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Zamora Province (Castile and Leon, Spain)

2:3
image by Jens Pattke

See also:

Provincial Flags (Spain)
Castile and Leon (Castilla y León, Spain)
Spain

Description

According to the Manual del Estado Español (Handbook of the Spanish State, Spanish text only) by Editorial Lama:

historical flag [meaning there is no known adoption date]: "Nueve bandas, ocho de color encarnado, que simbolizan las victorias de Viriato, y una verde situada en la parte superior, concedida a Zamora por el Rey Fernando por su contribución a la batalla de Toro en 1476."
historical coat-of-arms [meaning there is no known adoption date]

Pascal Vagnat, 16 Jul 1999

According to the description reported by Pascal Vagnat, "Nine stripes, eight of [red] flesh colour (...) and one green located in the upper part". I guess this means 1/9th green over 8/9ths red. The eight red stripes "stand for the victories of Viriato", a local Iberian leader who resisted to Roman annexation some 2000 years ago. Viriato (or Viriatus) is seen as a remote ancestor and national hero in Portugal, his legendary hometown being located near Viseu. Zamora is a border province, so it looks right. The flag was granted to Zamora by King Ferdinand (of Castile) in 1476, after the city's role in the Toro battle.

António Martins, 16 Jul 1999

According to Calvo and Grávalos 1983, pps. 42 and 43, ill. 61 (my translation):

(...) up to that date [1476] the flag of the city of Zamora was made up of eight vermillion stripes, a reminder of the enemy sashes captured by Viriatus in his main victories. The Catholic Kings, in reward for the heroic and fortunate acts of the people of Zamora at the battle of Peleangonzalo or Toro (March 1st 1476), decorated the [town] council's flag with the green taffeta [a kind of silk] sash, embroidered by Doña Isabel [Elizabeth I of Castile], which Don Fernando [Ferdinand II of Aragón] was wearing. This colours, of Zamora and of Sayago [a region of Zamora province bordering Portugal], are the origin of nowadays Portuguese colours. [Sources:] El libro de Zamora [The Zamora Book]; the city coat-of-arms; and Tradiciones infundadas [Baseless traditions, a 1890s work quoted as a vexillological source by Neubecker 1939] by Pedro Fernández Duro.

Santiago Dotor, 20 Jul 1999

The flags I have seen show a very thin white fimbriation between every two adjacent stripes. The flag seems to be completely rectangular, without swallow-tailed edges. Source: Ministerio para las Administraciones Públicas 1992.

Antonio Gutiérrez, 16 Sep and 19 Jul 1999

The source for Jens Pattke's image is Ministerio para las Administraciones Públicas 1992.

Falko Schmidt, 16 Jan 2002

I note that this flag is quite similar to a "Moor" flag given in some old flag charts, such as [noh71], even if its green stripe is wider. It was also interesting to know that this flag was the inspiration for the current Portuguese flag, according to [g2c83] – a claim that cannot be based only in chromatic coincidence and geographical proximity: What is the whole story?

António Martins-Tuválkin, 04 Jul 2004

Flag Variants

images by António Martins

The original flag as shown in Calvo and Grávalos 1983 shows it made up of nine actual stripes, each of which ends up in a triangular point.

Santiago Dotor, 20 Jul 1999

There are other, probably older versions with a serrated fly for each stripe, and one with a Schwenkel continuing the green upper stripe.

Blas Delgado, 23 Jan 2002