Flag of Castile and Leon
The flag of Castilla y León is a representative symbol of that Spanish autonomous community. Its origin, like that of the shield, dates back to the Crown of Castile, a kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula, whose origin dates back to the century. XIII. The current design is defined by article 6 of the Statute of Autonomy of Castilla y León (Organic Law 4/1983), approved in 1983.
Flag description
In accordance with article 6 of the Statute of Autonomy, the flag of the community is obtained from the shield, with the following description:
Article 6. Community Symbols and Official Party
- Castile and Leon's blazon is a shield dyed by an open royal crown, barracks on the cross or counterpart. The first and fourth barracks: on the field of gules, a three-warm gold castle, sable mamposted and clear of azur. The second and third barracks: on the silver field, a rampant lion of purple, flax, nailed and armed with gules, crowned with gold.
- The flag of Castile and Leon is barracks and groups the symbols of Castile and Leon, as described in the previous section. The flag will wave in all the official centers and acts of the Community, on the right of the Spanish flag.
Article 6, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Statute of Autonomy of Castile and Leon
It must be taken into account that the description of the symbols is based on the coat of arms (shield), using heraldry terms, but when these symbols are transferred to the flag, they must be adapted to vexillological terms. Thus, field refers to the background; the terms gules, sable and azure, refer to enamels with the colors respectively of bright red, black and intense or dark blue, while purple enamel refers to all purples ranging from purple to violet. As for the gold and silver, present in the shield through metals, they do not exist in the flags as such, which is why white is used to represent the shine of the silver, and yellow with the modified hue to represent the gold.
It must also be taken into account that in the flags the quarters are listed (each of the four parts into which it is divided), in the order of clockwise starting from the upper left, while in heraldry they are listed always from left to right by rows starting at the top, but without following the clockwise direction.
Based on these references, the flag could be described as follows:
Flag of Castilla y León
- The flag of Castile and Leon is barracks. The first barracks at the upper left angle and the third at the lower right angle: on the living red background, a three-layered gold castle, black mamposted and lightened in intense blue. The second barracks at the upper right angle and the fourth at the lower left angle: on white background, a purple rampant lion, linguado, nailed and armed in live red, crowned in gold.
Description of the flag adapted to vexilological terms
Symbols
The symbols of Castile and León represent the two previous entities that form it: the kingdom of Castile and the kingdom of León, which were united to form the Crown of Castile. Until then, the symbol of the Leonese crown had been a passing lion (which would later become a rampant), in purple, while the symbol of the Castilian crown was a castle of gold clarified with azure in a field of gules.
When Fernando III, in the year 1230, unites the two crowns, he is presented with the dilemma of which of the two symbols to adopt. The monarch made an almost Solomonic decision and created the famous quartered shield, thus coining what would be the symbol of the crown and, over time, of the entire Spanish State (until the XIX).
It must be taken into account that these symbols do not only represent what we know today as Castilla y León, but also represent territories that previously belonged to both crowns and that extended to almost the entire north and much of the Iberian Peninsula. It is for this reason that both symbols, the castle and the lion, are included in the coat of arms of Spain.
Construction of the flag
The dimensions of the flag are given by Decree 63/1989 of the Community of Castilla y León, which establishes a proportion of 76 parts high by 99 parts long. The flag is quartered, with the first quarter (top left) and the last (bottom right) on a red background and with the figure of the castle, while the second (top right) and the third (bottom to the left) are on a white background with the figure of the lion. All the figures are centered in their barracks.
Use
It is the historical flag of the Crown of Castile since the year 1230. One of the oldest flags in Europe and the world. The ships of Christopher Columbus that discovered America carried it.
The flag flies by law in all centers and official acts of the Castilian and Leonese community, to the right of the Spanish flag, the European flag is also usually incorporated.
The community made official a crimson banner, currently incorporated in the reform of the Statute of Autonomy, which symbolizes Castilla y León in an alternative way to the flag based on the traditional banner.
History
This flag has been present in numerous historical events, such as October 12, 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered America, at which time the discoverer carried the flag of the Crown of Castile.
The Spanish presence in the American continent for around three centuries has left a consistent mark. In many states of the United States, the symbols possessed by the Spanish ancestors who settled in those lands are preserved. In fact, several states incorporate the emblems of the Crown of Castile on their shields or flags.
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The flag of Castilla y León in the design of other flags
Flag of Tlaxcala, Mexico
Flag of Potosí, Bolivia
Related images
Flag on map of Castilla y León
Escudo de Castilla y León
