Life

He was an honoured man at the time of King John I of Portugal

John I of Portugal

John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...

 and a Escrivão da Puridade (Notary/Registrar of the Purity/Secret, furthermore, a Secretary

Secretary

A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...

) of the 2nd Constable of Portugal

Constable of Portugal

Constable of Portugal or Constable of the Kingdom was a title created by the King of Portugal Ferdinand I in 1382, to substitute the title Alferes Mór do Reino. The constable was the second most powerful person in the kingdom, after the King of Portugal...

 Nuno Álvares Pereira

Nuno Álvares Pereira

Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, O. Carm. , also spelled Nun'Álvares Pereira, was a Portuguese general of great success who had a decisive role in the 1383-1385 Crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile...

, and some say also his relative.

Perhaps born into the Moniz noble family, it is not known if he is of the same ones. His connection to the main branch is, however, currently unknown. Barreiros, a Genealogist, does not nominate him, in his Livro Ms., more than by Gil Aires, and says at the margins these words: And of Maria Trabuca and of one from Alegrete, who seems they want to say he was their son; and then, after nominating his children below, he says so: All of these were called themselves Moniz, after their father was put into honour.; and says another information he was born in Alegrete, the one in Coruche or in Portalegre, son of a man who lived at the same village. He was buried at his Chapel of Our Lady of Piety of the Carmo Convent

Carmo Convent (Lisbon)

The Carmo Convent is a historical building in Lisbon, Portugal. The mediaeval convent was ruined in the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, and the ruins of its Gothic church are the main trace of the great earthquake still visible in the city.The Carmo Convent is located in the Chiado neighbourhood, on a...

, in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, and there he nominates himself Escrivão da Puridade do Condestável.

Marriage and issue

He married Maria Pires and had four children:

• Diogo Gil Moniz
  Diogo Gil Moniz
  -Life:He was the eldest son of Gil Aires Moniz and wife Maria Pires.He was Vedor of the Fazenda of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, brother of King Afonso V of Portugal and father of King Manuel I of Portugal.-Marriage and issue:...
  
  
• Vasco Gil Moniz
  Vasco Gil Moniz
  Vasco Gil Moniz was a Portuguese nobleman.-Life:He was the second born son of Gil Aires Moniz and wife Maria Pires.He was a Vedor of Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra, son of King John I of Portugal....
  
  
• Rui Gil Moniz
  Rui Gil Moniz
  -Life:He was a son of Gil Aires Moniz and wife Maria Pires.He was a Treasurer of the Casa da Moeda of Lisbon.-Marriage and issue:He married Filipa de Almada, daughter of João Vaz de Almada, Vedor of King Afonso V of Portugal, and wife Violante de Castro, and had:* Garcia Moniz* Francisco de Almada,...
  
  
• Isabel Moniz, wife of Bartolomeu Perestrelo
  Bartolomeu Perestrelo
  Bartolomeu Perestrello , 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that is claimed to have discovered and populated Porto Santo Island together with João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira...
  
  , mother of Filipa Moniz and monther-in-law of Christopher Columbus
  Christopher Columbus
  Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
  
  .
• Leonor Gil Moniz (or Leonor Moniz and formerly Leonor Gil), married as his second wife to Fernão de Sousa, o Labruja, son of João de Sousa and wife Beatriz de Almeida and widow with female issue of Maria Rodrigues de Castelo-Branco, and had extant issue

Sources

• Manuel João da Costa Felgueiras Gaio, "Nobiliário das Famílias de Portugal", Tomo Vigésimo Primeiro, Título de Monizes, § 17, § 18 e § 19
• Various Authors, "Armorial Lusitano", Lisbon, 1961, pp. 370-372
• Dom Augusto Romano Sanches de Baena e Farinha de Almeida Portugal Sousa e Silva, 1.º Visconde de Sanches de Baena, "Archivo Heraldico-Genealógico", Lisbon, 1872, Volume II, p. CXV
• Cristóvão Alão de Morais, "Pedatura Lusitana", Volume I (reformulated edition), pp. 668-670