Last modified: 2016-06-04 by ivan sache
Keywords: valdemaqueda |
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The municipality of Valdemaqueda (804 inhabitants in 2014, 5,220 ha; municipal website) is located in the extreme west of the Community of Madrid, on the border with Castilla y León (Province of Ávila).
Valdemaqueda was located on Roman roads, which crossed river Cofio by two bridges; the well-preserved five-arch bridge, however, of most probable medieval origin, was rebuilt in the late 16th century. There is no historical documentation of the Visigothic and Muslim period but in the toponymy; the name of the village is formed on the Castilian apocope for valle de ("valley") and an Arab word meaning "stability", "firmness".
In 1275, King Alfonso X the Wise commissioned a guild of knights from Ávila to re-settle the area. Valdemaqueda was first documented in 1340. The domain was transferred in 1545 by Pope Paul III to the San Pablo monastery. In 1676, the glazier Juan Danis and the coloured window's painter Francisco Herranz, also verger at the cathedral of Segovia, reactivated the glassworks that have been left abandoned in Valdemaqueda since the previous century; the coloured windows placed in the apsidal nave of the cathedral were manufactured there.
Valdemaqueda belonged to the domain of Las Navas del Marqués, and, partially, to the Bishop of Ávila, until incorporated in 1833 to the Province of Madrid. The territory was sold in 1848 to the Duke of Medinaceli, who sold in 1908 the pinewoods to the Unión Resinera Española, boosting the economy of the village.
Ivan Sache, 30 July 2015
The flag (photos) and arms of Valdemaqueda are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 29 November 2012 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 19 January 2013 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 16, pp. 6-7 (text).
The symbols were originally adopted on 25 March 2010 by the Municipal Council, which forwarded them on 9 April 2010 to the Royal Academy of History and to the Heraldry Assessors (Royal Academy "Matritense" of Heraldry and Genealogy). The two bodies validated the proposed symbols on 11 March 2011 and 10 May 2010, respectively, the Heraldry Assessors requiring the rephrazing of the description of the arms in heraldic language. Informed on 24 June 2010, the Municipal Council accepted the proposed rephrazing on 8 March 2011.
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: In proportions 2:3. Tierced in base, red, white and blue, with the municipal coat of arms in the center.
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Argent a pine eradicated vert, 2. Azure on waves argent and azure a three-arched bridge argent masoned sable. A bordure or charged with 13 roundels azure. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown.
Ivan Sache, 30 July 2015