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São Miguel de Machede Commune (Portugal)

Freguesia de São Miguel de Machede, Concelho de Évora, Distrito de Évora

2:3, image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024

São Miguel de Machede Commune

Flag
Flag Proposals
Coat of Arms
Former Coat of Arms
Presentation of São Miguel de Machede

See also:

São Miguel de Machede Commune

Flag

It is a typical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a field quartered of white and blue.
Source: Sergio Horta´s webpage
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024

Flag Proposals

name

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024

All flag proposals were typical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a field quartered of blue and white.

Coat of Arms of 1st Proposal

Shield Or, on chief a sword flambant Gules balancing a pair of scales Azure, on base an embattled tower Azure with dome Gules, port and windows Argent and masoned of the same, flanked by two triplets of wheat ears Vert in fan tied Gules. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and grey scroll with inscription in black capitals "SÃO MIGUEL DE MACHEDE".

Coat of Arms of 2nd Proposal

Shield Or semy of wheat ears Vert a sword flambant Gules balancing a pair of scales Azure. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and grey scroll with inscription in black capitals "SÃO MIGUEL DE MACHEDE".

Coat of Arms of 3rd Proposal

Shield Or a sword flambant Gules balancing a pair of scales Azure, flanked on chief by a weavers shuttle Gules in fess with threads Argent and on base by four wheat ears Vert in fan tied Gules. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and grey scroll with inscription in black capitals "SÃO MIGUEL DE MACHEDE".

Coat of Arms of 4th Proposal

Shield Or a sword flambant Gules balancing a pair of scales Azure, flanked on chief by two triplets of wheat ears Vert in fan tied Gules per fess and on base by a melon Vert stemmed of the same. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and grey scroll with inscription in black capitals "SÃO MIGUEL DE MACHEDE".
Meaning:
The local council organised a vote over the four proposals displayed above, made from the 4 November 2019 until the 29 November 2019 and published the results on 30 November 2019. The symbols of the proposals were described in the municipal facebook page as follows:
Flag colours: blue is the colour of St. Michael, local patron saint and archangel of justice, white is the colour of evocation of the saint. Both colours are considered to be those of the town.
Background colour of shield: golden is the colour of riches, especially agricultural riches, of good behaviour of the local people, furthermore one of the colours affiliated with Évora Municipality, to which the town belongs
the mural crown with four towers is alluding to the fact that São Miguel de Machede gained the status of a town on 29 December 1923.
Sword and scales are the usual attributes of St. Michael, displayed this way in many Portuguese coats of arms of entities having this patron saint.
The wheat ears are symbolising cultivation and processing of grain, especially wheat.
The tower in proposal 1 is a representation of Paço da Quinta, located in the hermitage of Our Lady of the Remedies and going back to the beginning of the Portuguese monarchy. It was used as a refuge of Christians during the Moorish invasion and as a military tower.
The shuttle in proposal 3 is symbolising the former local textiles industries. Here the best textiles of the whole municipality were made until the 18th century.
The melon in proposal 4 is alluding to the local cultivation of the tasty local fruit, which was presented as gift to the parish together with wheat, rye and barley in 1758.
In the end the Comissão de Heráldica da Associação dos Arqueólogos Portugueses (CHAAP) chose none of this proposals but approved a different flag by changing the order of the flag colours, replacing the standard depiction of attributes of the patron saint by a fairly unusual design and omitting all the particular charges of the proposed coats of arms.
Source: communal Facebook page (obsolete)
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024

Coat of Arms

Shield Azure a pair of angels wings Argent under a sword flambant Ot in pale. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll with inscription in black capitals "SÃO MIGUEL DE MACHEDE".
Meaning:
All charges are referring to St. Michael, name giver and patron saint of the town.
Source: Hiperglobal webpage
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024

Former Coat of Arms

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 Feb 2018

Shield Argent, issuant from sinister base a dragon Sable, issuant from dexter chief an embowed arm Proper, tiercing the dragon´s throat by a sword flambant Gules. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll with inscription in black capitals "S. MIGUEL DE MACHEDE".
Meaning:
The arms were displaying part of St. Michael, name giver of the commune, recognisable by his attribute, the sword flambant, killing the dragon.
Source: this webpage(image replaced by current coat of arms)
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 Feb 2018

Symbols published in Diário da República: III Série on 13 January 2023; 1st Arms emitted by Comissão de Heráldica da Associação dos Arqueólogos Portugueses (CHAAP) on 14 May 2002
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2024

Presentation of São Miguel de Machede

São Miguel de Machede Commune is one of the 12 communes of the Évora municipality; it had 794 inhabitants in 2011 and covers 81.5 km².
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 29 Jan 2016

back to Évora Communes click here