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The Military Order of Aviz
The Order is today commonly believed to have its origins in a Militia of Knights created under King D. Afonso Henriques (1128-1185) sometime after 1166, to secure the defence of the recently re-captured city of Évora [1]. It was the time of the caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf (1163-1184), the leader of the raising Muwahhid empire in North Africa and in al-Andalus, with whom a truce had been accorded between 1173-78 [2].
Around 1187, seeking a regular obedience it received the Rules and Constitution of the Order of Calatrava, and became known as the Évora Militia of the Order of Calatrava.
The Castilian Military Order of Calatrava had been founded by D. Sancho III, King of Castile, who in 1158 donated the town of Calatrava, which had been abandoned by the Knights Templars, to San Raimundo de Fitero and his friars who formed a Militia to defend Calatrava from the Moors.
The new Order submitted to the obedience of the Rule of the Cisterian Order and was confirmed by papal bull - Alexander III - in 1164.
The Évora Militia of the Order of Calatrava assumed the nature of a Monastic-Military Order, the knights being committed to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience with the obligation of fighting the Moors.
The Order followed the Rule of St. Benedict until 1187, when it adopted the Rule of Cisterian Order. Pope Celestine III (1191-1198) confirmed the Order in 1192.
In 1211, the King of Portugal, D. Afonso II, donated the town of Avis to D. Fernando Annes, Master of the Évora Militia who, in turn, had the town fortified and a castle and a convent built. Having completed the fortification of Aviz, the Friars of Évora moved its seat there in about 1223-1224 during the time of Fernão Rodrigues Monteiro, the Master of the Order in Portugal. Henceforth, the militia became known as the Order of Avis.
The Order of Aviz was present and commanded by its Master D. Martim Fernandes during the siege and conquest of Seville in 1248, led by Ferdinando III, the Saint, King of Castile.
Several Papal Bulls (Gregory VIII, Quoties a nobis,1187; Innocent III, 1199, 1201 and 1214) refer to the possessions of the Order of Calatrava in Portugal, thus considering the Order of Évora as a branch of Calatrava.
Nonetheless, Innocent III's bull - Religiosis vitam eligentibus, of May 21st, 1201, is expressly addressed to Magistro et fratribus Elborensis milicie, professis ordinem Calatravae, stating the Order's possessions in Portugal (which the other Bulls considered as belonging to the Order of Calatrava) and conceding to the Friars of Évora the same privileges, liberties and immunities as those of Calatrava.
Although the Order was formally dependent upon the Grand-Master in Castile, in as far as the power of visitation and the confirmation of the elected provincial Masters was concerned, it maintained from the beginning a national and autonomous character. Politically, it depended only upon the Kings of Portugal.
The Portuguese Kings had donated vast territories of land conquered from the Muslims to the Order of Aviz. Nevertheless, from the beginning of the XIII th century, the Portuguese knights begun to elect their own particular Masters.
Furthermore, with the completion of the Reconquest in the Kingdom of Portugal and of the Algarve (c. 1249), and owing to the latent state of war between Portugal and Castile at the time, the formal dependence of the Order of Aviz upon Castile became dangerous to the interests of the Portuguese Crown.
Considering these circumstances, King D. Diniz desired to obtain, from Rome, the recognition of the independence from foreign rule of the Orders of St. James and of Aviz, as well as pleading the creation of the Military Order of Jesus Christ to inherit the vast estates which the Knights Templars had possessed in Portugal.
The first practical result of those requests was the Bull Pastoralis officii, dated September 17th, 1288, from Nicholas IV, commanding the Portuguese friars of St. James to elect their own Master in Portugal reserving the right of Visitation to the Grand-Master in Castile.
Under the protests of Castile, this rule was negated by Popes Celestine V and Boniface VIII (1295). Before the election of Pope John XXII, the Portuguese Friars elected their own Master - Dom Lourenço Eanes, Grand-commander of the Order. The Castilian Grand-Master D. Diego Muñiz excommunicated the Portuguese friars and sent ambassadors to Rome seeking the revocation of Nicholas IV's bull. John XXII, decreed in 1317 - bull "Inter caetera" - the submission of the Portuguese friars of St. James to Castile. D. Dinis appealed to Rome sending special envoys requesting the Pope the revocation of his decision. The Pope then ordered in 1319 an inquiry through the Archbishops of Compostela and of Braga. The dispute was only solved by Pope Eugene IV, who recognised the separation of the Order of St. James in Portugal from the Order in Castile. Furthermore, Pope Nicholas V extended the privileges of the Order in Castile to the Order of St. James in Portugal (see Order of St. James of the Sword).
These disputes also occurred in the Order of Aviz, especially after the Orders' Master in Portugal - Prince John, was proclaimed King of Portugal (1385-1433), against Castilian pretensions, under the name of John I.
After the ascension to the throne of JohnI, the Order's Chapter met at the Castle of Aviz on October, 3rd, 1387, and elected as their Master Dom Fernando Rodrigues de Siqueira without the intervention of the Grand-Master of Calatrava, and under the pretext that the Kingdom of Castile recognised the schismatic Pope at Avignon - Clement VII - they requested Urban VI, at Rome, to approve of the election without the confirmation of the Grand-Master at Calatrava, as the Statutes of the Order ruled.
Boniface IX confirmed the election on November 9th, 1389.
When the Grand-Master of Calatrava - Don Gonzalo Núnez de Guzmán, came to Portugal to visit the Order of Aviz, King John I ordered the Master of Aviz, D. Fernando Rodrigues de Sequeira, to receive the Calatrava Grand-Master with all the honours due to a personage of his rank and as a guest, but not to accept him as his Superior or as a Prelate.
There arose a long dispute with the Kingdom of Castille and the Grand-Master of Calatrava, whose supreme authority was not recognised by the Portuguese knights, through successive appeals to Rome, and to the Council of Basle in 1436.
The dispute ended in 1440, with the papal recognition of the independence of the Orders of St. James and of Aviz from Castile, by Pope Eugene IV's bull, during the reign of King D. Afonso V , under the Regency of his uncle D. Pedro, Duke of Coimbra.
Following the death of the last elected Master - D. Fernão Rodrigues de Sequeira, in the reign of King D. Duarte I, the administration of the Order fell within the Royal Family until, in 1551 it was conceded to the Crown by Pope Julian III.
In 1789, upon request of Queen Mary I, Pope Pius VI, approved the secularisation of the Orders. Therefore, the Orders became primarily Orders of Knighthood of aristocratic nature, as far as the lay knights were concerned.
In 1894, the Order was again reformed, according to the principles of the Constitutional Charter, under the name of "Royal Military Order of St. Benedict of Avis" with three classes:
Grand-Cross, Grand-Officer and Knight.
After the Grand-Master, the King, came the Grand-Commander, which was attached to the personage of the Crown-Prince of Portugal. The Order was conferred only on the military.
Under the Republic
In 1910, the Republic abolished the Orders, but in 1917-18, at the end of the Great War, some of them were re-established as Orders of Merit to reward outstanding services to the state, the office of Grand-Master belonging to the Head of State - the President of the Republic.
The Order of Avis was therefore re-established and reorganised in 1918, under the name of Military Order of Avis and reserved for the military with five classes or grades of membership. It was conferred to reward services of a military nature, both on Portuguese army and naval officers and on foreigners.
The Order together with the other Portuguese Orders of Merit, had its Statutes revised in several occasions under the I Republic (1910-1926), then in 1962, and again in 1986.
The Order after the reform of 1986
The President of the Republic is the Grand-Master of the Order.
The Military Order of Avis together with the Military Orders of Christ and of St. James of the Sword form the group of the "Ancient Military Orders", having a Chancellor and a Council of eight members, appointed by the President of the Republic to assist him as Grand-Master in all matters concerning the administration of the Order.
The Order can only be conferred on Officers of the Armed Forces, or on military units, Portuguese and foreigner, for outstanding military services
The Order ranks after the Military Order of Christ.
The Order has five classes: Grand-Cross; Grand Officer; Commander; Officer; Knight/Dame.
Insignia [ to the Insignia of the Order's page]
The Badge of The Order, which varies in size according to class, is a green-enamelled Cross fleury edged gold.
The Star of the Order is an 8-pointed chipped star in gold (in silver for Commanders) charged in the centre with the Badge of the Order upon a field of silver, within a garlanded laurel wreath in gold.
The Ribbon is plain green.
Rules for the wearing of the insignia
Grand-Cross: wears the Badge of the Order, but larger than the one used by knights, suspended from a Sash and the Star of the Order in gold;
Grand Officer: wears the Badge, as worn by the grand-cross class, pendant from the ribbon of the Order round the neck and the Star of the Order, in gold;
Commander: wears the Badge, as worn by the grand-cross class, pendant from the ribbon of the Order round the neck and the Star of the Order, but in silver;
Officer: wears the Badge pendant from a chest ribbon with rosette;
Knight: wears the Badge of the Order pendant from a chest ribbon but without rosette.
The Officer and Knight classes can wear the Badge of the Order pendant from a ribbon round the neck, as in the Commander size, on ceremonial occasions.
Foreigners awarded with the Order become Honorary Members having the right to wear its insignia. In the event of a promotion to a higher class within the Order, ceases the right to wear the insignia of the former and lower class of the Order.
Notes:
[1] Ruy Pinto de Azevedo dates the foundation of the new Militiae between March 1175 and April 1176.[top]
[2] Abu Yaqub Yusuf made several successful military campaigns in al-Andalus from 1171-1184, subduing Valencia and Murcia (1172), conquering Cáceres and Alcántara to the King of León and defeating the christian armies in the Portuguese al-Garbh and in Extremadura. In 1184, the caliph attempted to reconquer the strategic city of Santarém, north of Lisbon, sitting up a siege. King D. Afonso Henriques helped by Fernando II of León secured the city and defeated the caliphs' army. He was to die in the route to Évora in 1184.[top]
Bibliography:
Actas del Congresso Internacional Hispano-Portugues «Las Ordenes Militares en la Peninsula durante la Edad Media», C.S.I.C., Madrid-Barcelona, 1981;
Luís ADÃO DA FONSECA, O Condestável D. Pedro de Portugal, Porto, INIC, 1982; ; idem, Algumas considerações a propósito da documentação existente em Barcelona respeitante à Ordem de Avis: sua contribuição para um melhor conhecimento dos grupos de pressão em Portugalem meados do século XV, in «Revista da Faculdade de Letras. História», Porto, 2ª série, vol. I, 1984, pp. 19-56
Ruy P. de AZEVEDO, As Origens da Ordem de Évora ou de Avis, in «Historia», I/A, # 4, Lisboa, 1932, pp. 233-241;
D. Maur COCHERIL, Les Ordres Militaires Cisterciens au Portugal, «Bulletin d'Etudes Portugaises», 28-29, Institut Français au Portugal, (1967/68); idem, Calatrava y las Ordenes Militares Portuguesas, in «Cistercium», X, # 59, 1958, pp. 331-339;
Maria Cristina Almeida e CUNHA, A Ordem Militar de Avis (das origens a 1329), dissertation thesis for the Master's degree at the University of Oporto, Porto, 1989, (mimeo); pp. 22-29; idem, A eleição do mestre de Avis nos séculos XIII-XV, in «As Ordens Militares em Portugal e no Sul da Europa», (Palmela 1992), eds. Colibri/C.M. Palmela, 1997, pp. 373-392; idem, A comenda de Oriz da Ordem de Avis (séc. XII-XV), in «Bracara Augusta», Braga, 1987;
Maria Cristina CUNHA & Maria Cristina PIMENTA, A comenda de Albufeira da Ordem de Avis nos inícios do século XV: breve abordagem, separata, C.M.Loulé, 1987; idem, Algumas considerações sobre as relações entre os monarcas castelhanos e a Ordem de Avis no século XIII, separata do «Boletim do Arquivo Distrital do Porto», vol. II, Porto, IPPC, 1985;
Aurea JAVIERRE MUR, La orden de Calatrava en Portugal, in «Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia», t. 130, Madrid, 1952, pp. 363-364;
Derek W. LOMAX, Algunos Estatutos Primitivos de la Orden de Calatrava, in «Hispania», XXI, Madrid (1961), pp. 483-494;
J. F. O'CALLAGHAN, The Spanish Military Order of Calatrava and its Affiliates - Collected Studies, London, Variorum Reprints, 1975; idem, A History of Medieval Spain, London, 1975;
Padre Miguel de OLIVEIRA, A milícia de Évora e a Ordem de Calatrava, in «Lusitania Sacra», vol. 1, Lisboa, 1956, pp. 51-64;
Maria Cristina PIMENTA, A Ordem de Avis (durante o mestrado de D. Fernão Rodrigues Sequeira), in «Militarium Ordinum Analecta - As Ordens Militares no Reinado de D. João I», vol. I, Fundação Eng. António de Almeida, Porto, 1997, pp. 129-246;
Bernard F. REILLY, The Medieval Spains, Cambridge University Press, 1993;
Cardeal SARAIVA, Memória sobre a instituição da Ordem Militar intitulada de Avis, em Portugal, in «Obras Completas do Cardeal Saraiva», t. III, Lisboa, 1874, pp. 21-27;
Padre Carlos da Silva TAROUCA, As origens da Ordem dos Cavaleiros de Évora (Avis) segundo as cartas do Arquivo do cabido da Sé de Évora, Sep. do Boletim «A Cidade de Évora», ano V, #13-14, 1947; pp. 25-39;
Hermínia M. Vasconcelos VILAR, A diocese de Évora e a ordem de Avis: dois poderes em confronto na centúria de duzentos, in ««As Ordens Militares em Portugal e no Sul da Europa»», (Palmela 1992), eds. Colibri/C.M. Palmela, 1997, pp. 271-284;
© (1997,1998) by José Vicente de Bragança (English text revised by Stewart LeForte). Last updated: 26 October 1998
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