Last modified: 2019-10-14 by ivan sache
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The municipality of San Clemente (7,107 inhabitants in 2018, therefore the 4th most populated municipality in the province; 27,751 ha, therefore the 3rd biggest municipality in the province by its area) is located 110 km south of Cuenca.
San Clemente was incorporated to the Kingdom of Castile in the 12th
century, in the aftermath of the Christian reconquest of Cuenca and
Alarcón by Alfonso VIII. The local tradition claims that the town was
renamed for Knight Clemente Pérez de Rus.
The town was subsequently transferred from Alarcón to the Marquisate of
Villena. San Clemente was granted on 10 December 1445 the status of
villa by Juan Pacheco, Master of the Order of Saint James and 1st
Marquess of Villena; the status was confirmed by Kings John II and Henry
IV. As a retaliation for the Marquess' support to Joanna la Beltraneja,
the Catholic Monarchs incorporated San Clemente to the royal domain,
visiting the town on 9 August 1488. During the 15th-16th centuries, the
region, then hardly inhabited, was resettled by farmers; San Clemente
experienced its Gilded Age. In the next centuries, the Morisco Wars,
locusts, the black plague, the decrease of crop yields, and the lack of
pastures for cattle caused the decline of the town.
San Clemente re-emerged in the 17th century. Hospices, monasteries and
convents were founded by noble lineages while the Governor of the
Marquisate of Villena established his residence in the town, with
jurisdiction on 28 towns. San Clemente, then the capital of Upper
Mancha, was known as "The Little Court of Mancha". During the War of the
Spanish Succession, the Duke of Berwich was headquartered in San
Clemente; as a reward, the town was awarded by Philip V the title of
"Muy Noble, Muy Leal y Fidelísima Villa [Very Noble, Very Loyal and
Very Most Faithful Town]. During the War of Independence, the local hero
was Bibiano Hellin, listed in Galdós' Episodios Nacionales.
[San Clemente (Cuenca) blog]
Ivan Sache, 2 July 2019
The flag and arms of San Clemente are prescribed by Order No. 159,
issued on 19 October 2018 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and
published on 8 November 2018 in the official gazette of Castilla-La
Mancha, No. 218, p. 29,859 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Blue panel, with the charges of the coat of arms of San Clemente, the panel's blue color taken from the field of the coat of arms and the charges taken from the coat of arms of San Clemente.
Coat of arms: On a cartouche. Spanish shield, rectangular, oblong and rounded-off in base, in proportions 6 units in width on 5 units in length. Azure a castle or masoned surrounded dexter by a "S" sinister by a "C" the two argent surmounted by a star or. The shield surmounted by an old Royal crown, since it was a Royal domain. Motto: Muy Leal y Fidelísima Villa [Very Loyal and Very Most Faithful Town].
Ivan Sache, 2 July 2019