A matter of giving quarter

 After all that excitement yesterday we are back on short commons today.  We have a Repsol service station to look at - 58 reviews, 4,2 stars.    Ire rm said, two months ago, ‘Great gas station, friendly clerk, gentle cat and clean bathrooms’  . Who can not be impressed with a gentle cat.



The land is fairly bleak.  The satellite shot shows you the thinning ribbon of fields, poking its way through the rocky uplands.  



So, lets talk coats of arms.  The Coat of Arms of Aragon in its four quarters guise in 1499.  The Royal Academy of History approved in 1921.  All flags are created to serve a purpose and this coat of arms is definitely virtue signalling the hell out the late Middle Ages.  We are triumphant Chrisitians and the last 700 years was a bit of hiccup and, well, it was this constant battle against the invader’, honest.



First quarter : a Latin cross above an oak tree on a gold background. Representing the Kingdom of Sobrarbe, the tree symbolizes the inhabitants of the western Pyrenees, and the cross the eastern ones, who historically united against the Moors - honest, they always were.. It also represents the freedom of the Foral, as established in the Fuero of Sobrarbe: "There were laws before kings - which could be seen as a bit of a dig



Second quarter : a silver cross on a blue background. It represents the spirit of resistance, because during a battle against the Moors in which Íñigo Arista was involved , a silver cross appeared in the sky. This took root and came to symbolize the strength of the mountain communities.



Third quarter : Saint George's Cross creating four spaces containing four turbaned heads, the "Moorish heads". The cross represents the territory, and the heads represent expansion, as they were added after the conquest of Huesca in 1096.  The earliest recorded use of the Moor’s Head is 1281.  The Moor’s head was, apparently the symbol of Sardina and Corsica and Peter III, who had been granted the island by the Pole, had decided to put it on his coat of arms. I can not verify this at present but maybe it is less Iberian Conquest and more, ‘I;ve got some islands.’



The heads have caused a bit of a stir in more enlightened times and people have suggested removing them, with the expected opposition from the expected opponents.  Much of this blew up in 2004 - which now feels like ancient History.


Fourth quarter : 4 red bars on a gold background. They represent the Aragonese lineage.  Its provenance is unknown, but there are two main theories. The first is that, in 1260, Prince Alfonso, son of James I, was buried with the royal emblem of Aragon , symbolizing his family lineage. The second theory is the existence of an early relationship between the kingdom and the Holy See, and that, during the reign of Sancho Ramírez, they sent each other documents hung with red silk ribbons to communicate with each other.


Let us move onwards and southwards and see what tomorrow brings.


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