
Last modified: 2019-01-13 by ivan sache
Keywords: santa maría la real de nieva | villoslada | 
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The municipality of Santa María la Real de Nieva (1,045 inhabitants in 2015; 19,800 ha; municipal website) is located half way (30 km) of Segovia and Arévalo. The municipality is made of the village of Santa María la Real de Nieva (capital) and of the submunicipal entities of Jemenuño (94 inh.), Paradinas (65 inh.), Tabladillo (52 inh.) and Villoslada (70 inh.)
Ivan Sache, 22 April 2015
Villoslada
Flag of Villoslada - Image by Ivan Sache, 22 April 2015
Villoslada (aka Villoslada de la Trinidad; village website) was incorporated to Santa María la Real  
de Nieva on 16 January 1969. The separation and establishment of the  
municipalities of Jemenuño, Paradinas and Villoslada, approved on 13  
April 1993 by the Municipal Council of Santa María la Real de Nieva,  
was rejected by Decree No. 95, adopted on 4 May 2000 by Government of  
Castilla y León and published on 9 May 2000 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 88, p. 5,462 (text).
The submunicipal entity of Villoslada was established by Decree No.  
50, adopted on 15 April 2003 by the Government of Castilla y León and published on 16 April 2003 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 73, pp. 5,908-5,909 (text).
Villoslada, first mentioned in 1247, appears to have been named by colonists fro Villoslada de Cameros (La Rioja), who also "imported" local toponyms, such as Nieva, Ortigasa and Lake Cameros. Oddly enough, the spatial arrangement, distance included, of Villoslada and Nieva is the same in Villoslada de la Trinidad and Villoslada de Cameros. The re-settlement was probably organized later than 1090 by Count Raymond of Burgundy, Alfonso VI's son-in-law, and, subsequently by Alfonso I of Aragón and Navarre. The name of the village derives from villa ustulata, "the burned town".
The flag and arms of Villoslada are prescribed by a Decree adopted on  
20 October 2008 by the Village Council, signed on 6 November 2008 by  
the Mayor, and published on 21 November 2008 in the official gazette  
of  Castilla y León, No. 226, p. 22,976 (text).
The symbols, which were approved by the Chronicler of Arms of Castilla y León and by the Royal Academy of History, are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular panel, in proportions 2:3, crimson red, charged in the center with the municipal coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1a. Azure a stick argent per bend a purse of the same, 1b. Gules a ten-storeyed aqueduct argent on ten rocks of the same, 2. Vert the chapel of San Miguel de Párraces or surrounded dexter and sinister by garbs of wheat spikes of the same. [Crown not mentioned].
The design of the village symbols was initiated on 27 September 2007  
by the Village Council. The design proposed by Víctor Manuel Sastre  
Jiménez was selected in a public contest and submitted to the  
Chronicler of Arms of Castilla y León, who suggested modifications to the design.
The symbols were unveiled on 6 December 2008 - a rainy, cold day -  
during the celebration of the village's Day.
[El Norte de Castilla, 4 December 2008]
The 1st quarter is a tribute to the founders of the village. Azure is  
the main colour of the coat of arms of their original village,  
Villoslada de Cameros (La Rioja).
The 2nd quarter features the Roman aqueduct of Segovia, also shown on  
many local coat of arms, recalling that Villoslada once belonged to  
the Community of the Town and Land of Segovia, as the capital of the  
Trinidad sexmo (administrative division). Gules was the colour of  
the field of the coat of arms of the Community.
The 3rd quarter features the St. Michael chapel, an emblematic place  
where historical events of local significance, such as the Concord  
Case, took place. The wheat spikes recall that agriculture is the main  
source of income in the village. Green is a symbol of hope, faith,  
service and respect.
[Village website]
The St. Michael chapel, located 2 km south-east of Villoslada, was  
once surrounded by the village of San Miguel de Párraces, owned by the powerful abbey of Santa María Real de Párraces. First mentioned in 1204 as "Sanctes Michael luxta Vela Gomez" (St. Michael near Vel Gómez), the village was subsequently known as Sant Migael de Parrazes (1247). Hardly inhabited in 1587, the village had only one household at the end of the 19th century. The chapel (12th-13th century), a  
noted example of the people's Romanesque style known as Segovian  
style, was proclaimed a National Historical and Artistic Monument by  
Royal Decree No. 3,168, adopted on 13 October 1983 and published on 27  
December 1983 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 309, p. 31,635 (text).
[Village website]
Ivan Sache, 22 Avril 2015