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Algete (Municipality, Community of Madrid, Spain)

Flag of Algete - Image by Ivan Sache, 28 June 2015

Presentation of Algete
Symbols of Algete

See also:

Presentation of Algete

The municipality of Algete (20,102 inhabitants; 3,788 ha; municipal website) is located in the north-east of the Community of Madrid, 35 km of Madrid.

Algete was first mentioned in 720, when a Muslim ruler, Tariq ibn Ziyad, established a garrison on a hill watching river Jarama and the northern road (today, National Road No. 1, connecting Madrid to the French border in Basque Country). The place was known as al-Satt, lit., "the bank". Other historians claime that Algete was indeed named for an Iberian settlement called Elge or Elke, meaning "a cultivated field".
The valley of Jarama was re-settled in the 12th century by Alfonso VI, who expelled most of the Muslim population and replaced it by Christians from the northern areas of Spain. Algete was granted the status of villa in 1579 by Philip II and subsequently sold to García Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Cañete and Vice-Roy of Peru. In 1728, Cristóbal de Moscoso y Montemayor was made Duke of Algete and Grandee of Spain by Philip V.

Ivan Sache, 28 June 2015

Symbols of Algete

The flag of Algete (photo, photo) is horizontally divided blue-white with a vertical purple stripe, in length 1/3 of the flag's length, placed along the hoist. The municipal coat of arms is placed at the intersection of the three stripes. The flag does not appear to have been officially approved.
[Crónicas de Algete, by Miguel Alcobendas, 1995]

The coat of arms of Algete is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 10 April 1986 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 13 May 1986 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 112, p. 2 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Per fess, 1a. Or five bends sinister gules, 1b. A wolf's head sable dripping blood, 2. Vert a bunch of grapes argent adextered with two wheat spikes or. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The upper quarters of the arms refer to Cristóbal de Moscoso y Montemayor, Duke of Algete. The lower quarter alludes to the local agricultural resources - wheat, still grown, and grapevine, present in the neighbourhood until the middle of the 20th century.
[Crónicas de Algete, by Miguel Alcobendas, 1995]

The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed coat of arms, but rejected the proposed flag, horizontally divided purple-white-blue with the municipal coat of arms in the center. The Academy recalled that the "Castilian purple" colour never existed and could not be used. Moreover, white and blue have no connection with the coat of arms; accordingly, the colours should be or, green and argent.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1986, 183, 1: 133]

Ivan Sache, 28 June 2015