Last modified: 2006-02-05 by antonio martins
Keywords: câmara de lobos | coat of arms (anchor) | anchor (yellow) | seal (animal) | canting | monachus monachus | mediterranean monk seal |
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The municipality coat-of-arms is a blue shield, golden anchor between
to “sea wolves” of natural colour facing each other. Silver mural crown with
5 towers. White scroll with black lettering
"CÂMARA DE LOBOS". Flag is a yellow over blue
gyronny. Rope of gold and blue. Golden pole.
The seal in conformity with the law with the lettering "Câmara Municipal
de Câmara de Lobos".
translated by Sérgio Horta, 27 Nov 1999, from the
Municipal
website
"Câmara de Lobos" means "Wolves’ Chamber" (here "chamber" meaning
"inlet", "harbour" or "bay"),
the beasts on the coat of arms are seals, and those are canting arms. That is because
in Madeira the local seal species (Monachus monachus, the Mediterranean Monk
Seal) is called Lobo-marinho, meaning sea wolf (portuguese mainland biologists
usually say Foca-monge do Mediterrâneo, but this is fading away).
António Martins, 26 Nov 1999
In English heraldry, a sea-wolf would be a mythological animal —
Fox-Davies would actually call it a
“monster”, not without reason — half wolf, half fish. That supposing
there is any instance of a “sea-wolf” recorded at the College of Arms.
The English blazon of Câmara de Lobos would hence mention «seals» and
the arms would no longer be understood as canting, except of course
an appropriate reference to the Portuguese terms be made.
Santiago Dotor, 29 Nov 1999
In A Glossary of Heraldry [prk70], Parker wrote:
Seal: It seems to have been fancifully called by some heraldic writers the sea-calf and sea-wolf. The whole animal, however, does not appear to be represented; only the paws and head, and then but rarely.David Prothero, 29 Nov 1999
This is a city that belongs to Madeira,
has a 53 km2 area, 4 freguesias (communes) and about
31 000 inhabitants.
Sérgio Horta, 25 Nov 1999
Câmara de Lobos is located on the southern coast of the island (and
autonomous region) of Madeira, ca. 10 km West
of Funchal, the capital city of the island.
Ivan Sache, 18 Feb 2001
An other page of the same
website says that It was founded on 25 May 1835 and locally established
on 4 October 1835. The freguesia [commune] of
Câmara de Lobos had been created in 1430, Estreito de Câmara de Lobos in
1509, Curral das Freiras on 17 March 1790, Quinta Grande on 24 July 1848
and Jardim da Serra on 5 July 1996. Estreito de Câmara de Lobos was upgraded
to the status of vila [town] on 3 August 1996 and Câmara de Lobos was
upgraded to the status of cidade [city]
on 3 August 1996 as said above.
Ivan Sache, 18 Feb 2001
The coat-of-arms’ current configuration dates from September the 9th 1997
and replaces the one approved on January 4th 1957 changing only the mural crown
from town to city, because of the status upgrade of the municipality head,
occurred on august 3th 1996.
translated by Sérgio Horta, 27 Nov 1999, from the
Municipal
website
Well, this means that the previous flag was probably a
quartered flag in
yellow and blue and that the coat of arms had certainly
a 4-towered mural crown.
The flag is uncertain because, by law, could also be
monocoloured, with all likelyhood yellow.
Jorge Candeias, 19 Feb 2001
An other page of the same
website says that the concelho
[municipality] of Câmara de Lobos is made of the freguesias
[communes] of Câmara de Lobos, Estreito de Câmara de Lobos, Curral
das Freiras, Quinta Grande, and Jardim da Serra.
Ivan Sache, 18 Feb 2001
