Last modified: 2013-09-25 by ivan sache
Keywords: melgar de fernamental | burgos |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
See also:
The municipality of Melgar de Fernamental (1,872 inhabitants in 2010; 10,832 ha; municipal website) is located 50 km of Burgos. The municipality was made in the 1970s by the merging of Melgar (capital), San Llorente de la Vega (66 inh.; formerly in Palencia Province), Santa María Ananúñez (16 inh.; formerly in Palencia Province), Tagarrosa (14 inh.; formerly part of Santa María Ananúñez) and Valtierra de Riopisuerga (29 inh.; formerly part of Padilla de Abajo).
Melgar de Fernamental was chartered in 950 by Count Fernán Armentález, as Melgar de Suso (Upper Melgar), the capital of an administrative division including Bobadilla, Castrillo, Fitero de la Vega, Inoxoxa, Quintanilla, Quintanilla de Roaño, Quintanilla de Muniovoz, Melgar de Yuso (Lower Melgar), Peral, Santa María Pelayo, Santiago del Val, Santoyo, Villajero, Villieta and Zorita (but the charter is considered as apocryphal!).
The origin of the name of the village is obscure, except Fernamental,
which refers to the founder Armentález / Armentáriz. Melgar could come from mielga, "afalfa", from mielga, "a fork to lift harvest", from amelga, "a piece of land marked before sowing", or from melo kara, "a high place used for watch" (here river Pisuerga).
Melgar de Fernamental is the birth place of the painter Dióscoro Puebla (1831-1901). After having studied in Madrid, Rome and Paris, Puebla, back to Spain in 1863, was appointed Professor at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Madrid. Puebla specialized in historical paintings, portraying representatives, generals and Kings Alfonso XIII (1876) and Amadeus I, and painting patriotic scenes such as the Landing of Colombus in America and the Sons of the Cid. He was awarded with international prizes in Bayonne (1864), Paris (1867) and Philadelphia (1876).
Ivan Sache, 13 May 2011
The flag of Melgar de Fernamental is prescribed by a Decree adopted on
8 September 1994 by the Burgos Provincial Government, signed on 6 October 1994 by the President of the Government, and published on 19
October 1994 in the official gazette of Castile and León, No. 202 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular flag, with proportions 2:3, with an equilateral triangle with the base along the hoist, charged with the municipal coat of arms, in full colors. The rest of the panel horizontally divided in two equal stripes, the upper stripe red, the lower stripe blue.
The coat of arms of Melgar de Fernamental (municipal website) is "Per pale, 1. Gules a tower or, 2. Argent a lion proper crowned purpure, grafted in base or a garb of wheat vert. The shield surmounted with a scroll argent charged with 'Armas de la Villa de Melgar de Fernan Armentalez'". These arms are strikingly similar to the arms of the Enríquez family.
Ivan Sache, 13 May 2011