Avelar
Note: There are also several people with this name; an article is missing.
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.
Etymology
The name avelar is said to come from the Latin avellanale or avellanal, related to hazels.The name was later appended to the town as a result of the Jewish expulsions from Spain and the subsequent resettlement of Jews in Portugal.
History
Antiquity
An old Roman pathway connecting Conímbriga to Sellium passed through the location of modern-day Avelar.Medieval history
The first known reference to Avelar is from the year 1137, when Afonso Henriques cites an "Avellaal" on the foral granted to Penela. In May 1219, King Sancho I granted Queen Maria Paes Ribeiro an estate in Almofala.In November 1221, King Afonso II, the grandson of Afonso I, gave the Avelar estate to Martim Anes, his .
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. Seventeen years later, on November 12, 1514, Avelar was granted its foral, officially declaring it a town. At that time, Avelar together with its boundering villages, had a total of 88 people in population.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.
On December 31, 1836, due to a royal decree, Avelar losed its title of vila and became part of the concelho of 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. This timeline, however, is disputed: other sources list Avelar as being a part of Figueiró dos Vinhos in as early as 1832.
Modern history
In May 1994, a bill was presented to the Assembly of the Republic elevating Avelar back to the status of a vila. On June 21, 1995, the bill was accepted and Avelar regained its position. 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. 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.