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Villanueva de las Cruces (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Villanueva de las Cruces - Image from the Símbolos de Huelva website, 7 September 2016

Presentation of Villanueva de las Cruces
Symbols of Villanueva de las Cruces

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Presentation of Villanueva de las Cruces

The municipality of Villanueva de las Cruces (379 inhabitants in 2015; 3,400 ha; municipal website) is located 60 km north of Huelva.

Villanueva de las Cruces is named for its Latin original name, Villa Nova (New Town); "de las Cruces" (the Crosses') most probably alludes to the geographical location of the village, said to have been established around an inn erected at the crossing of the roads to Seville and Portugal. The crosses are locally said to be indeed the marks used in the 16th-17th century by the illiterate villagers to sign documents.

Ivan Sache, 7 September 2016

Symbols of Villanueva de las Cruces

The flag and arms of Villanueva de los Cruces do not appear to have been officially registered.
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Blue with a yellow cross outlined in white. Charged in the center with the local coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Azure two caldrons in pale chequy or and gules seven snakes vert issuant from each handle a bordure of 14 pieces seven gules a castle or masoned sable and port and windows azure and seven argent a lion rampant purpure crowned or armed and langued gules, 2. Vert three Latin crosses or in pale the central bigger. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The flag was proposed on 4 October 1993 by Juan José Antequera. The Royal Academy of Córdoba rejected the proposal on 8 June 1995 because it includes a colour (blue) taken from the arms of the Guzmán, which caused the companion rejection of the proposed arms (see below). The Academy recommended to change the colours of the flag according to the colours of the amended coat of arms.

The municipality used in the last third of the 19th century an ink seal that fell into oblivion, made of an oval of 3 cm x 4 cm charged with a calvary: a hill ensigned with three crosses, the central bigger.
A new design, proposed on 10 December 1989 and adopted on 30 January 1990 by the Municipal Council, is described as:

Coat of arms: Per fess, 1a. Per saltire, 1. and 3. Azure a caldron chequy or and gules with seven snakes vert, 2. and 4. Argent five ermine spots sable in saltire a bordure of 14 pieces seven gules a castle or and seven argent a lion purpure (Medina Sidonia of the Guzmán lineage), 1b. Azure two caldrons in pale chequy or and gules with seven snakes vert a bordure of 14 pieces seven gules a castle or and seven argent a lion purpure (Counts of Niebla of the Guzmán lineage), 2. Vert three crosses fitchy or. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The Royal Academy of History rejected the proposal, refusing the duplication of the arms of the Guzmán to evoke two different branches of the lineage and finding "awkward" the arrangement of the crosses.

The arms in current use were proposed on 4 October 1993 by Juan José Antequera.
The Royal Academy of Córdoba rejected the proposed arms on 8 June 1995. The Academy does not find it necessary for all the municipalities that once belonged to the County of Niebla to recall it by using the arms of the Counts of Niebla; in the contrary, the rules of municipal heraldry recommend to use characteristic charges easily identifiable. Moreover, the complexity of the arms of the Guzmán makes their use in small-sized versions of arms very inappropriate. This fact is highlighted by the drawing attached to the submission: the windows of the castles could not have been represented properly, neither the crown, claws and nails of the lions; the snakes lack eyes, mouth and tongue.
The Academy recommended to design a new coat of arms based on the distinctive charges that make the arms canting.

The designer submitted a bitter rebuttal. The Academy confirmed on 8 July 1996 its opposition to the proposed symbol, but validated the proposed arms, provided the snakes are represented with eyes and tongues.
The municipality accepted the suggested additions, but the registration process was declared null and void by a Resolution adopted on 24 October 1997 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 15 November 1997 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 133, p. 13,566 (text).
[Juan José Antequera. Principios de transmisibilidad en las heráldicas officiales de Sevilla, Córdoba y Huelva]

Ivan Sache, 7 September 2016