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Municipality of Montemayor (Córdoba Province, Andalusia, Spain)

image by Wikipedia User: Hameryko and Ivan Sache, 06 Jul 2009

Introduction
Description
Coat of Arms

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of Montemayor (4,067 inhabitants in 2008; 5,798 ha) is located in the Córdoba Plain, 30 km south of Córdoba, on a height recalled in the town's name and nickname, "Mirador de la Campiña" (The Countryside's Mirador).

Iberic ex-votos and ceramics dated 2000 BC proved that Montemayor is the site of one of the oldest settlements in the Province of Córdoba, known as Ulia. Once believed to have been founded by the Romans, Ulia, whose etymology is still obscure, is indeed an Iberic, and even maybe pre-Iberic, foundation. The gilded age of Ulia was the second half of the first century BC, following the victory of Caesar over the sons of Pompeius at Munda (45 BC); in his "Bellum Hispaniencis," Aulu Hircio states that Ulia was the only town in southern Spain to have remained loyal to Caesar all over the civil war. Ulia sent more than 4,000 soldiers and riders to Munda; the legend says that Caesar himself granted the town with the title "Fidentia" ("The Loyal"). Ulia declined in the 3rd century AD and the site was nearly abandoned during the Wisigothic period; the Roman walls and buildings were used as a quarry by the inhabitants of the region.

While superseded by Córdoba, Ulia reemerged in the Moorish period as UIyay Kanabniya (Ulia de la Campiña), one of the 15 "iqlins" (rural districts) of the "cora" (province) of Córdoba. While there is no archeological evidence of such a refoundation, Muslim chroniclers mentioned the river Ulya (probably the brook Carchena) as crossed by the Roman way linking Córdoba to Málaga and the "iqlin" as a main source of grain for the provincial capital. In 1233, King Fernando III the Saint sent troops to resettle the nearly desert site of Montemayor; his son Alfonso X the Wise described the area as rich in game, as proved by the great number of boar's tusks found there. After the reconquest of Córdoba, Montemayor and the neighbouring castle of Dos Hermanas were transfered to the Fernández de Córdoba family. In the first third of the 14th century, the Nasrid king of Granada Muhammad, supported by the lord of Aguilar, raided the Christian territories located near the border, sacking the Córdoba Plain; with permission of King Alfonso XI, Martín Alfonso Fernández de Córdoba started in 1340 to resettle the area and to rebuild the castle of Montemayor, mostly with remains of the old town of Ulia and of the castle of Dos Hermanas. In 1349, Alfonso Fernández succeeded his deceased father and took the name of de Montemayor (instead of de Córdoba); his descendant Alfonso VI took part to the final reconquest of Granada in 1492. Martin IV Alfonso Fernández de Montemayor was appointed Vice-Roy of Navarre and Count of Alcaudete as a reward for his support to Charles I in the war against France.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 06 Jul 2009

Description

The flag and arms of Montemayor were approved by the Municipal Council on 28 October 2007 and submitted on 7 November 2007 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 14 November 2007, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 232 on 26 November 2007.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Coat of arms: Spanish shield, azure a tower with a perron argent charged with an escutcheon or three fesses gules and flanked with two smaller roofed towers argent. The border argent with a cross sable in chief and the writing "TU IN EA ET EGO PRO EA" in letters sable. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown open.

Flag: Rectangular flag in proportions 2/3 (hoist per length), with three horizontal stripes, red, white and blue, the first with proportions 6/8, the second and third each with proportions 1/8. In the red stripe a tower with a perron, argent, charged with an escutcheon or with three fesses gules and flanked with two smaller roofed towers argent.

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 apprended to the Decree).

Source: BOJA No. 232, p. 65, 26 Nov 2007 [PDF]

The escutcheon bears the arms of the Fernández de Córdoba / de Montemayor family.

Ivan Sache, 06 Jul 2009