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Sedella (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Sedella - Image from the Símbolos de Málaga website, 13 November 2018

Presentation of Sedella
Symbols of Sedella
Flag proposals

See also:

Presentation of Sedella

The municipality of Sedella (634 inhabitants in 2017; 3,200 ha; municipal website) is located on the border with the Province of Granada, 60 km north-east of Málaga.

Sedella was already settled by the Romans, as evidenced by coins and pieces of pottery found in the village, which might have been named for a Lower Latin world meaning "a seat". Sedilla was mentioned in the Visigothic period, sometimes as Sedille, and renamed to Xedalia after the Christian reconquest in 1487. The popular etymology, however, refers to a battle fought during the reconquest in Arroyo de la Matanza (lit. the Massacre's Brook), commented by Queen Isabel the Catholic as "Sé de ella".
Sedella was also known as Ville Castillo, referring to the ruins of a big fortress located on a height nearby the village. The castle was used as his headquarters by Diego Fernández de Córdoba, who was granted Sedella by the Catholic Monarchs and swapped it for the town of Comares with Queen Joanna in 1512. The exchange caused problems between the two towns, since Joanna and her father, Ferdinand V, appointed in 1514 a mixed commission, composed of 10 representatives from Sedella and another ten from Comares and of Juan de Salmerón, tasked to delimit the territories of the two towns.
Sedella was one of the hotspots of the Morisco uprising. After the expelling of the Moriscos, the village was resettled with Christian colonists from Carmona and La Mancha.

Ivan Sache, 13 November 2018

Symbols of Sedella

The flag of Sedella, adopted on 8 October 2018 by the Municipal Council and submitted on 17 October 2018 to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, is prescribed by a Resolution adopted on 25 October 2018 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 31 October 2018 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 211, p. 305 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 3:2 (length on width). Diagonally divided per bend sinister, the triangle at hoist, red, the central stripe, white, and the triangle at fly, green. Charged in the center with the municipal coat of arms.

The coat of arms of Sedella, adopted on 30 May 1987 by the Municipal Council and validated by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed by Decree No. 188, adopted on 26 August 1987 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 15 September 1987 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 78, p. 4,522 (text). This was confirmed by a Resolution adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Per pale, a. Gules a castle or masoned sable port and windows azure, b. Argent a lion rampant purpure crowned or langued and armed gules, 2. Per fess, a. Or three fesses gules, b. A Moorish king with a scepter and a chain around the neck issuant from sinister, a bordure argent inscribed with "Omnia per ipso facto sunt" in letters sable. A bordure or inscribed with "Se de Ella" in letters sable. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The upper quarters, featuring the arms of Castile and León, recalls that Sedella once belonged to the Royal domain.
The lower quarter features the arms of the Fernández de Córdoba, once lords of Sedella. These arms were granted by the Catholic Monarchs to Diego Fernández de Córdoba III, Count of Cabra, as a reward for his contribution to the battle of Lucena (1483) and the capture of Boabdil.
In September 2007, the Municipal Council of Sedella decided to drop Boabdil's chain from the coat of arms; the legal description of the arms does not appear to have been amended yet. A similar change wa made in the municipal arms of Canillas de Aceituno.
[ 20 Minutos, 13 May 2008]

Ivan Sache, 13 November 2018

Flag proposals

Rejected flag proposals - Images by Ivan Sache, 13 November 2018

The flag of Sedella was selected among four proposals through a vote organized by the municipal administration. Open to all citizens of Sedella aged 16 or more, the vote was organized on 28 February (the Day of Andalusia) 2018.
Red represents the history of the village and recalls the national flag.
White symbolizes Sedella as a "white village" (due to its white-washed houses) and is also a symbol of purity and peace.
Green is a tribute to the village's patron saint, Our Lady of Hope, and a symbol of the natural park of Sierras Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama.
[Diario Sur, 2 March 2018]

The four proposals differed by the arrangement of the stripes:
- horizontally divided red-white-green;
- diagonally divided per bend sinister red-white-green;
- diagonally divided per bend red-white-green;
- horizontally divided green-white-red.
[La Opinión de Málaga, 16 February 2018]

More than 60% of the eligible citizens participated to the vote. The winning design obtained 109 out pf the 193 votes.
[Axarquia Plus, 28 February 2018]

Ivan Sache, 13 November 2018