Álvaro Xavier da Fonseca Coutinho e Póvoas ( Guarda 7 September 1773 – Guarda 29 November 1852), was a Portuguese military officer and noble, who served on the

Miguelist In the history of Portugal, a Miguelist () is a supporter of the legitimacy of the king Miguel I of Portugal and his descendants. Miguel was regent for his niece Queen Maria II of Portugal, and potential royal consort. However, he claimed the ...

side in Portugal's

Liberal Wars The Liberal Wars (), also known as the Portuguese Civil War () and the War of the Two Brothers () was a civil war in Portugal that lasted from May 1828 to May 1834, fought between liberal progressive constitutionalists (led by former King P ...

. Born in an aristocratic family, he joined the Portuguese Legion in 1808, but defected one year later to the Portuguese-British army. He fought against the French as Lieutenant colonel, and ended the war in 1815 as Brigadier general. In 1828, at the outbreak of the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

between Dom Miguel and his elder brother, the former

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Dom

Pedro I of Brazil ''Don (honorific), Dom'' Pedro I (12 October 1798 – 24 September 1834), known in Brazil and in Portugal as "the Liberator" () or "the Soldier King" () in Portugal, was the founder and List of monarchs of Brazil, first ruler of the Empire of ...

, he joined the Miguelite, Absolutist camp.
He suppressed a Liberal uprising in Porto in 1828 and distinguished himself at the

Siege of Porto The siege of Porto is considered the period between July 1832 and August 1833 in which the troops of Pedro I of Brazil, Dom Pedro remained besieged by the forces of Miguel I of Portugal, Dom Miguel I of Portugal. The resistance of the city of ...

in 1832, where he won the Battle of Souto Redondo. On 20 December 1833, he became a supreme commander of the Miguelite army, but when he lost the Battle of Almoster on 18 February 1834, he was relieved of command and replaced by general

José António Azevedo e Lemos José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

. After the war ended, he was dismissed from the army in 1834 and retreated from public life in his native Guarda. Aged 73, he took up arms once more during the

Patuleia

The Patuleia, Guerra da Patuleia, or Little Civil War was a civil w ...

in 1846–1847. He died in 1852.

References

Arqnet Póvoas (Álvaro Xavier da Fonseca Coutinho).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Póvoas, Álvaro Xavier da Fonseca Coutinho e 1773 births 1852 deaths Portuguese soldiers Portuguese nobility Military personnel of the Liberal Wars 18th-century Portuguese people 19th-century Portuguese people People from Guarda, Portugal Portuguese military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars