AVRANCHES
162
AVRIL
was not ended. This accounts for the favour with
which miUtary orders were regarded beyond the
Pyrenees, in Portugal as well as in Spain; for in them
the vow of fighting against the infidels was perpetual,
like other monastic vows. Ivnights Templars were
found in Portugal as early as 1128, and received a
grant from Queen Teresa in the year of the Council
of Troyes, which confirmed their early statutes, A
native "order of this kind sprang up in Portugal about
1146. .\fTonso, the first king, gave to it the town
of Evora, captured from the Moors in 1211, and the
Knights were first called " Brothers of Santa Maria
of Evora". Pedro Hennquez, an illegitimate son
of the king's father, was the first grand master. After
the conquest of .\viz the military castle erected there
became the mother-house of the order, and they were
then called " Knights of St. Benedict of Aviz", since
they adopted the Benedictine ride in 1162, as modified
by John Ziritu, one of the earliest Cistercian abbots
of Portugal. Like the Knights of Calatrava in
Castile, the Knights of Portugal were indebted to
the Cistercians for their rule and their habit — a white
mantle ^^•ith a green fleur-de-
lysed cross. The Knights of
Calatrava also surrendered some
of their places in Portugal to
them on condition that the
Knights of Aviz should be
subject to the ^■isitation of
their grand master. Hence the
Knights of Aviz were sometimes
regarded as a branch of the
Calatravan Order, although they
never ceased to have a Portu-
guese grand master, dependent
for temporalities on the Portu-
guese king. At the accession
of King Ferdinand (13S.3) war
broke out between Castile and
Portugal. Wlien Joaci I, who
had been grand master of the
Knights of Aviz, ascended the
throne of Portugal, he forbade
the knights to submit to Castil-
ian authority, and consequently,
when Gonzalvo de Guzman came
to A\-iz as Visitor, the knights,
while according him hospitaUty,
refused to recognize him as a
superior. Guzman protested,
and the point remained a sub-
ject of contention until the
Council of Basle (1431). when
Portugal was declared to be in
the wrong. But the riglit of the
Calatra vans was never exercised, and the next grand master of the Knights of Aviz, Rodrigo of Sequirol, continued to assert supreme authority over them. The mission of the military orders in Portugal seemed to fail after the overthrow of Moslem domina- tion, but the Portuguese expeditions across the sea opened up a new field for them. The first landings of Europeans in Africa, the conquest of Ceuta bj' King Joiio I (1415), the attacks upon Tangier under Joao's son Duarte (1437), were also crusades, inspired by a religious spirit and sanctioned by similar papal Bulls. The Knights of Aviz and the Knights of Christ, scions of the Knights Templars, achieved deeds of valour, the former under the Infante Fernando, the latter under Henrique, brother of King Duarte, Fernando displayed a no less heroic forbearance during his six years of captivity among the Moslems, a long martyr- dom which after his death placed him among the Blessed (Acta SS. , 5 June). This splendid enthusiasm did not last. Soon the whole nation became affected by the wealth that poured in, and the Crusade in Africa degenerated into mere mercantile enterprise;
A Knight of St.
the pontifical Bulls were made a vulgar means of rais-
ing money, and after the grand mastership of the order
(1551) had been vested in the king in perpetuity, he
availed himself of its income to reward any kind of
service in the armj' or the fleet. If the wealth of the
Knights of Aviz was not as great as that of the
Knights of Christ, it was still quite large, drawn as it
was from some forty-three commanderies. The reli-
gious spirit of the knights vanished, and they with-
drew from their clerical brothers who continued
alone the conventual life. Thej- were dispensed from
their vow of celibacy by Alexander VI (1492), who
tolerated their marriage to prevent scandalous
concubinage; Julius III (1551) allowed them to dis-
pose freel}' of their personal properties. Nobility
of birth remained the chief requirement of as-
pirants to the mantle, a requirement confirmed by a
decree of 1604. Queen Maria I, supported by
Pope Pius VI (1 Aug., 1789), attempted a last
reformation and failed. Finally, the militarj' orders
were suppressed by Dom Pedro, after the downfall
of the Miguelist usurpation (1834),
For DocrMEXTs: Noronha. Coti- stitu^oes de S. Bento de Avis (Lisbon, 1631). For History; Jos. da Puri- Fic-\o, Catalogo dos Mestrea de Ariz, me (.\cad. Real da Historia); Brito, ChTonica de Cisier, onde. etc. (.Li.=bon, 1602); cf. Almeid.a in Mtm. acad. scient. Lisboa (1S37); HfetvoT, Did. des ordres rdiffieuz (1847). I. 348-330; ScH.EFER, Gesch, von Portugal iGotha, 1834-54); Hercclano, History of Portugal (Lisbon, 1854-731.
Oh, Moeller. Avranches, Diocese of. See,
CODT.^NCES,
Avranches, Council of, — In 1172 (Sept,, 27-28) a council wag held at Avranches in France apropos of the troubles caused V. in the English Church by the murder of St, Thomas Beckct, Henrj- II, King of England, af- ter due penance, was absohed from the censures incurred by the assassination of the holy prelate, and swore fidelity to Alexander III in the person of his legate. It was forbidden to confer on children benefices that carried with them the cure of souls, or on the children of priests the churches of theii fathers. Each parish was re- quired to have an assistant (vicarius) and the Advent fast was commended to all who could observe it, es- pecially to ecclesiastics.
Mansi. CoU. Cone. (1778), XXII, 136; Bessin, Cone. Rotomig. (I7I7), 84, 263-295; Chevalier, Topo-bibl. (Paris, 1894-99). 286. Thom.^S J. Sh.VHAX.
Avril, Philippe, Jesuit, b. at Angouleme, France, 16 September, 1654; d. in a ship\\Teck in 1698. He w.as professor of philosophy and mathematics at Paris when he was summoned to the missions of China. Following the instructions of Father \'erbi- est, then at Pekin, he attempted an overland jour- ney, and travelled for six years through Kurdistan. Armenia, Astrakhan, Persia, and other countries of the East. Arriving at Moscow, he was refused per- mission to pass through Tatary, and was sent by the Government to Poland, from whence he made his way to Constantinople and from there went back to France. Though exhausted by haemorrhages he set out again on a vessel, which was lost at sea. He has left inter- esting and valuable accounts of his long wanderings.
SoMMERVoGEL, BibliothequG de ta c. de J., I. 706; Michacd, Biblwg. univ. rj-. J. C.A.MPBELL.
