Avelar

Avelar is a civil parish of the municipality of Ansião, Portugal. 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.

Avelar
Civil parish
Avelar Location in Portugal
Coordinates: 39°55′24.39″N 8°21′25.82″W
Country	Portugal
Region	Centro
Intermunic. comm.	Região de Leiria
District	Leiria
Municipality	Ansião
Area
• Total	8.5 km^2 (3.3 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,169
• Density	260/km^2 (660/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC±00:00 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (WEST)
Website	www.jf-avelar.pt

Avelar (1930–2013)
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     115     10 8     107     10 9     97     13 11     78     14 13     66     17 15     33     20 19     10     22 21     12     23 22     48     21 19     97     17 16     103     13 12     118     10 8 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: "ClimateCharts.net". Technical University of Dresden. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     4.5     49 47     4.2     50 48     3.8     55 52     3.1     58 55     2.6     63 59     1.3     69 66     0.4     72 71     0.5     73 71     1.9     70 67     3.8     62 60     4.1     55 53     4.6     51 47 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

Etymology

The name avelar is said to come from the Latin avellanale or avellanal, related to hazels (Corylus avellana).[1]

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.[2][3]

History

Antiquity

An old Roman pathway connecting Conímbriga (modern day Condeixa) to Sellium (modern day Tomar) passed through the location of modern-day Avelar.[1]

Medieval history

The first known reference to Avelar is from the year 1137, when Afonso Henriques (not yet King of Portugal) cites an "Avellaal" on the foral granted to Penela.[1][4]

In November 1221,[5] King Afonso II, the grandson of Afonso I, gave the Avelar estate to Martim Anes, his alferes-mor (the standard-bearer of the Portuguese military of the time).[1]

Renaissance and early modern history

In November 1497, King Manuel I names Fernão de Pina, Rui Boto and João Façanha as officials of the Forals of the Court, with the intention of starting a reform of the old forals.[6] Seventeen years later, on November 12, 1514, Avelar was granted its foral, officially declaring it a town (vila).[1][4][7]

Then came the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 and, with it, the Iberian Union. 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, created by King John IV himself as an appanage for the second eldest son of the Portuguese monarch.[1][4]

On December 31, 1836, due to a royal decree, Avelar loses its title of vila and becomes part of the concelho of Chão de Couce until 1855. It then becomes part of the concelho of Figueiró dos Vinhos. In 1895, it finally becomes part of the concelho of Ansião, of which it remains to this day.[1][4] This timeline, however, is disputed: other sources list Avelar as being a part of Figueiró dos Vinhos in as early as 1832[8] (adding to the confusion, the term used to refer to Figueiró dos Vinhos is "district", but districts were only officially defined in April 1835[9]).

Modern history

On June 21, 1995, Avelar regains its position as a vila.[10] Since 2018, the town celebrates the anniversary of this event during the "Vila of Avelar Week".[7][11]

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.[12] 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.[13]

Population

Historical population of Avelar
(Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE))

Year	1864	1878	1890	1900	1911	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1981	1991	2011
Population	828	890	957	1013	1143	1154	1309	1480	1528	1566	1732	2083	2089	2169

Administration

Executive body

As of February 2020, the president of the executive body of Avelar (Junta de Freguesia) is Fernando Inácio Pires Medeiros.[4][14][15]

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.[16][17]

See also

• Avella, a town in southern Italy.

References

1. "Portal das Freguesias – Avelar" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2020-02-06. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
2. Gitlitz, David (1996). Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.
3. Bonnin, Pere (2010). Sangre Judia (Jewish Blood). Flor del Viento. ISBN 9788496495395.
4. "Avelar - Juntas de Freguesia | Portal do Município de Ansião" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-02-07.
5. Nunes Franklin, Francisco (1825). Memoria para servir de indice dos foraes das terras do reino de Portugal e seus dominios [Memory to serve as an index of forals of lands of the kingdom of Portugal and its domains] (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: Academia Real das Sciencias. p. 256.
6. "O Foral Novo: registos que contam histórias" [The New Foral: records that tell stories]. Torre do Tombo National Archive (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2019-06-01.
7. "Semana da Vila de Avelar" [Vila of Avelar's week]. Portal do Município de Ansião (in Portuguese). 2018-06-23. Archived from the original on 2020-02-08.
8. Projecto d'um Systema de Providencias para a Convocação das Cortes Geraes e Restabelecimento da Carta Constitucional (in Portuguese). Paris. 1832.
9. "Carta de Lei de 25 de abril de 1835" (PDF) (in Portuguese). 1835-04-25. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
10. "Diário da República n.º 200/1995, Série I-A de 1995-08-30". Diário da República Electrónico. 1995-08-30. Archived from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
11. "Ansião: Avelar quer tornar Semana da Vila num evento "diferenciador"" [Ansião: Avelar wishes to turn Vila Week into a “distinguished” event] (in Portuguese). 2019-06-12. Archived from the original on 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
12. "Ordem de Trabalhos da 29ª Reunião de Funcionamento da Junta de Freguesia de 30 de Maio de 2020" (PDF) (in Portuguese). 2020-05-30. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
13. "June 19 post by Junta de Freguesia de Avelar". Facebook. 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
14. "Freguesia de Avelar - Membros de Executivo" [Civil Parish of Avelar - Executive Members] (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
15. "Diário da República n.º 92/2018, Série II de 2018-05-14". Diário da República Electrónico (in Portuguese). 2018-05-02. Archived from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
16. "Freguesia de Avelar - Membros de Assembleia". Archived from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
17. "Regimento da Assembleia de Freguesia Avelar (proposta)" (PDF) (in Portuguese). 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-02-07.