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Town of Bornos (Andalusia, Spain)

Cádiz Province

by António Martins

Description

See also:

Cádiz Province (Andalusia, Spain)
Andalusia (Spain)
Spain

Introduction

The municipality of Bornos (8,123 inhabitants - "Bornichos" - in 2008; 5,431 ha) is located 80 km north-east of Cádiz.

In 1398, the castle and domain of Bornos were purchased by Per Afán de Ribera, first Great Adelantado of Andalusia ("Adelantado Mayor de Andalucía," aka Great Adelantado of the Border, "Adelantado Mayor de la Frontera"). This position was created in 1396 by King Henry III to protect the border with the Kingdom of Granada and granted to Per Afan de Ribera (1338-1421). This hereditary position remained kept by the Ribera family, of Galician origin and established in Seville in the 14th century, until superseded by the title of Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, granted by Philip II in 1558 to Per Enríquez-Afán de Ribera (1509-1571), aka Perafán de Ribera, second Marquis of Tarifa, fifth Count of Los Molares, Viceroy of Catalonia and Naples. The illegitimate son of Perafán de Ribera is known as St. Juan de Ribera (1532-1611, canonized in 1960, in spite of his role in the expelling of the Moriscos from Valencia). Ribera was appointed Archbishop and Viceroy of Valencia and Patriarch of Antioch.

Bornos is the proud cradle of the Ribera family, whose members often stayed at Bornos rather than somewhere else and built several monuments in the town. The former Moorish castle was transformed in a palace of Plateresque style (Spanish Renaissance) in the 16th century. The palace's garden was designed on the model of Bramante's Belvedere Garden in Vatican (1501) for Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, who had travelled to the Holy Land and Italy. The Dame of the castle was said to bathe in the garden's basin to purify her body after having purified her soul in the neighbouring chapel. Restored and transformed by Spanish and Italian artists in the 16th-17th centuries, the castle was purchaed by the municipality from the Ducal House of Medinaceli in 1953. The logia, built as an open-air private museum by architect Benvenuto Tortello, is unique in Andalusia.

Francisco Enríquez de Ribera founded in 1505 the Monastery of St. Mary of the Rosary, famous for its cloister supported by 56 marble columns; a main religious center in the 18th century, the monastery declined and only a small tower and parts of its wall are still visible. Fernando Enríquez de Ribera founded in 1590 the St. Bernardino Convent, used as a college by the Franciscan monks, and also nearly disappeared today.

Perafán de Ribera, in his testament, commissioned his son (St.) Juan to build the "Colegio de la Sangre" (College of the Blood) to house the Duke's squires and other nobles of low rank but good blood, which was achieved in 1597. Perafán's second will was the building of the Corpus Christi Convent, which was allowed by Pope Clement VII in 1593 and inaugurated in 1597 by Cistercian nuns, subsequently succeeded by Franciscan Clarisses.

Source: Bornos tourism website

Ivan Sache, 03 Aug 2009

Description

Bornos is a municipality in the Province of Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain. Flag: or, three fesses vert. Just that. In the article of Banderas (page 22, unknown number, a xerox from Jaume Ollé) this is said to be "very distinct amidst the usual Andalusian vexillology".

António Martins, 26 May 1998

The flag and arms of Bornos were approved by the Municipal Council on 6 July 2004 and submitted on 8 July 2004 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 20 July 2004, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 151 on 3 August 2004.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

[Flag:] - Panel in proportions 2/3: seven equal horizontal stripes; the first, third, fifth and seventh yellow and the three other green.

[Coat of arms:] - Rectangular shield rounded-off. Or three fesses vert. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown open.

The Decree states that the coat of arms was originally adopted on 16 August 1969 by Decree No. 2173/1969 published in the Spanish official gazette No. 2235, 1 October 1969, therefore before the current Law on the local symbols (9 October 2001).

The symbols should be registered on the Andalusian Register of Local Entities, with their official written description and graphics (as originally submitted, but unfortunately not appended to the Decree).

Source: BOJA, No. 151, p. 17,150, 03 Aug 2004

The flag is a banner of the municipal arms, which are, unsurprisingly, the former arms of the Ribera lineage. As reported by António Martins, quoting Banderas, the flag has been used, without official approbation, at least since 1998.

Ivan Sache, 03 Aug 2009