, p. 1 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Azure a three-arched bridge brunâtre over a river in chief a strawberry tree eradicated vert fructed gules in canton sinister a wolf passant sable tied to the tree with a chain argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown.
The first coat of arms of San Sebastián de los Reyes was prescribed by Decree No. 2,025, adopted on 24 July 1975 by the Spanish Government and published on 2 September 1975 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 2010, p. 18,590 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Azure on waves argent and azure a three-arched bridge or masoned sable in chief a javelin per pale surrounded by a yoke and a bunch of six arrows all or. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown, closed.
The bridge must represent the Viveros bridge, where the villagers obtained the support from the Catholic Monarchs against the lord of Alcobendas, the Monarchs being recalled by their initials. The royal monograms superseded the Francoist symbols (yoke and arrows) featured on the first coat of arms. The strawberry tree is taken from the arms of Madrid, also recalling the support of the Council of Madrid to the revolted villagers. The today's version of the arms dropped the wolf tied to the tree, probably for the sake of clarity of the design. The arrows are the symbol of St. Sebastian, alluding to his martyr.
Ivan Sache, 25 July 2015
