There are many legends of our city and the one of its motto does not stop being one of the most interesting.
To begin with, we will say that this motto is very similar to those that appear in the coats of arms of other European cities and that it has a religious base, since it takes the initial syllables of the Latin expression ‘Nomine Domini’, that translated comes to be ‘ In the name of God’. However, the skein (8) which is located between both abbreviations has given rise to multiple interpretations and most of them see in this symbol something more than a simple nexus.
King Alfonso X “The Wise”
The first of the legends is related to King Alfonso X “The Wise”, who was a man of letters, very cultured and intellectual. Under his reign flourished all kinds of science and art of the time. Nevertheless the king was not very skilled in the art of governing, the economy or the public administration, reason why many people was displeased. Because of this, his own son Sancho raised arms against him, some say that to save the kingdom and others for ambition of power.
Little by little, and almost without need of a fight, Sancho went coquering all the kingdom, but decided not to attack Seville, city where his father had been refurbished the king Alfonso X, who already was old and sick. Here the king spent his last years, supported by the clergy, the nobility and the people of Seville, who took care of him until the end of his days.
A great fan of geroffics, the king gave the city council of Seville in 1283, a symbol as a motto, formed by the syllables NO and DO with a skein in the middle. NO ∞ DO
Therefore, the reading of this cryptogram is DIS-skein -NOT (in spanish, phonetically the word “skein” strangely resembles the experssion “leave me”) The expression is “did not leave me” ‘It did not abandon me’) with which the king wanted to thank the city of Seville for the fact that they had not abandoned him.
(NO ∞ DO = NO-MADEJA-DO = NO ME HA DEJADO)
The Virgin Mary
Another theory says that this cryptogram (‘did not leave me’) refers to the divine help of the Virgin Mary received by Fernando III to conquer Seville and expel the Muslims.
Another monarch who was much closer in time, Alfonso XIII, gave a speech in Seville in 1926 while finishing the details of the Ibero-American Exposition and his final conclusion was on the legend previously exposed: “To the Mayor of Seville, I beg you in My name give thanks to the city for the affectionate welcome that has given us. Tell the Sevillians that if a king Alfonso gave Seville the award that in his shield he put the phrase ‘He has not left me’, another king Alfonso says that he will never leave the Sevillians.
D.O.D
