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Town of Pegalajar (Andalusia, Spain)

Jaen Province

2:3
image by Ivan Sache and WP User:Johnbojaen, 05 Jul 2009

Introduction
Description
Coat of Arms

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of Pegalajar (3,145 inhabitants in 2008; 3,946 ha) is located 20 km east of Jaén.

The meaning of the name of Pagalaljar is disputed. Lorenzo Morillas Calatrava refers to the Arabic words "piedras" and "halajar," meaning together "a pass between mountains," while Emilio Serrano Díaz claims they mean "a rock in the plain." The village was probably known in Arabic as al-Jafr, a village described by al-Muqaddasi as located 18 km of Jaén and rich in water and mills. At that time, irrigation provided by the Fuente Vieja (lit., "the Old Fountain," known today as "Fuente de la Rea") and river Guadalbullón, allowed gardening and growth of olive trees; the watercourses were used to power grain and oil mills.

After the reconquest of Jaén by Ferdinand III in 1246, Pegalajar was incorporated into this town; the village was ran each year from a different parish of Jaén. Due to the strategic location of the village and the castle, then located on the border with the Moorish Kingdom of Granada and protecting Jaén, the inhabitants of Pegalajar were granted several privileges; Quesada reported in 1428 that Henry II had suppressed taxes for the villagers. During the peace periods, Pegalajar was a main place of transit and trade between the (Christian) Kingdom of Castilie and the Kingdom of Granada. After the fall of the Kingdom of Granada in 1492, Pegalajar lost its strategic importance and became a wealthy rural settlement. While still a small village, Pegalajar applied for independence from Jaén, which was granted, together with the title of "villa," on 3 June 1559. With only 1,200 inhabitants, Pegalajar was one of the smallest Spanish "villas."

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 05 Jul 2009

Description

The flag and arms of Pegalajar were approved by the Municipal Council on 18 May 2007 and submitted on 30 May 2007 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 13 June 2007, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 125 on 26 June 2007.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Coat of arms: Shield divided per pale. Dexter gules a castle or creneled with three towers with five windows and a port sable. On each tower a star sable, dexter four-pointed, middle six-pointed, sinister eight-pointed. Sinister argent a lion gules crowned arms and langued or. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown closed.

Flag: Rectangular tafeta flag in proportions three moduls on length on tow in hoist (2:3), cut in the horizontal middle in two equal parts, saphire azure on top and purple on bottom, charged with the greater municipal coat of arms, including the crown and the motto, vertically centered and covering on third of the flag hoist.

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. 125, p. 27, 26 June 2007 [PDF]

The flag and arms of Pegalajar were designed by the local historian Dr. Juan Antonio López Cordero, author of the memoir "Memoria histórica, heráldica y vexilológica justificativa del escudo y bandera de la Villa de Pegelejar" submitted to the General Directorate of Local Administration.

Cordero substantiates his proposal of flag as follows: There is no report of historical flag, pennant... in Pegalajar, therefore the need to design a brand new flag. Sapphire blue recalls the significance of water, especially the Fuente de la Reja and the characteristic landscape of the Huerta [irrigated "garden"] de Pegalajar. Purple recalls that Pegalajar once depended on Jaén.

Cordero gives colour specification as follows: Coat of arms Argent: Pantone 414c Or: Pantone 117c Gules: Pantone 192c

Flag Sea blue [not sapphire blue!]: B+, Pantone 2915c Purple: P+, Pantone 2627u

On the drawings attached to the text, there is no "motto" on the coat of arms, therefore the prescription of the flag "with the coat of arms including crown and motto" must be an error by Cordero (who might have removed the motto from a preliminary version) reproduced in the Decree.

Source: Municipal website [PDF]

Ivan Sache, 05 Jul 2009

Coat of Arms

There was no need to design a new coat of arms from scratch since Pegalajar has been using arms at least since the 18th century. When a part of Jaén, Pegalajar used the arms still visible on the Arch of Incarnation, one of the ancient gates of the town (stones dated from the first half of the 15th century), "Quarterly. 1. and 4. A castle creneled of three towers. 2. and 3. A lion rampant crowned"; these arms were probably derived from the arms of Castile and Leon, which had been united by Ferdinand III, the reconquester of Pegalajar. The privilege grant of 1559 does not show coats of arms, probably because the relevant parts of the parchment have been lost. However, the lower left corner of the document shows a shield with a three-towered castle or surmounted by stars. The first written description of the arms of Pegalajar appears in Bernardo Espinalt García's "Atlante español o descripción general geográfica, cronológica..." (vol. 13, p. 173), published in Madrid, 1778-1795, and reprinted several times. The author says that Pegalajar "has for coat of arms the arms of Castilie and Leon." This claim has been reproduced in several subsequent works all along the 19th century. An image of the said coat of arms is shown in Alfredo Cazában's "El curioso cuadro de los escudos que dedicó don Manuel de la Paz Mosquera al Ayuntamiento de Jaén" (Don Lope de Sosa: Crónica Mensual de la Provincia de Jaén, 1924. Fac-simile, 1980); Cazában transcribes the relevant parts of García's work and gives a plate with the municipal coats of arms in the Province of Jaén. The image was reproduced in subsequent works.

Cordero substantiates his proposal of coat of arms as follows: - the castle and the lion, linked to the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Castilie, recall that Pegalajar was located on the border of this kingdom with the Kingdom of Granada. They appear on the ancient coat of arms of the town, as described above. - the stars over the tower are derived from the shield shown on the 1559 privilege grant. The four-, six- and eight-pointed stars can be identified with Jesus Christ, God and the Blessed Virgin, respectively [I skip a lengthy and not necessarily sound description of the numerologic meaning of the stars]. Their location symbolizes the divine protection granted to the fortress of Pegalajar. These stars are the single variation of sigificance brought to the coat of arms actually [that is before the proposal's submission, as a non-official coat of arms] used by the municipality. - the Royal Spanish crown closed is used to avoid confusion with nobility crowns and to respect the Constitution, as it is usually the case in Andalusian municipal heraldry.

Ivan Sache, 05 Jul 2009