Last modified: 2019-09-16 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-cm-cr.gif)
Flag of the Province of Ciudad Real - Image by Ivan Sache, 12 February 2017
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The Province of Ciudad Real (506,866 inhabitants in 2016; 19,813 sq. km, therefore the third biggest province in Spain by its area) forms the south-western part of Castilla-La Mancha.
Ivan Sache, 12 February 2017
According to Banderas y Escudos de las provincias de España [e9s92], published in 1992 by the Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública, the flag of the Province of Coiudad Real is red with the provincial coat of arms in the middle. The flag, however, does not appear to be used by the Provincial Council, either inside or outside the Council's building.
The coat of arms of the Province of Ciudad Real is made of the arms of the capitals of the 10 judiciary parties that form the province.
1. Daimiel. Argent a Cross of Calatrava gules a castle or.
2. Manzanares. Argent three trees vert in chief a letter "M" gules surmounted by a mural crown surrounded in base by two chains sable.
3. Piedrabuena. Azure a castle or on a base vert.
4. Almagro. Argent a Cross of Calatrava gules a castle or two chains sable.
5. Villanueva de los Infantes. Argent a Cross of St. James gules surrounded dexter by the arms of Aragón and León sinister by the arms of Castile and Aragón all fimbriated or.
6. Ciudad Real (inescutcheon). Azure a king wearing a crown open holding a sceptre and a sword in his hands sitting on a throne or clad purpure surrounded by an arch and walls or in hexagonal shape with towers in the vertices enclosing a settlement argent.
7. Almadén. Quarterly, 1. Gules a castle or masoned sable port and windows azure, 2. Argent a lion rampant gules, 3. Argent a Cross of Calatrava gules, 4. Gules two crossed hammers argent. Grafted in base, Argent a pomegranate proper. Inescutcheon azure (oval) three fleurs-de-lis or.
8. Valdepeñas. Quarterly, 1. Gules a castle or masoned sable port and windows azure, 2. Or a Cross of Calatrava gules, 3. Argent a Cross of the Trinitarian Order gules and azure, 4. Argent three barrels proper a bordure or inscribed "Muy Heroica Ciudad de Valdepeñas".
9. Alcázar de San Juan. Azure a castle or masoned sable port and windows gules on a base or sinister a knight riding a horse holding a lance a Cross of St. John argent.
10. Almodóvar del Campo. Quarterly, 1. Or a Cross of Calatrava gules, 2. Gules a castle or masoned sable port and windows azure, 3. Azure a tree vert on a base of the same, 4. Azure a lake between rocks proper.
The heraldist Ramón José Maldonado y Cocat (1916-1990), designer of the flag of Castilla-La Mancha, pointed out several flaws in this coat of arms and proposed a new design, seemingly to no avail (Nuevas aportaciones a la heráldica municipal, Cuadernos de estudios manchegos, 1990, 20, 237-256).
The coat of arms does not correctly represent the province. The coat of arms of the judiciary parties represent only their capital, not the towns and villages that form them. For instance, the Campo de Calatrava cannot be properly represented by the arms of Almagro, since it also includes the towns of Calzada, Pozuelo, Valenzuela and Granatula de Calatrava.
The coat of arms features several times the same charge, for instance the Cross of Calatrava and the castle, which is deemed absurd and irrelevant in heraldry.
The coat of arms is made "anti-aesthetic" by the accumulation of divisions and charges; this is not compliant with traditional Spanish heraldry, which is simple and accurate in the meaning of the arms.
The shield is in French shape while it should be rounded-off in base.
The coat of arms proposed on 10 April 1988 by Ramón José Maldonado y Cocat to the Provincial Council is Per pale, 1. Argent a Cross of the Order of St. James gules - representing the territories of Infantes, Manzanares, Valdepeñas and the Campo de Montiel, 2. Argent a Cross of the Order of Calatrava - representing the Campo de Almagro, Almadén, Almodóvar, Daimiel, Piedrabuena and the old commanderies of Manzanares and Valdepeñas. Grafted in base, gules a Cross of the Order of St. John argent - representing Alcázar de San Juan and the Upper Mancha (Campo de San Juan). A bordure gules eight castles or masoned sable port and windows azure - representing the Kingdom of Castile. In chief an escutcheon of the arms of Ciudad Real. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.