Last modified: 2013-09-19 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-le-bh.gif)
Flag of Boca de Huérgano - Image by Antonio Gutiérrez (VexiLeón website), 6 February 2011
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The municipality of Boca de Huérgano (540 inhabitants in 2009; 29,184 ha; municipal website) is located in the northeast of León Province, on the border with Cantabria, 100 km of León. The municipality is made of the villages of Barniedo de la Reina, Besande, Boca de Huérgano (capital), Los Espejos de la Reina, Llánaves de la Reina, Portilla de la Reina, Siero de la Reina, Valverde de la Sierra and Villafrea de la Reina.
Boca de Huérgano belongs to a region called the Queen's Land ("Tierra de la Reina"), probably since Queen Berenguela of Castile was granted the castle of Portilla and the neighboring domain as her dowry when
she married King of León Alfonso IX (late 12th century). Another
tradition says that the Queens of León used to flood the area with tax for their personal benefit. Yet another, widespread tradition claims
that the area helped Queen Constance of Portugal, the wife of King of
Castile Ferdinando IV, to recover from illness, thanks to "pure air,
pure waters and good food".
The first lord of Tierra de la Reina was Tello, Count of Biscayne and
Castañeda and lord of Aguilar, who was one of the illegitimate sons of King Alfonso XI of Castile - himself the son of Constance and Fernando
- and Leonor de Guzmán. Tello's grand grand niece, Constanza Enríquez, enjoyed so much the place that she funded the chapel of Los Espejos de la Reina, where she was eventually not buried; through her marriage with Juan de Tovar, Tierra de la Reina was transferred to the Tovar family. Fernando Tovar Enríquez, Councillor of King Charles II, was made at the end of the 17th century Marquis of Valverde de la Sierra.
Ivan Sache, 6 February 2011
The flag and arms of Boca de Huérgano are prescribed by a Decree
adopted on 24 September 2001 by the Municipal Council, signed on 23 November 2001 by the Mayor, and published on 21 December 2001 in the
official gazette of Castile and León, No. 247, p. 19,110 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular flag with proportions 2:3, gyronny on top, white with nine green oak leaves, placed 4 + 3 + 2, the two triangles at hoist and fly green.
Coat of arms: Argent a castle gules masoned sable in base waves azure and argent chapé vert a bordure argent nine oak leaves vert. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.
Ivan Sache, 6 February 2011