We quote Gorosabel:
« Since fairly ancient times, Fuenterrabía claimed the titles of “very noble and very loyal” city. This claim was based on the fact that Emperor and King Charles V, in a letter written from Ocaña on 18 December 1542, had granted it the title of “very noble and loyal,” adding that his successors, the kings, referred to it as “very loyal.” However, the province did not allow it to use such titles, but only “noble and loyal,” as for the other towns in its territory. This is n in a resolution of the Juntas Generales of Tolosa in 1622; a resolution against which the representatives of the city itself and of San Sebastián protested.
Persisting in its claim, Fuenterrabía, in the power granted to its agents for the special Junta of 1632, titled itself “very noble and very loyal city”; upon seeing this, they were asked to leave the hall of the congress until they obtained a new power without such title. Fuenterrabía remained in this state until King Philip IV, due to the siege of 1638, granted it the titles of “very loyal and very valiant city” by a privilege issued in Madrid on 12 April 1639. Fuenterrabía regretted that in this document the title “very noble,” previously used, was omitted, and petitioned His Majesty to correct this omission. The king granted this and issued a new royal cédula, dated at the same court on 4 December 1650, ordering that it henceforth be titled and called “very noble, very loyal, and very valiant city.”
By another royal cédula issued by King Charles IV on 11 June 1799, it was granted permission to add to its previous titles that of “always very faithful,” in recognition of the services rendered during the events in the neighboring kingdom of France. »
It is divided into four quarters, the first two being medieval. The first is gold, featuring an angel holding a key in its right hand; the second is silver with a rampant lion; the third, with green waves, s a ship at sea with a harpooned whale beneath; the fourth, also with green waves, depicts a mermaid holding a mirror in her right hand. In the center is a small blue escutcheon with waves, a silver castle, and two stars above it. On the sides, bordered in a red field with twelve white flags and banners, are trophies of artillery pieces, bombs, blunderbusses, etc. Around the circle are the city’s titles and names, topped by Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness and protector of the city, dating from 1639.
White with a red Burgundian cross and the city’s coat of arms in the center.
It is an important piece of medieval Gipuzkoan sigillography. The obverse s a light boat with four crew members engaged in harpooning a whale in the foreground. The reverse depicts a slender castle or city gate in the wall. On the obverse, the inscription reads Sigillum Concilii de Fonte Arrabia; on the reverse, the reading is more problematic: Frange, le... tege.