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Alcazarén (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Flag of Alcazarén - Image by "Nethunter" (Wikimedia Commons website), 23 May 2011

Presentation of Alcazarén
Symbols of Alcazarén

See also:

Presentation of Alcazarén

The municipality of Alcazarén (722 inhabitants in 2010; 4,804 ha; municipal website) is located in the southeast of the Province of Valladolid, 40 km from Valladolid.

Alcazarén was mentioned for the first time, as Al-Qasrayn, in Ibn Hayyan's Muqtabis, among the places destroyed in 939 by Abd-ar- Rahman II. The name of Al-Qasrayn, meaning "The two alcázares [fortified palaces]", indicates an Arabic rather than Mozarabic origin for the village, which might have emerged in the 8th-9th centuries as a fortified post watching the causeway linking Andalusia to the northern territories via the Guadarrama Pass. Alcazarén was located on a bifurcation of the causeway to Tordesillas and Simancas. The definitive reconquest and resettlement by the Christians occurred in 1072-1085, under the reign of Alfonso VI; the village was incorporated into the Community of the Village and Land of Olmedo until the mid 12th century.
In 1140, Infante Sancha transferred Alcazarén to the Bishop of Segovia, as a compensation for his loss of Peñafiel and Portillo to the Bishop of Palencia, settling the dispute between the two bishops. The burghers of Olmedo complained about the transfer, since the Community of the Village and Land of Olmedo belonged to the Bishopric of Ávila and had no relation with Segovia. In 1181, King Alfonso VIII reallocated Alcazarén to Olmedo, the Bishop of Segovia being rewarded with the transfer of Mojados and Fuentepelayo, which was confirmed in 1233. Alcazarén belonged to Olmedo until granted the title of villa on 28 September 1658 by Philip IV.

Ivan Sache, 23 May 2011

Symbols of Alcazarén

The flag of Alcazarén is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 30 December 1994 by the Valladolid Provincial Government, signed on 11 January 1995 by the President of the Government, and published on 24 January 1995 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 16 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Quadrangular flag, with proportions 1:1, made of two equal horizontal stripes, red on top and blue on bottom. In the middle of the flag is placed the municipal coat of arms in full colors.

The flag (municipal website) was designed by Félix J. Martínez Llorente (Informe en torno al proyecto de bandera municipal para la villa de Alcazarén (Valladolid), 24 May 1993) and validated on 7 October 1994 by the Royal Academy of History (Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1995, 192, 2: 335).
The red field recalls the field of the coat of arms and represents the Castilian identity of Alcazarén. The blue field represents river Duero.
The flag was inaugurated in 1995 during the Vega Virgin Festival.

The coat of arms of Alcazarén, validated by the Royal Academy of History after implementation of the recommended minor modifications, is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 27 September 1991 by the Government of Castilla y León and published on 8 October 1991 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 193 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Gules two towers or masoned sable port and windows azure terraced vert over a river wavy azure and argent, in chief a key argent with the ward shaped as an eight-pointed star. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.

The coat of arms (municipal website) was designed by Félix J. Martínez Llorente (Informe en torno al proyecto de emblema heráldico para la villa de Alcazarén (Valladolid), 15 November 1989).
The arms are canting, showing the two towers (alcázares). The waves represent river Duero, then the border of the Kingdom of León with the Muslim states. The key, with a ward of Islamic design, is an allegoric representation of the village watching the border in the early ages of the Reconquest.

Ivan Sache, 23 May 2011

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