AVARAY

avaray, a french territorial title belonging to a family some of whose members have been conspicuous in history. the bearnaise family named besiade moved into the province of orleanais in the 17th century, and there acquired the estate of avaray. in 1667 theophile de besiade, marquis d'avaray, obtained the office of grand bailiff of orleans, which was held by several of his descendants after him. claude antoine de besiade, marquis d'avaray, was deputy for the bailliage of orleans in the states-general of 1789, and proposed a _declaration of the duties of man_ as a pendant to the _declaration of the rights of man_; he subsequently became a lieutenant-general in 1814, a peer of france in 1815, and duc d'avaray in 1818. antoine louis francois, comte d'avaray, son of the above, distinguished himself during the revolution by his devotion to the comte de provence, afterwards louis xviii., whose emigration he assisted. having nominally become king in 1799, that prince created the estate of ile-jourdain a duchy, under the title of avaray, in favour of the comte d'avaray, whom he termed his "liberator." (m. p.*)