civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
of the municipality of
Ansião
Ansião () is a municipality in Leiria District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 13,128,Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. It was a '' vila'' during two occasions: for the first time from November 12, 1514 through December 31, 1836; and for the second time from June 21, 1995 to the present day.
Etymology
The name ''avelar'' is said to come from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''avellanale'' or ''avellanal'', related to hazels (''Corylus avellana'').
The name was later appended to the town as a result of the Jewish expulsions from Spain (1391, 1492) and the subsequent resettlement of Jews in Portugal.
History
Antiquity
An old Roman pathway connecting
Conímbriga
Conímbriga is one of the largest Roman settlements excavated in Portugal, and was classified as a National Monument in 1910. Located in the civil parish of Condeixa-a-Velha e Condeixa-a-Nova, in the municipality of Condeixa-a-Nova, it is situate ...
(modern day
Condeixa
Condeixa-a-Nova (), also known as just Condeixa, is a town and a municipality in the district of Coimbra, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 17,078, in an area of 138.67 km². It is located 15 km south of Coimbra, and is part of the R ...
Tomar
Tomar (), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar), is a city and a municipality in the Santarém district of Portugal. The town proper has a population of about 20,000. The municipality population in 2011 was 40,677, in an a ...
) passed through the location of modern-day Avelar.
Medieval history
The first known reference to Avelar is from the year 1137, when
Afonso Henriques
Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on the Spanish or French inf ...
(not yet King of Portugal) cites an "Avellaal" on the ''
foral
200px, Foral of Castro Verde - Portugal
The word ''foral'' ({{IPA-pt, fuˈɾaɫ, eu, plural: ''forais'') is a noun derived from the Portuguese word ''foro'', ultimately from Latin ''forum'', equivalent to Spanish ''fuero'', Galician '' foro'', ...
'' granted to
Penela
Penela () is a municipality located in Coimbra District, in Portugal. It contains the town of Penela with about 3,300 inhabitants. The town's main tourist attraction is the Penela Castle. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 5,983, in an ...
.
In November 1221, King Afonso II, the grandson of Afonso I, gave the Avelar estate to Martim Anes, his (the
standard-bearer
A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...
of the Portuguese military of the time).
Renaissance and early modern history
In November 1497,
King Manuel I
Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as ...
names Fernão de Pina, Rui Boto and João Façanha as officials of the ''Foral''s of the Court, with the intention of starting a reform of the old ''foral''s. Seventeen years later, on November 12, 1514, Avelar was granted its ''foral'', officially declaring it a town ('' vila'').
Then came the
Portuguese succession crisis of 1580
The Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 ( pt, Crise de sucessão de 1580) came about as a result of the deaths of young King Sebastian I of Portugal in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578 and his successor and great-uncle Henry I in 1580. As ...
and, with it, the
Iberian Union
pt, União Ibérica
, conventional_long_name =Iberian Union
, common_name =
, year_start = 1580
, date_start = 25 August
, life_span = 1580–1640
, event_start = War of the Portuguese Succession
, event_end = Portuguese Restoration War
, ...
. The union ended with the Portuguese Restoration War, but the Marquesses of Vila Real, then owners of the Avelar estate, supported the right of the Spanish Kings to the Portuguese throne. Because of this, King John IV of Portugal accused them of treason, and had their properties and riches confiscated, including the Avelar estate. Those confiscated goods were later passed on to the
House of the Infantado
The House of the Infantado ( Portuguese: ''Casa do Infantado'') was an appanage for the second eldest son of the Portuguese monarch.
History
The House of the Infantado was created in 1654 by King John IV of Portugal from properties and riches ...
, created by King John IV himself as an
appanage
An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...
for the second eldest son of the Portuguese monarch.
On December 31, 1836, due to a royal
decree
A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used ...
, Avelar loses its title of ''vila'' and becomes part of the ''
concelho
Concelho () is the Portuguese-language term for municipality, referring to the territorial subdivision in local government. In comparison, the word ''município'' () refers to the organs of State. This differentiation is still in use in Portugal ...
'' of until 1855. It then becomes part of the ''concelho'' of
Figueiró dos Vinhos
Figueiró dos Vinhos () is a city in Leiria District - Portugal. The population in 2011 was 6,169,Ansião
Ansião () is a municipality in Leiria District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 13,128, This timeline, however, is disputed: other sources list Avelar as being a part of Figueiró dos Vinhos in as early as 1832 (adding to the confusion, the term used to refer to Figueiró dos Vinhos is "district", but districts were only officially defined in April 1835).
Modern history
On June 21, 1995, Avelar regains its position as a ''vila''. Since 2018, the town celebrates the anniversary of this event during the "''Vila'' of Avelar Week".
In 2020, the III Vila of Avelar Week was scheduled to take place from the 14 to the 21 of June, but was ultimately cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Instead, the celebration was shortened to a single, brief "Day of Vila of Avelar" public meeting on June 21, taking necessary precautions to prevent further spread of the virus.
Population
Administration
Executive body
As of February 2020, the president of the executive body of Avelar ( Junta de Freguesia) is Fernando Inácio Pires Medeiros.
Legislative body
As of February 2020, president of Avelar's legislature ( Assembleia de Freguesia) is Dina Maria Caseiro Henriques Rosa, of the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...