The piece of the month of July 2025
THE FLAG OF VIANA: HISTORY, EVOLUTION. CURRENT NEWS
Félix Cariñanos San Millán
graduate in Romance Philology
The current ensign of the town of Viana has medieval origins. One of the coats of arms that collaborated in its birth is found in one of the vaults of the Gothic refectory of the cathedral of Pamplona, finished in 1335. That cover houses several heraldic shields and the one referring to the good town of Viana already sample the five vertical bands or poles that will mostly distinguish its flag until today.
This medieval nature is also highlighted by the Viana historian Juan Cruz Labega when he quotes a few lines from the Navarrese Jesuit and chronicler of the Kingdom José de Moret in his Papeles varios: "In the file of Viana there is an instrument in parchment and it is original and with a pending seal of Viana as today [17th century] it has five bars, and around the circumference there is a sign that clearly says SIGILLUM CONCILII DE VIANA [seal of the council of Viana]. From where it can be seen that these arms are much older than some have thought, namely, that they were given by the King of Navarre and Aragon" Don Juan II [the father of the first Prince of Viana].
That previous antiquity demonstrated, in addition, by other dates subscribed by the same Labeaga is also sustained in some of the wax seals conserved in the set of existing parchments in the municipal file of the city. In the same period, some emblems containing five vertical columns are known, which - as we shall note - have survived to the present day.
In the year 1608 the member of the clergy from Viana, Juan de Amíax, published in Pamplona "Ramillete de Nuestra Señora de Codés"; in it he affirms that the same king don Juan "gave him the above mentioned royal arms" and adds "that they are five red bands in gold field". However, we clarify that in such text at the time of printing four bands were drawn - not five - with period border and royal crown.
After these statements about the arms of the city emanating from medieval times, we add that the old quarter of the town gathers a decisive issue of stone shields and furniture from the Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassicism, all of which contain the five bands of gules or medieval poles. Thus, there are still two small stone shields located on both sides of the base of the emblem of the Austrias with which the portal of Estella is distinguished, formerly of Santo Nicasio and popularly known as the Trampón, located to the east of the town. The two coats of arms mentioned above contain five bands, date from 1563 and precede in their simplicity - without any border or crown - the numerous municipal emblems of as many bands that will adorn different service buildings built in the following two centuries and will indicate their belonging to the municipality.
Flag bearers of Viana and La Brède towards the mass of St. Mary Magdalene, 22, July, 2024. Photo: F. Cariñanos.
These three coats of arms are the work of the sculptor Gaspar de Vitoria, who charged "for the royal arms that yzo twenty-five ducats" and also restored the image of the Trinity that appeared on the inside of the doorway of the medieval wall, for which he was paid eight reales. According to the relevant municipal account book, Juan de Arranotegui provided Gaspar with the stone for this work, who was paid twelve reales while he was working on the monumental doorway of Santa María. In the same book it is noted that the Vianese stonemason Juan de Amíax roughed that piece for eight reales so that Gaspar could work more easily. The two stone shields mentioned are the oldest in the town.
Twenty-six years later we find a reference letter to the existence of a flag in the town. On June 29, 1589, the Town Hall received a letter and mandate from His Majesty and His Excellency Don Martin de Cordoba, Viceroy of this Kingdom, which was reported by the secretary of said Lord so that, in turn, the municipal secretary could read them. By these writings "it was ordered that in the mentioned town the people of it be prepared and be put in order for the effect that the mentioned visorrey that is going to come in person to make boast and list of the people that in her ay, putting the mentioned cedula on their heads and obeying it with the due respect in fulfillment of her and for the effect of making the mentioned boast, they named for captain Mr.. Martín de Allo, mayor, and as alferez to the said Mr. Juan de Gongora, [alderman], and as sergeant to the said Mr. Pedro de Santesteban". In the final, on this occasion, the City Council agreed to "make a flag as and in the manner that seemed to Mr. Martín de Allo, mayor, who took it out". The text specifies that it was ordered in Logroño.
We assure that the ensign of that time contained as a heraldic element referring to the arms of the city that of the five bands because this feature of the civil power is used again in 1630 in the golden scallops imposed on the aldermen in the session of the publication of the degree scroll of the city that year, which took place on September 29, feast of the archangel St. Michael. The insignias were placed by the mayor, Mr. Juan de Acedo y Gúrpide, and include "the arms of the said city and saints of its devotion, which are the Assumption of Our Lady and Lord St. Peter, vocation of the parishes of this city". According to the relevant municipal account book, the medals were the work of the Pamplona silversmith Antonio de Guipier and cost one thousand four hundred and eighty reales.
As for the days in which the regiment "in city form" headed by the flag has to go out, they are assigned in the "decrees and ordinances made by this city for the good governance of it and its republic". In the first place, the Day of the Blessed Sacrament or Corpus Christi; in addition, the Day of St. Peter in June and the Assumption of the Virgin and all the vow conference in which one or another parish will go in procession; also on the dates of litanies in procession to certain hermitages and when the Holy Crusade is received at the altar placed in the portal of San Felices, the most revered door since the rebuilding of the year 1219 for being sworn there the regional law of the Eagle. Sometimes, the flag is also called banner, as it was carried in 1686 by the alderman Andrés de Añoa, relative of the Vianese archbishop of Zaragoza Francisco Ignacio Añoa.
Those two parochial heraldic motifs symbolizing religious power in the upper quarter and the five bands representing municipal authority in the lower quarter must have appeared on the façade of the Santo Hospital de Pobres y Peregrinos de Nuestra Señora de Gracia when the City Council sold the old building to the brotherhoods of La Veracruz in 1567 and decided to move it outside the walls to the north of the city because of the danger its status implied in the main street of the town in times of epidemics. These Vianese symbols of 1630 and 1567 were transferred in 1887 to the coat of arms located today above the door located to the east of the residency program of Our Lady of Grace: the upper part is occupied by the terrace with lilies - the emblem of Saint Mary of the Assumption - and the papal tiara with the keys - the motto of Saint Peter -; the lower part is occupied entirely by the five bands representing the arms of the municipality, which in the eighties of the 20th century decided to call the current residency program with the same dedication of the 15th century hospital: Nuestra Señora de Gracia (Our Lady of Grace).
City banner at the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love of the Virgin of Cuevas, April 21, 2025. Photo: F. Cariñanos.
Already by 1700 the arms of the city will become independent of the parochial symbols by occupying their own face on the medals of the councilmen, we can deduce this from the session of September 6, 1700 when the new mayor Don Ignacio Barragán y Nobar was sworn in, who "received the rod and the veneration that the mayor and aldermen usually wear with the images of Santa María and San Pedro on one side and on the other the arms of the City on a black enameled gold medal hanging from a silk cord".
The frequent transfer of troops to the Pyrenees in these centuries gave rise to the very frequent training of companies of young men with the consequent difficulties of completing them and coordinating the commands between counties and valleys. On January 18, 1660, the consistory of Viana met to report having received news that the valley of Aguilar [de Codés] had requested the Royal committee of Navarre to appoint a captain to lead the Company or military unit of the valley. But the city, "as Head of the Royal Principality", proposes to go to said committee so that those of the aforementioned valley march to the mobilizations under the flag of the city as they have done "in the levies and occasions that have been offered in the service of His Majesty, and it is still understood that the same valley has requested it for its own convenience. And it was determined by this order that a person be sent with a letter requesting that His Lordship order to continue the said conduct in the same city, incorporating it into the [Company] that the same city has of the people of its jurisdiction". Not only Viana but also the districts of Bargota, Aras and Lazagurría were alluded to.
Sometimes these levies to form the Tercios del Reyno that have to go in case of danger discover the materials that will be used to make the flags. In July 1674 Juan de Goñi, merchant of Logroño, was paid one hundred and eighty-six Castilian reales for the taffeta and silk used to make the flag of the Company of the city. The order is made because the viceroy has order the presence in Pamplona of forty-seven more men, added to the usual ninety-five, all of them from the city and its neighborhoods. The ensign of Viana will lead the components of the mentioned military unit, under the orders of Mr. Juan Pujadas.
In the instruction that the City Council of the year 1704 leaves to the following year it is noted that Don Francisco de Bustamente, captain of the Company that is part of the Tercios, has not yet returned the flag "and it remained in his power" when he returned that military unit from Pamplona. This was stated by the chaplain Don Pedro Carrillo and the ensign Don Juan Manuel de Laguardia. It is added that "the flag was worth five hundred reales". In the instruction of 1705 the same notice about the lack of that ensign is repeated literally; this year the mobilized young men in the city between fourteen and sixty years of age are one hundred and forty-three.
In the Account Book that includes those of 1820, the 50 reales fuertes paid to the master tailor Gregorio Durán for "composing the flag of the city and hangings of the conference room of Consultations" are noted.
Coat of arms with five bands on the portal of Estella. Year 1563 Photo: F. Cariñanos.
In the meantime, the bands or medal sticks of the councilmen were not left in peace. At the end of August 1873 - Third Carlist War - the disappearance of the municipal insignia took place, a circumstance reported on September 1 in the municipal session: "Mr. Deputy Mayor Don Juan Fernandez made present that in the days of the taking of this place by the Royal Army, the medals worn by the councilmen and some other effects were missing from the administrative office, whose doors were opened by force, as well as the drawers and other locks, and, despite having practiced some diligence to find out the author, it could not be known who would carry out such an attack. And that, in order not to be held responsible, he put it in the knowledge the City Council, to which they answered that they were persuaded that the medals and other effects had been missing in the way that Mr. President has exposed, since several of the councilmen who came early in the morning together with Mr. President saw the doors open by force, of which this certificateis extended". The matter did not stop there, since the liberal aldermen of Viana received a letter from the bishop of Calahorra in which they were warned about the fact that in the episcopal coffers the amount of money coming from the annual Bull of the Holy Crusade had not been received, to which the robbed authorities answered the bishop that he could apply for that amount to his co-religionists, the supporters of Don Carlos.
Still in 1898 other medals were ordered in Pamplona from Miguel Aramendía, which cost one hundred and forty-nine pesetas.
By then, the heraldic emblem of the five bands, originally from the average , had been used for the most part on the façades of municipal buildings throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, all adorned with baroque borders, sometimes with the chains of Navarre and even with the royal crown: the coat of arms of the Balcón de Toros (1686); the five on the façades of the Town Hall (1688); the three on the municipal butcher's shops (1723); the two on the bullpens of the place del Coso; the two on the Peso Real and Alhóndiga (1772); the old one on the portal of San Juan, redone in the nineties of the last century with its original appearance by the Vianese artist Javier Ciaurri Suso; that of the portal "de la Concepción or de la Solana" endowed with a double-headed eagle and the Toisón carved in 1697 by the Vianese baroque sculptor Juan Bautista de Suso, who replaced another one that was "undone and very badly treated".
These five vertical sticks of gules had also been lavished in the furniture of the consistory, the three forge shields in the chest of the three keys of 1780 that housed both the most important documents of the municipal file and the remains of César Borgia, these from the beginning of September 1945 until December 13, 1953, a piece of furniture located at present in the entrance hall of the consistorial palace, stand out. Also noteworthy is the spacious wooden shield of 1724, located in the meeting room, with baroque border, chains and royal crown, which served as a door to the large box, the work of master carpenter Antonio Lizalde and locksmith Andrés de Arana, "to have placed the image of St. Mary Magdalene, Patron Saint of the City, full-length, so that the gilding and stew would not get dusty". This image was commissioned by the consistory for the church of San Pedro and sculpted by Juan Bautista de Suso together with its platforms in order to be taken out in procession; it was stolen from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love of the Virgin of Cuevas in the first half of the nineties of the twentieth century.
After the medieval and baroque periods, preferably, a new era is inaugurated thanks to the quality of the embroidery and magnificent details of its coat of arms with vegetal border, chains of Navarra and royal crown by stamp of the banner commissioned by the consistory to the Daughters of Charity and delivered by their Superior Sister Simona Oroz y Mina in the early nineties of the nineties of the nineteenth century. (About this nun wrote a play - "Sister Simona" - don Benito Pérez Galdós, premiered in Madrid at the Princesa theater in 1917). Revered in the city for its origin and present in the demonstration of the Gamazada in Pamplona that Sunday June 4, 1893 in the hands of the mayor Fructuoso Elizalde, the banner has always been in a preferential place in the palace and today it presides from the top of the entrance hall of the main municipal building. This banner has also honored from the balcony of the town hall both the coming to this city, Head of the Principality of the Ancient Kingdom of Navarre, of Don Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, Prince of Viana, in 1998 and the arrival of the Prince and Princess of Viana Don Felipe and his wife Doña Letizia in 2004.
The standard bearer Rafael Chasco in the transfer of St. Mary Magdalene to the parish, July 21, 1963.
That ensign born at the end of the XIX century is completed with the official flag present in the assembly hall that distinguishes the municipal retinue in its civic and religious manifestations, emblem of such excellent quality as that of Sister Simona and replica with the same coat of arms of the city. It is the work of two Poor Clare nuns in Tudela, María Teresa Narvarte and Sagrario Duque, by order of the consistory that governed in the first half of the nineties of the last century, the same that in 2006 embroidered the banner of the Auroros association of this Principality. This flag is usually carried, according to custom, by the youngest councilman or councilwoman of the corporation. Both city ensigns show a slight deviation from the five bands, poles or columns that dominated absolutely in the Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassicism, having only four.
However, the five vertical heraldic signs prevail greatly in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In 1922 the Feast of San Felices or of the Foundation, which had not been celebrated since 1789, was recovered and on that occasion the City Council published a greeting headed with the medieval coat of arms of the five columns already existing in the average. That same heraldry heads the double printed leaflet published by the City Council in the homage "of the city of Viana to the distinguished Daughter of Charity Sister Simoma Oroz y Mina in her I Centenary, March 3, 1927". The consistory reiterated this distinction, for example, in the programs of San Felices in 1984 and 1985; on the cover of the Festivities of Santa María Magdalena (1987, 1990); the Peña Ultreya-Berri sample it in the festivities of July (1981, 1988, 1990, 1991) and September (1989). Of this century XXI dates the elegant pastrycoat that shelters another beautiful replica of the shield of Sister Simona, but of ... five sticks, that is to say, it follows the guideline of so much stony coat of arms already consigned.
This badge also returned to the medals of the councilors in the last decade of the twentieth century and participated in the Festival of San Felices in 2006 when it was awarded to the Vianese writers Pablo Antoñana Chasco, Xavier de Antoñana Chasco, Félix Cariñanos San Millán, Juan Cruz Labeaga Mendiola and Pelayo Sainz Ripa.
Finally, that coat of arms of the five bands of gules or red on a field of gold is usually printed on many of the covers of the voluminous programs of the Magdalena and Santiago festivities, which are usually around one hundred pages long. And, above all, all the municipal flags commissioned by the different Town Halls to different companies that have been flying for many years on the balcony of the Town Hall and in the entrance hall of the Town Hall, together with those of Navarre, Spain and Europe, show that medieval roots.
Banner of Sister Simona Oroz in the visit of Don Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, Prince of Viana. Year 1998.
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
AMÍAX, J. de, "Ramillete de nuestra Señora de Codés". Imprenta de Carlos de Labayen, Pamplona, 1608, p. 111.
file Municipal de Viana, Libro de Cuentas de Propios, box 13, folder 16, document 1, year 1563, discharge 92 on the royal arms of the portal of Estella.
Id., Libro de conference proceedings of the council of Viana, box 14, folder 17, 1589, June 29, Auto de la alarde y de la bandera encargada en Logroño.
Id., box 16, folder 19, document 7: Auto de recopilacion de decretos y ordenanzas 'hechas por esta ciudad para la buena gobernación de ella y su República. Form of the medals and days of city with flag, 1630, September, 30, fº 172-175 and v.
Id., box 31, folder 33, Libro de conference proceedings del concejo de Viana, 1700, September, 6, Auto de las veneras del alcalde y regidores.
Id., box 19, folder 21, document 2: Libro de Acuerdos del concejo de Viana Auto de que el Valle de Aguilar sea incluido bajo la bandera de la Compañía de Viana, 1660, January, 18, fº 640 and v.
Id., box 22, folder 24, document 5: Libro de Cuentas, 1673, July, 5, discharge 62, Acquisition in Logroño of taffeta and silk to make the flag of the Compañía de Viana, p. 38.
Id., box 32, folder 36, Libro de acuerdos del Ayuntamiento de Viana, 1704, August, 14, The flag of the Compañía de Viana has not yet been returned, p. 84.
LABEAGA MENDIOLA, J. C., Casa consistorial de Viana, in "Casas consistoriales de Navarra", Gobierno de Navarra, Pamplona, 1988, p. 299. On the coat of arms of the town of Viana.
MARTINENA RUIZ, J. J., "La Gamazada", in Temas de Cultura Popular, nº 361, Diputación Foral de Navarra, Pamplona, p. 21.