Last modified: 2013-09-21 by ivan sache
Keywords: jurisdicción de lara | burgos |
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The municipality of Jurisdicción de Lara (51 inhabitants in 2009; 2,516 ha; municipal website) is located in the southeast of Burgos Province, 45 km of Burgos. The municipality is made of the villages of Aceña de Lara (aka La Aceña, 8 inh.), Lara de los Infantes (26 inh.) and Paúles de Lara (17 inh.).
The medieval group of villages known as the Alfoz de Lara is considered as the "Cradle of Castile." Lord Gonzalo Fernández built the Picón de Lara castle on a rock dominating the village of Lara de los Infantes, then located on the border with the Muslim states. Gonzalo's sun, Fernán González, probably born in the castle, was mentioned in 931 as the Count of Burgos, Castile, Asturias de Santillana, Lara, Lantarón, Cerezo and Álava. An influent member of the court of King of León Ramiro II, Fernán González helped the king to defeat the Moors in the Battle of Simancas; accordingly, Fernán resettled the reconquerred territories and married Sancha, the sister of King of Navarre García Sánchez. Fernán González set up an autonomous domain and is therefore considered as the first independent Count of Castile. The tradition says that Fernán González' first official act was the reestablishment of the former Visigothic monastery of Quintanilla de las Viñas, located near Lara; the event is considered as the symbolic beginning of the Christian reconquest.
The House of Lara was a noble Castilian lineage; some say they descend from the Counts of Castile, also Counts of Lara, but other say that they descend from Gonzalo Núñez (c. 1052-1104?), the first known lord of the alfoz of Lara. Its members played a key role in the history of the Kingdoms of Castile and León in the 11th-14th century. They were subsequently survived by the Manrique de Lara branch, raised in 1520 by King Charles I as Grandees, Dukes of Nájera and Marquis of Aguilar de Campoo.
Ivan Sache, 21 December 2010
The flag and arms of Jurisdicción de Lara are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 17 February 2004 by the Municipal Council, signed on 1 October 2004 by the Mayor, and published on 15 October 2004 in the official gazette of Castile and León, No. 200, p. 14,820 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular with proportions 2:3, made of a panel formed by three equal vertical stripes, the middle red and the outer white, in the middle the municipal coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Argent a pale gules charged with an eagle argent crowned or and a castle or masoned sable port and windows azure surrounded dexter with two cauldrons sable per pale and sinister with a lion gules. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.
"Argent two cauldrons sable per pale" are the traditional arms of the Lara House. The cauldrons represent the great numbers of vassals that the Counts of Lara could call - and feed -, when required.
Ivan Sache, 21 December 2010