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Pruna (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Pruna - Image from the Símbolos de Sevilla website, 25 May 2014

Presentation of Pruna
Symbols of Pruna

See also:

Presentation of Pruna

The municipality of Pruna (2,788 inhabitants in 2013; 10,064 ha; municipal website) is located 100 km south-east of Seville, on the border with the Province of Cádiz.

Pruna was founded, according to Juan Antonio de Estrada (Población general de España, sus reynos y provincias, ciudades, villas y pueblos, islas adjacentes y presidios de África, 1768) by Greek colonists attracted by the sail-shaped rock on which stands the castle.
Pruna was incorporated in 1246 to the Kingdom of Castile by King Ferdinand III the Saint. Briefly occupied in 1250 by Sultan Mohammed Abu Abdallad ben Yusuf, the founder of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, Pruna was transferred on 10 November 1256 by Alfonso X the Wise to the Order of Calatrava. The Order, however, could not defend the place, which was seized by the Nasrid. Located in the Moorish Stripe (banda morisco), Pruna was fiercely disputed until the beginning of the 15th century; on 4 June 1407, Ferdinand de Antequera and Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, Master of the Order of St. James, eventually incorporated the fortress of Pruna to Castile. The village was transferred in 1457 to its modern location, on the Royal road connecting Osuna and Ronda.
Pruna was incorporated in 1440 to the County of Arcos, erected by John II for Pedro Ponce de León. On 17 October 1457, the fortress of Pruna, still located on the border with the Nasrid kingdom, was transferred from the Order of Calatrava to Rodrigo de Rivera, Municipal Councillor of Seville. On 23 September 1482, Rodrigo Ponce de León, Marquis of Cádiz and Zahara, Count of Arcos and lord of Marchena, purchased from Pedro de Rivera the town, the castle and the fortress of Pruna, with permission of the Catholic Monarchs. The domain then counted 190 households.
The population increased to 2,156 inhabitants in 1787. Pruna then belonged to the Duchy of Osuna, following the swapping for Villamartín with the Duke of Arcos.

Ivan Sache, 25 May 2014

Symbols of Pruna

The flag and arms of Pruna, adopted on 28 September 1999 and 8 February 2001, respectively, by the Municipal Council and approved on 2 October 2001 and 22 November 2001 by the Royal Academy of C—rdoba, are prescribed by Decree No. 74, adopted on 19 February 2002 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 19 March 2002 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 33, pp. 4,212-4,213 (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 symbols are prescribed as follows:

Flag: Dimensions: One third longer than wide. Division: In three equal parts placed horizontally. Colours: First and third thirds, green, the middle third, yellow. Along the hoist, a celestial blue triangle charged with the coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Or three fesses vert, 2. Argent a mount vert ensigned by the ruins of a castle gules; The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The meaning of the symbols is explained in the Preamble of the Decree as follows.
The flag uses colours taken form the coat of arms, the symbol of the Ribera rule, as well as of the valiance and commitment to work of the inhabitants of Pruna.
The coat of arms features the arms of the Ribera lineage - or three fesses vert -, a family closely connected with Pruna, which was granted in 1457 to Rodrigo de Ribera by Henry IV. The second quarter represents the geography of Pruna: the mount that can be seen from the town, crowned by the ruins of a castle.

Pruna formerly used a coat of arms designed by Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent, which featured charges taken from the Seville branch of the Ribera lineage: "Gules a castle or masoned and port and windows sable ensigned with a lion or issuant from the donjon dexter by a raised flag argent charged with a cross gules and sinister a lowered flag azuer charged with a moon reversed argent the base wavy azure and argent a tortilled Moor's head".
The municipality first used an oval seal charged with a parallelepipedal, burning house and the writing "LIBRE" (Free) surrounded dexter by a cross patty. Whether this design was intended to symbolize the suppression of the feudal system or, as recalled by the local tradition, the blaze set up by the French during the War of Independence, is unknown.
The arms used until 2002 were not compliant with the rules of heraldry, the second quarter being "Azure a rock vert ensigned with a castle proper". The process of adoption of the coat of arms was declared null and void by a Decree adopted on 11 October 1996 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 5 November 1996 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 127, p. 14,244 (text), since the municipality had failed to propose a corrected design in due time.
[Juan José Antequera Luengo. Heráldica oficial de la provincia de Sevilla]

Ivan Sache, 25 May 2014