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Gavilanes (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Flag of Gavilanes - Image by Eduardo Panizo Gómez (Vexilla Hispanica website), 28 May 2011

Presentation of Gavilanes
Symbols of Gavilanes

See also:

Presentation of Gavilanes

The municipality of Gavilanes (629 inhabitants in 2010; 2,900 ha; official website) is located in the south of Ávila Province, on the border with Toledo Province, 70 km of Ávila.

Gavllanes, like the other villages of the Upper Tiétar valley, was resettled in 1130-1140 by the Basque knights Blasco Ximeno the Great and his son Blasco Ximeno the Child. In the 14th century, the village was listed, as Los Gavilanes, on King Alfonso XI's Libro de la Montería; the king commissioned knight Gil Blázquez to revamp and resettle the village.

Ivan Sache, 28 May 2011

Symbols of Gavilanes

The flag and arms of Gavilanes, adopted on 25 January 1984 by the Municipal Council and validated by the Royal Academy of History, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 19 June 1986 by the Government of Castilla y León and published on 30 June 1986 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 72 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Crimson. In the middle of the flag is placed the municipal coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Argent two sparrowhawks [gavilanes] per pale, 2a. Or six roundels azure, 2b. Azure a tower or. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

On the dexter quarter of the coat of arms (municipal website), the sparrowhawks recall that the village was originally known as Los Gavilanes - these canting arms, however, are not supported by historical research, since the name of Gavilanes is most probably either of Arabic (via the Aylana tribe) or Germanic (as "Gavi's estate") origin. The upper sinister quarter is the coat of arms of Blasco Ximeno, the resettler of the village. The lower sinister quarter recalls a deserted village known as Las Torres ("The Towers"). The tower stands on a terrace vert, not mentioned in the final version of the blazon, representing the green pastures, woods and mountains of Gavilanes. The proposed arms were surmounted with a Ducal coronet recalling that the Dukes of Albuquerque were lords of the village for three centuries.

Ivan Sache, 28 May 2011