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Valle de Tobalina (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Flag of Valle de Tobalina - Image from the Escudos y Banderas de la Provincia de Burgos website, 2 March 2014

Presentation of Valle de Tobalina
Symbols of Valle de Tobalina
Submunicipal entities

See also:

Presentation of Valle de Tobalina

The municipality of Valle de Tobalina (1,026 inhabitants in 2010; 15,749 ha; municipal website) is located in the northeast of the Province of Burgos, 80 km of Burgos.
The municipality is made of the villages of Barcina del Barco (76 inh.), Bascuñuelos (32 inh.), Comenzana (5 inh.), Cuezva (14 inh.), Gabanes (13 inh.), Garoña (16 inh.), Herrán (14 inh.), Hedeso (8 inh.), Imaña (deserted), Leciñana de Tobalina (23 inh.), Lomana (15 inh.), Lozares de Tobalina (23 inh.), Mijaraluenga (5 inh.), Montejo de Cebas (48 inh.), Montejo de San Miguel (22 inh.), Orbañanos (8 inh.), La Orden (8 inh.), Pajares (11 inh.), Pangusión (38 inh.), Paryuelo (deserted), Pedrosa de Tobalina (134 inh.), Plágaro (deserted), La Prada (25 inh.), Quintana María (51 inh.), Quintana Martín Galíndez (338 inh.; capital), Ranedo-Promediano (12 inh.), La Revilla de Herrán (13 inh.), Rufrancos (8 inh.), San Martín de Don (43 inh.), Santa María de Garoña (23 inh.), Santocildes (10 inh.), Tobalinilla (4 inh.), Valujera (11 inh.), Las Viadas (6 inh.), Villaescusa (4 inh.), and Villanueva del Grillo (deserted).
The municipal territory is made of two non adjacent parts, La Orden, Pedrosa de Tobalina and Valujera forming an exclave located north-west of the "main" component of the municipality.

The Valle de Tobalina villages were incorporated in the 13th century into the municipality of Frías. In 1834, the Tobalina Valley was divided into the two municipalities of Valle de Tobalina and Partido de la Sierra en Tobalina.
Quintana Martín Galíndez, the capital of the municipality, is name after its resettler or a later lord; the village is listed in the Becerro de las Behetrías (14th century) as Quintana Martín Galmudez.
García Salazar's tower recalls the local war that opposed in the 15th century the Salazar to the Velasco.
Herrán must be the oldest settlement in the municipality; the village developed around the San Martín de Herrán monastery, founded in 852, today ruined.

Ivan Sache, 25 May 2011

Symbols of Valle de Tobalina

The flag (photo, Town Hall) and arms of Valle de Tobalina, adopted on 16 October 1986 by the Municipal Council, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 22 April 1988 by the Government of Castilla y León, and published on 2 May 1988 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 83 (text).

The Decree states that the Royal Academy of History recommended modifications to the proposed coat of arms and flags, which were partially accounted for by the Municipal Council.
The symbols are, unfortunately, not described in the Decree.

The Royal Academy of History recalled that the proposed arms feature a white castle over rocks and a crown, the colour of the field being unspecified. The recommended arms are "Azure a castle argent standing on rocks vert fileted sable. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed." On the flag, the coat of arms should also be surmounted by a Royal crown closed instead of the arbitrary design used in the proposal.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1987, 184, 2: 374]

Ivan Sache, 15 March 2015

Submunicipal entities

Barcina del Barco

Flag of Barcina del Barco - Image from the Escudos y Banderas de la Provincia de Burgos website, 11 February 2015

Barcina del Barco is located close to the confluence of rivers Purón and Ebro. "del Barco" refers to the boat (barco) once used to cross the Ebro. The name of Barcina del Barco was first mentioned in 1647. Beforehand, the village was known as Barcina de la Riba. The ferry was placed under the protection of the Brotherhood of Santa Cruz de la Riba, which had members in 21 nearby villages. The brotherhood was headquartered in the chapel of the same name.

The flag and arms of Barcina del Barco are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 3 December 1998 by the Government of the Province of Burgos, signed on 15 December 1998 by the President, and published on 29 December 1998 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 248 (text).
The symbols, which were validated by the Chronicler of Arms of Castilla y León, are described as follows:

Flag: Castilian, proportions 1:1. The field vert with a cross gules all over a boat ["barco"] gules.
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Argent a two-peaked mount proper the first ensigned with a cross gules the second with three rocks, named "The Little Friars", 2a. Gules a boat argent on waves azure and argent, 2b. Vert three wheat spikes or. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The Royal Academy of History recommended modifications to the design of the arms, while keeping its elements. The representation of specific mountains is not acceptable, since heraldry relies only on generic representations. The boat on waves is unnecessarily "compressed" in a quarter of the shield. The representation of the boat is crowded with too much detail. Moreover, it is not acceptable to have a boat sable on a field gules. The wheat spikes add an absolutely unnecessary complication, and should be dropped from the design.
The modified arms could be "Per fess, 1. Argent a boat sable on waves, 2. Azure a two-peaked mount argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown". Moving the boat to the main field of the arms would justify to place it in the heart of the flag, whose colours have to be corrected. It could be green, with a white cross charged in the middle with a boat sable. Finally, calling this shape of flag "Castilian" is totally irrelevant, being based on a wrong interpretation of the word cuadra.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 2000, 197, 3: 521]

Ivan Sache, 11 February 2015

Gabanes

Flag of Gabanes - Image by Ivan Sache, 18 February 2015

The flag and arms of Gabanes, approved in 16 July 1999 by the Village Council, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 11 October 2000 by the Village Council, signed on 19 October 2000 by the Mayor, and published on 8 November 2000 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 216, p. 13,659 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Castilian, with the lower third Castile red and the upper rest vert green, with two white zigzags pointing upwards gyronny downwards.
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Vert two straw huts [cabañas] per fess, 2a. Azure a millstone argent over water waves argent and azure, 2b. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

The Royal Academy of History rejected, "once more", the inclusion of the arms of the Kings of Castile in the proposed arms; moreover, dropping them would increase the design's simplicity and balance. The millstone should be represented in frontal rather than perspective view. The proposed flag is acceptable, notwithstanding its odd and fairly incomprehensible description. However, it seems recommendable to postpone its approval until an acceptable coat of arms is jointly proposed.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 2002, 199, 3: 452]

Ivan Sache, 11 February 2015

Herrán

Flag of Herrán - Image from the Escudos y Banderas de la Provincia de Burgos website, 20 February 2015

The flag and arms of Herrán are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 11 March 1999 by the Government of the Province of Burgos, signed on 29 March 1999 by the President, and published on 12 April 1999 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 67, p. 3,883 (text).
The symbols, which were validated by the Chronicler of Arms of Castille y León, are described as follows:

Flag: Castilian, with proportions 1:1. Fivefold vertical, double green and central blue. All over a tower argent masoned sable and surmounted with a Star of David argent.
Coat of arms: Azure a tower argent surrounded by two holly oaks and two millstones on a base vert in chief a Star of David argent in base waves azure and argent. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

Ivan Sache, 20 February 2015

Villaescusa

Flag of Villaescusa - Image from the Escudos y Banderas de la Provincia de Burgos website, 15 March 2015

The flag and arms of Villaescusa are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 8 July 1999 by the Government of the Province of Burgos, signed on 27 July 1999 by the President, and published on 6 August 1999 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 151, p. 8,008 (text).
The symbols, which were validated by the Chronicler of Arms of Castille y León, are described as follows:

Flag: Castilian, tierced, or with a double upper distribution. 1. Gules, 2. Argent and the base azure. All over a tree vert eradicated fructed gules crossed by two keys the one or the other argent.
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. The emblem of Castile and León, 2a. Azure a tree vert eradicated fructed gules crossed by two keys passant per saltire the one or the other argent. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

Ivan Sache, 15 March 2015