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Fresno el Viejo (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Flag of Fresno el Viejo - Image by Ivan Sache, 4 May 2011

Presentation of Fresno el Viejo
Symbols of Fresno el Viejo

See also:

Presentation of Fresno el Viejo

he municipality of Fresno el Viejo (1,057 inhabitants in 2010; 6,422 ha; unofficial website) is located in the south-west of Valladolid Province, on the border with the Ávila and Salamanca Provinces, 75 km from Valladolid.
Fresno el Viejo ("The Old") was granted on 11 November 1116 by Queen Urraca to the Order of St. John. The Order held in 1195 a General Chapter in the parish church, attended by bishops, noble and monks from all over Spain.

Ivan Sache, 4 May 2011

Symbols of Fresno el Viejo

The flag and arms (image) of Fresno el Viejo are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 27 May 1994 by the Valladolid Provincial Government, signed on 10 March 1995 by the President of the Government, and published on 17 March 1995 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 54 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Quadrangular flag, with proportions 1:1, white. In the middle is placed the municipal coat of arms in full colors.
Coat of arms: Or an ash tree [fresno] eradicated proper ensigned with a Maltese Cross argent. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.

The flag in use (photo, 5 February 2010) is rectangular with the coat of arms surmounted by a crown open.

The Royal Academy of History rejected a previous arms proposal, which differed from the final arms by the addition of the place name to the field of the shield. The Academy validated the field or with the ash tree but rejected the cross' placement in the field and the writing. While it is relevant to include a symbol of the Order of St. John in the municipal arms, this inclusion should follow the rules established in the heraldry of the Order, that is adding "a chief of the Order"; the relevant cross is not the cross patty used on the knights' coats but a plain white cross, to be placed on a field gules. Accordingly, the Academy proposed "Or an ash tree proper a chief gules a cross argent." The shield should be surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown, as prescribed by the norms of the Government of Castilla y León.
The proposed flag was made of a white panel of unspecified proportions (supposed rectangular by the Academy) with the coat of arms in an unspecified location (supposed centered by the Academy), which was accepted by the Academy (Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1994, 191, 1: 168)).

Ivan Sache, 4 May 2011