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Town of Úbeda (Andalusia, Spain)

Jaen Province

as prescribed
2:3
image by Wikipedia Users Nethunter and SanchoPanzaXXI, 30 Jul 2009 as used during Holy Week
2:3
image by Wikipedia Users Nethunter and SanchoPanzaXXI, 30 Jul 2009

Introduction
Description
Coat of Arms

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of Úbeda (34,462 inhabitants in 2008; 39,710 ha) is located in the geographic center of the Province of Jaén, 60 km east of the provincial capital.

Together with the neighbouring town of Úbeda, Baeza was registered on the World Heritage List of UNESCO, with the following comments:

Brief Description. The urban morphology of the two small cities of Úbeda and Baeza in southern Spain dates back to the Moorish 9th century and to the Reconquista in the 13th century. An important development took place in the 16th century, when the cities were subject to renovation along the lines of the emerging Renaissance. This planning intervention was part of the introduction into Spain of new humanistic ideas from Italy, which went on to have a great influence on the architecture of Latin America.

Justification for Inscription Criterion (ii): The 16th-century examples of architectural and urban design in Úbeda and Baeza were instrumental in introducing the Renaissance ideas to Spain. Through the publications of Andréa Vandelvira, the principal project architect, these examples were also diffused to Latin America. Criterion (iv): The central areas of Úbeda and Baeza constitute outstanding early examples of Renaissance civic architecture and urban planning in Spain in the early 16th century.

Source: UNESCO website

Ivan Sache, 30 Jul 2009

Description

The flag, arms, pennant, logotype, motto and anthem of Úbeda were approved by the Municipal Council and submitted on 27 October 2004 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 17 February 2005, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 44 on 4 March 2005.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Coat of arms: Anepigraphic and crestless shield, rectangular, rounded in the lower angles and ending in point in the middle, Royal crown or on a field gules orled with twelve lions gules on a field argent. The Royal crown is open with four florets, three of them being visible, separated from each other by four points, two of them being visible, surmounted with pearls on a circle or set with jewels.

Flag: Rectangular panel in proportions of hoist to length of 3 to 5, grenate with the shield of the town vertically centered and skewed horizontally at a distance form the hoist equivalent to 2/3 of the hoist. The size of the shield shall be equivalent to 2/5 of the panel hoist.

Pennant: A quadrangular piece of fabric rounded in base, grenate, completely surrounded by a narrow, fringed ribbon or; on it, a shield querterly: 1. and 4. Gules a castle or port and windows gules with three towers, masoned sable. 2. and 3. Argent a lion rampant gules crowned or. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed with eight equal florets, five of them being visible, with the same number of diadems ending above in a cross. The crown flanked dexter and sinisters with the anagram of Úbeda, with the "B" and the "E" linked to the "V" and the "A" embedded in the "D." In orle, twelve lions or crowned of the same. The six sinister rampant and the six dexter counter-rampant.

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. 44, pp. 52-55, 04 Mar 2005

Photos taken during the celebration of the Holy Week 2009 consistently show the flag, hoisted on balconies, with the shield of arms centered. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Ivan Sache, 30 Jul 2009

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Úbeda is extensively described by Enrique Toral y Fenández de Peñaranda in "El escudo de la ciudad de Úbeda: Notas para un estudio histórico" (The coat of arms of the town of Úbeda: Notes for an historical study), Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Giennenses (1970), 66: 33-40. According to Julio González ("Los sellos conejiles de España en la Edad Media" [The Spanish municipal seals in the Middle Ages], Hispania [1945], 20), the municipal councils used wax seals, lead seals being reserved to the kings, mostly of light colours, giving as examples the seals of Andújar, Santisteban and Úbeda. Some seals bear on the reverse a specific theme, with sacred texts and their legend, and the representation of the military force, as fortifications and town walls pictured in a conventional manner or fortresses distinct of usual heraldic castles.

On the Úbeda seals, the themes are a saint and a castle, recalling the the town, together with Baeza, was a stronghold watching the border with the Moorish state. Argote ("Nobleza del Andalucía") wrote that the arms of Úbeda bears Archangel St. Michael, recalling that the town was conquerred from the Moors on ths saint's day. This description is incomplete, as shown by the facsimile of the earliest known seal of the town, kept in the municipal archives, reproduced in Miguel Ruiz Prieto's "Historia de Úbeda." On the obverse, St . Michael is shown trampling the dragon and spreading wings; in the right hand, he holds a spear piercing the mouth of the dragon and, in the left hand, a triangular escutcheon orled with the word "Populo." On the reverse is shown a castle with three towers of the same height. Another representation of the arms of Úbeda, from a seal dated 1282 and kept in the municipal archives of Córdoba, is given by Juan Menéndez Pidal ("Archivo Histórico Nacional, Sección de Sigilografía, Catálogo I: Sellos españoles de la Edad Media," Madrid, 1921) as "Hanging seal made of white wax, circular, attached by interlaced red, blue and white threads. Reverse: A castle with two towers flanking a gate, .... ON (CI) LI : VBETEN ....; reverse: San Michael piercing a dragon with a spear, ... AEL ARCANGELE VENI IN... Julio González gives a different description of the same seal; obverse: A castle with three towers; reverse: St. Michael.

A thorough scrutiny of the reproductions in Menéndez Pidal's book shows that all the aforementioned descriptions are inaccurate. The correct description is: Obverse: The main gate of a fortress, surely representig the Úbeda "alcázar" (Moorish citadel). Made of a central body with a double- doors gate of Arab type with a Gothic trend. The body crenellated with, on top, a rampart walk indicating that this building was the first wall of the citadel. The gate flanked and watched by two towers, each made of two bodies. The lower bodies, crenellated, have two widened loopholes; the upper bodies, somewhat set back and without rampart walk, are also crenellated and with a single, widened loophole. On each side of the towers is placed a five-pointed star. Reverse: Correctly described by the aforementioned authors.

These arms were updated (or at least confirmed) by King Henry II, as a crown or on a red field and twelve red lions on a field argent in orle, as shown by Argote. The twelve lions stand for the twelve knights from Úbeda who challenged and defeated twelve Moorish knights near Algeciras. This event is not mentioned either in Alfonso XI's poem nor in the Chronicles, but can be considered as a long- established local tradition. Argote adds that the death of the king prevented him to grant the arms applied for by the valient knights, which was eventually done by Henry II on 12 August 1369. As summarized by Argote, the old arms of Úbeda, with St. Michael, are recalled in the new arms by the saint holding the new shield. Such arms are seen on a seal dated 1626 used by the municipal council and can be described as: Coat of arms of the Úbeda Council in traditional Spanish shape, placed in a double circle. The shield made of a crown on the field and twelve lions per orle. The shield and the orle are included into the first circle, behind the shield Archangel St. Michael per pale, the central part of his body concealed by the shield. In the left hand holding a spear, whose point is introduced in the dragon's mouth. With the right hand holding a pair of scales with a weight in each pan and bending on one side. Trampling with his feet the dragon's body and neck, nearly all the circle being filled by his wings. The first circle surrounded with an orle of fruit; another circle with a writing from which only isolated letters can be read.

On the facade of the old town hall, the shield is shown with the arms and the archangel separated; it is not know, however, whether this artefact predates or not the aforementioned described coat of arms. Anyway, this design is not very popular and different versions are shown here and there. For instance, in López Espinalt's "Atlante Español," a quite fanciful engraving representing the town of Úbeda shows the town arms as vertically divided, in the left part St. Michael trampling the dragon, in the right part the crown.

Source: Enrique Toral y Fenández de Peñaranda's paper, with black and white drawings

Ivan Sache, 30 Jul 2009