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Municipality of La Campana (Seville Province, Andalusia, Spain)

2:3
image by Wikipedia User:MiguelAngel fotografo, 15 Jul 2009
N.B.: reconstructed image, no original seen

Introduction
Description
Coat of Arms

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of La Campana (5,467 inhabitants in 2008; 12,609 ha) is located 60 km east of Seville.

The original village of La Campana dates back to 1412, when the King of Castile sold the domain of La Campana to Micer Bartolomé de Bocanegra, who founded a settlement of c. 50 inhabitants. In 1559, Juana, Infant of Castile and Princess of Portugal, sold the domain to Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera. The domain was eventually incorporated, in the 19th century, into the Duchy of Alba.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 15 Jul 2009

Description

The flag and new arms of La Campana were approved by the Municipal Council on 4 April 2005 and submitted on 12 May 2005 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 19 May 2005, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 106 on 2 June 2005.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Coat of arms: On a field gules, a bell ["campana"] or with its "melena" and clapper, surmounted by three leaves of olive tree.

Flag: Rectangular with a relation 3/2, a Bordeaux red background (pantone 194c). In the middle all over the municipal coat of arms.

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. 106, pp. 37-38, 02 Jun 2005

Wikipedia shows two coats of arms, the new one and the obsolete, but, unfortunately, keeps the obsolete one on the La Campana main page.

The municipal website still presents the obsolete coat of arms as "the coat of arms," described as: "On a field gules (meaning the war), a bell or with its "melena," clapper and rope placed in the chief of the shield, in the base of the same a Napoleonic French helmet, surmonting two rifles equiped with a bayonet and a sword, all the elements argent and or fimbriated sable."

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 15 Jul 2009

Coat of Arms

The "ancient coat of arms" section describes indeed the origin of the former coat of arms (which is, of course, the source of the amended one!). The oldest known coat of arms of La Campina appears on a seal of a book of account dated 1825, as a shield with a bell. The next known seal of the village, dated 1887, has the swords, baionets and French helmet added. The (canting) bell recalls the bell used either to warn the villagers of the Moorish raids or to call them to the mass in a small hermitage that predated the parish chruch. However, Joaquín Caro Naranjo believes that the name of La Campana was simply derived from the name fo the area, La Campaña (The Countryside). The French helmet and weapons recall either the work done in the town in 1808 by 800 French prisoners from the Battle of Bailén or the resistance of the villagers to a French attack on 20 January 1810. Joaquín Caro Naranjo says that more research is needed on this topic.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 15 Jul 2009