Last modified: 2015-11-21 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Montellano (7,154 inhabitants in 2013; 11,671 ha) is located 70 km south-west of Seville.
Ivan Sache, 3 June 2014
The flag of Montellano, adopted on 29 August 1988 by the Municipal Council and validated on 24 June 1988 by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed by Decree No. 308, adopted on 2 November 1988 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 22 November 1988 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 94, p. 4,800 (text). This was confirmed by a Decree 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 symbols are prescribed as follows:
Flag: Blue, a white diagonal stripe per bend, charged in the middle with the local coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Montellano is "Or a burning village gules in base a cartouche inscribed "POR LOS FRANCESES / 14 y 22 de ABRIL / 1810". The shield surmounted by a Ducal crown."
A seal of the same design has been used by the municipality since, at least, the second decade of the 19th century. On the modern representation of the arms, the shield is of Carlist shape, open in chief, with the writing placed on a cartouche, and surmounted by a Royal crown open. The field is sometimes represented or, the houses (Andalusian, with two-sided roofs, superimposed with the tower of the parish church) have reddish roofs and whitewashed walls; the flames are red, the cartouche is white and the writing sable.
Juan José Antequera Luengo, upon request of the municipality, proposed modernized arms, which were eventually not approved. The inadequate shape was corrected and the writing was moved to the bordure of the shield, as "Or a burning village gules a bordure gules inscribed 'POR LOS FRANCESES 14 Y 22 DE ABRIL 1810. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed."
[Juan José Antequera Luengo. Heráldica oficial de la provincia de Sevilla]
The coat of arms recalls the resistance of the town to the French invaders during the War of Independence. On 14 April 1810, a squad of 500 soldiers heading from Utrera to Ronda attacked Montellano. Led by Mayor José Romero Álvarez, the villagers repelled the assaulters. As a retaliation, Colonel Bonnemain sent on 22 April 1810 a bigger troop; the village was totally burned down except the church's tower and a few private houses. The church was looted while the chaplain of the St. Paul convent was shot. Romero fled to Algodonales, where he died on 1 May, together with 239 villagers, during the destruction of the village by the French troops.
[ Montellano Ayer website]
The coat of arms on the flag in actual use (photo) is embroidered in gold.
Ivan Sache & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 June 2014
