Last modified: 2016-06-04 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Cadalso de los Vidrios (2,760 inhabitants in 2014; 4,764 ha; municipal tourism website) is located in the extreme south-west of the Community of Madrid, on the border with Castilla y Lón (Province of Ávila) and Castilla-La Mancha (Province of Toledo), 80 km of Madrid. In 1833, Cadalso was incorporated into the Province of Madrid, while its dependency Navahondilla, together with the hamlet of Majadillas (today deserted) was incorporated into the Province of Ávila.
Cadalso is believed to have been in the Roman times a Jewish
settlement named Cadalfarum. Cadalso means "a high place", reflecting
its location on a hill dominating a crossing of Castilian roads. "de
los Vidrios" (of glass) refers to the workshops that made the fame of
the village in the 15th-17th century; most of the glassware used in
the Royal Pharmacy of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial was produced in Cadalso; the workshops were eventually closed in the beginning of the 20th century.
Occupied in 193 BC by Marcus Fluvius during the conquest of Toledo from the Celtiberians, Cadalso became a significant settlement. During the Visigothic period, the village, known as Las Ventas de Santa Ana, was ruled from Toledo.
After the Muslim conquest, 'Abd al-Rahman I (756-788) fortified the
place to watch the access to Toledo, building fortifications, a
quadrangular mosque - subsequently transformed in a church -, and
vaulted cellars. Looted in 982 by Almanzor, Cadalso was reconquerred
and rebuilt in 1082 by King Alfonso VI, who granted the town with
the title of "Villa Muy Noble y Muy Leal" (Very Noble and Loyal Town).
Rejecting the Christian rule, the Muslims settled the top of Peña
Muñana, from which they raided the village. The tradition says that
the Christian colonists sent goats with torches attached to the horns
to set up fire to the Muslim den and to force them to surrender.
Cadalso is the birth place of Luis María de Borbón (1777-1823), the son of Infante Luis de Borbón and the nephew of King Philip V, born on 22 May 1777 in the palace of the Marquis of Villena. The palace was originally established as a fortified manor by Álvaro de Luna (1390-1453), Constable of Castile and favourite of King John II. Following Luna's disgrace and death, the manor was taken over by Juan Fernández Pacheco (1419-1474), Marquis of Villena, who renamed it. The Catholic Monarchs eventually transferred the palace to the Duke of Frías, as part of the dowry of his spouse, Joan of Aragón, the daughter of King Ferdinand. It is believed that Isabel the Catholic stayed in the palace on her way to Guisando, where she would sign the peace with her brother Henry IV (Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando, 18 September 1468).
Ivan Sache, 2 July 2015
The flag (photo) and arms of Cadalso de los Vidrios are prescribed by a Decree
adopted on 23 June 1994 by the Government of the Community of Madrid
and published on 22 July 1994 in the official gazette of the Community
of Madrid, No. 172, p. 6 (text) and on 19 August 1994 in the Spanish
official gazette, No. 198, pp. 26,568-26,569 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Panel in proportions 2/3. Horizontally tierced argent, red and argent. In the center the coat of arms of the municipality. Or shall be represented as yellow, silver and pearls as white.
Coat of arms: Quarterly, 1. and 4. Gules a winged arm or holding a sword, 2. and 3. Argent a lion rampant purpure. A bordure or charged with three grapevine leaves vert one in canton sinister one in canton dexter and one in base. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed symbols,
acknowledging the addition of a bordure, specific of the place, to the
arms of the Manuel, which had been previously rejected.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1995, 192, 1: 166]
Ivan Sache, 2 July 2015
