Fuentepelayo (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Last modified: 2015-03-13 by ivan sache
Keywords: fuentepelayo |
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Flag of Fuentepelayo - Image by "Asqueladd" (Wikimedia Commons), 25 January 2014

• Presentation of Fuentepelayo
• Symbols of Fuentepelayo

See also:

• Spain
• Castilla y León (Autonomous Community, Spain)
• Segovia Province (Castilla y León, Spain)

Presentation of Fuentepelayo

The municipality of Fuentepelayo (958 inhabitants in 2010; 3,090 ha; municipal website) is located in the center of Segovia Province.

Fuentepelayo was mentioned for the first time in the middle of the 12th century, while having most probably been resettled earlier by Basque and Asturian colonists. The local legend says that the village is named for Pelagius (Pelayo), the Asturian king who initiated the Christian reconquest. Pelagius is said to have dig a well to water his army; the settlement that developed near the well was named Pelagius' Fountain (fuente). Originally owned by the Cuéllar Council, Fuentepelayo was transferred in 1181 to the Bishop of Segovia; in 1277, Fuentepelayo was granted the title of villa by King Alfonso X the Wise. In 1589, Philip II sold the village to Alonso Gómez Gallo.

Ivan Sache, 6 May 2011

Symbols of Fuentepelayo

The flag (photo, Town Hall) and arms of Fuentepelayo are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 30 March 1995 by the Segovia Provincial Government, signed on 6 April 1995 by the President of the Government, and published on 18 April 1995 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 73 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Quadrangular flag, with proportions 2:3, tierced at hoist yellow (1/3) and red (2/3), on the yellow field three black roosters beaked armed and crested gules.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Gules a bishop's crozier or, 2. Or three roosters sable armed beaked and crested gules per pale, grafted in base waves argent and azure. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.

The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed coat of arms, "without any difficulty". The proposed flag is "equally acceptable". The roosters ("gallos") are taken from the canting arms of Alonso Gómez Gallo. The bishop's crozier represents the Bishop of Segovia. The wavy base alludes to the name of the village (Boletín de la Royal Academia de la Historia, 1997, 194, 1: 200-201).

Ivan Sache, 25 January 2014