The piece of the month of August 2025

THE FLAG OF VILLAFRANCA: THE ORIGIN

Daniel Ochoa Rudi
École Française de Rome

One of the things that most attract the attention of visitors and tourists to the town of Villafranca is undoubtedly the black flag that flies every day of the year on the balcony of the imposing town hall of the town. Many of them wonder about the origin of this unique ensign, which differs from other banners for its gloomy color.

The flag of Villafranca has the shape of a bugle; this means that it is composed of a rectangle finished ˗on the part opposite the mast˗ by two farps and with an angular notch in the middle of them. It is black and only adorns it ˗on obverse and reverse˗a cross of formed by a girdle and a pole with eight points in gold. The four sides of the banner are topped by bangs and gold trimmings. It is noteworthy that, contrary to what happens in other surrounding municipalities and the Community of Navarra, the flag of Villafranca includes neither the coat of arms of the town ˗˗˗in silver field a golden eagle stamped with open crown˗, nor a reference letter to its patron saint Eufemia.

Current flag of Villafranca presiding over the town hall. Villafranca City Hall

Thus, the mournful color of the ensign and its characteristic cross have allowed some lucubrations about its possible origin. In the 70s and 80s of the last century, some local historians such as M.ª Jesús Lacarra and Félix Martínez formulated two hypotheses about the beginnings of the municipal ensign. First, they related the flag to the encomienda that the Order of St. John had in the town since the first third of the thirteenth century. However, the flag of the Order of the Hospital of Jerusalem is white and the cross that it has does not correspond to that of Villafranca. They also pointed out the relationship between the black color of the flag in memory of the plagues that devastated the town throughout its history, especially in the seventeenth century. And the latter made us wonder, was it only Villafranca that lived through those plagues to keep such an unfortunate memory? If not, why didn't other towns have black flags?  

These doubts, which assailed us at the beginning of this research, have been answered with documentation of the time that allow us to see the origin and evolution of the flag. Thus, throughout this text we will verify that neither the Order of St. John nor the plagues had anything to do with the blackish banner of the free town of La Ribera.

Let's start at the beginning. We know nothing about what the flag of the town was like in the average and we doubt that it had one at that time. In 1676, when the regiment disputed the ownership of the hospital against the brotherhoods of Santa María del Castellar and San Pedro, the councilmen argued that in the conference room of the hospital were "placed the arms of the town, its court and the weapons of war" and that, for that reason, the building and its surroundings were exclusive to the council. No accredited specialization to the presence of any flag in the hall. Only the coat of arms of the town presiding over the main hall.

Anonymous. Coat of arms of the Monarchy of Spain with the coat of arms of Villafranca integrated. Ca. 1680. Villafranca Town Hall

The first reference letter to a flag that appears in the documentation that we have been able to review dates back to 1725. That year was of great importance for the history of the town and its heritage. After a great demographic growth, sustained over the previous five decades, the board of trustees the parish church decided to enlarge and rebuild the church dedicated to St. Euphemia. Just a few days before the master builder, Juan Antonio Jiménez, began the demolition, the mayor and the town's aldermen moved the municipal ensigns that hung from the walls that were to be demolished. On the altarpiece of the holy Christ hung "an old and broken flag with its pole of stick and iron tip (...) and only some golden and colored sashes can be seen on the flag". This flag was repositioned over the large door of the church. 

We do not know if that banner formed by golden and colored sashes was the original flag of Villafranca. What is certain is that it was placed in safekeeping along with the rest of the municipal ensigns. However, if this was the original flag of the town, it is clear that after 1725 there was a change in content and form.

What could have caused this change, and where does the black flag that is still used today come from?

The answer can be found in a document preserved in the National Historical file . The report of brotherhoods elaborated by order of the Count of Aranda allows us to know the reality of the brotherhoods of Villafranca at the end of the XVIII century. Of the ten brotherhoods that existed in the town in 1770, we are interested in what is said about one of them: the brotherhood of the Vera Cruz.

In the chapter dedicated to this confraternity, the mayor Joaquín Uzqueta affirmed that "for many years it is found merged in the governors of this town, in such a way that the preeminent aldermen of it have the position of deputizing a person who collects fifty-seven wheat steals [...] and the alms that are made in the Calvary" with the purpose of maintaining "the candles that are used for the inscribed in the bags of the mayor, aldermen and treasurers to accompany the said alderman.] and the alms that are made in the Calvary" with the purpose of maintaining "the candles that serve so that the insaculados in the mayor's bags, aldermen and treasurers accompany said alderman who carries the banner in the processions of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the morning of Resurrection and the procession of the day of the Cross of May". 

The Brotherhood of the Vera Cruz was one of the oldest in the town. Although its canonical erection dates back to 1576, there is evidence of it since 1571. In its beginnings, its main goal was to organize the procession of disciplinantes that went out on Holy Thursday from the parish church to the Calvary that was near the church of Santa María del Castellar, on the outskirts of the town. In its beginnings, the brotherhood was composed of a large part of the population, being limited to 150 brothers issue After the altercation that starred against the ecclesiastical council and aldermen of the town in 1576, it was ordered that the procession should be presided over by the council, while the disciplined brothers should be presided over by their pendonista carrying the banner of the Vera Cruz.

The surviving books of the confraternity, which cover a time frame between 1674 and 1812, allow us to verify that, indeed, the banner of the confraternity was made of black damask and that it had a golden cross painted on it. In 1703, Pedro Cerdán was paid 267 reales for 15 rods of black damask to make the banner. A few years later, the brotherhood spent 24 reales to add the cords to the banner. From these books, we know that, at least since 1741, the preeminent regidor - that is, the second in command after the mayor of the council˗ became in position of the accounts of the brotherhood due to the lack of confreres. It is from then on that the regiment appropriated the confraternity's flag for use in the festivities proper to Holy Week and Easter. In 1795, the alderman Juan Manuel Bobadilla ordered to spend 119 reals for 9 rods of black damask that were bought in Pamplona "for the new banner that was made for the brotherhood. Ten years later, the aldermen commissioned Pedro Veintemillas, master gilder, to paint a cross for the banner of the brotherhood. He was given 8 reales for it. This is the first time that we know of the appearance of a cross painted in gold on the black damask, until then adorned only with tassels and cords.

It is probable that with the extinction of the confraternity there was an assimilation of its banner as a municipal ensign. And, with it, the successive constitutional councils of the nineteenth century used it in civil ceremonies and other processions such as Corpus Christi and the patron saint of St. Euphemia, where they attended in corporation until not many decades ago. In this way, a mourning flag was present in festive and ordinary contexts. 

Javier Peralta Rudibailiff, with the old flag of the brotherhood. Year 1983. Private collection

The old flag of the confraternity, made of black damask, was preserved until the 1990s. We do not know what became of it. It is still remembered with nostalgia among the neighbors of the town when the municipal bailiff danced the flag in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the procession of the Easter Sunday meeting . The corporation, presided by the flag, accompanied the Virgin of the Rosary, patron saint of the council since 1611, to the main place of the town. Once there, the bailiff knelt on his knees three times on the ground and silently shook the flag as a sign of respect to the risen Christ. An act that was lost once the corporation stopped attend the event in the 80's and was probably inherited from the Brotherhood of the Vera Cruz.

Today the oldest flag of Villafranca is preserved in one of the landings of the main staircase of the palace of the Diputación Foral de Navarra, along with those of other municipalities with permanent seat in Cortes.

Flags of different municipalities on the staircase of the Provincial Council of Navarre. ©Government of Navarra

Sources and bibliography

Diocesan file of Pamplona. Processes. Box 63, no. 10. The mayor and council of Villafranca against the brothers of the Vera Cruz for holding private ceremonies (1576).
Generalfile of Navarre. Municipal file of Villafranca, book 83. Book of the Brotherhood of the Vera Cruz (1674-1749).
file General de Navarra. file Municipal de Villafranca, book 104. Book of the Brotherhood of the Vera Cruz (1749-1812).
file General of Navarre. Royal Courts, 152653. The brotherhoods of Santa María and Santa Eufemia against the town regarding the ownership of the hospital and granary (1676).
National Historicalfile . Consejos, 7096, exp. 18, no. 5, s/f. report of the brotherhoods and brotherhoods of the Merindad de Tudela (1770-1771).
MARTÍNEZ SAN CELEDONIO, F. M.; LACARRA YANGUAS, M.ª J., Historia de Villafranca de Navarra, Villafranca, Ayuntamiento de Villafranca, 1983, pp. 20-21.