The word is French, Advoué, or Avoué, of the verb Avouer, to avow, own, acknowledge dependence, subjection, etc. —— Whence also Advowson. See AVOW, and ADVOWSON.
There were also Advowees for Cathedrals, Abbeys, Monasteries, etc. — Thus, Charlemagne had the title of Advocate of St. Peter's; King Hugh, of St. Riquier; and Bollandus mentions some letters of Pope Nicholas, by which he constituted King Edward the Confessor, and his successors, Advocates of the Monastery at Westminster, and of all the Churches in England.
These Advowees were the Guardians, Protectors, and, as it were, Administrators of the temporal concerns of the Churches, etc. and under their authority, were passed all contracts which related thereto. See GUARDIAN, etc. It appears also, from the most ancient charters, that the donations made to Churches, were conferred on the persons of the Advowees. They always pleaded the causes of the Churches in court, and distributed justice for them, in the places under their jurisdiction. They also commanded the forces furnished by their Monasteries, etc. for the war; and even were their champions, and stood duels for them. See COMBAT, DUEL, and CHAMPION.
This office is said to have been first introduced in the 4th Century, in the time of Silico; though the Benedictines don't fix its origin before the 8th Century. AG. Saint Benedict, 8. Ul. P. 1, Pref. p. 91, etc. By degrees, men of the first rank were brought into it, as it was found necessary, either to defend with arms, or to protect with power and authority. In some Monasteries, they were called Conservators; but these, without the name, had all the same functions with Advowees. See CONSERVATOR.
There were also sometimes several Sub-Advowees, or Sub-Advocates in each Monastery, who officiated instead of the Advowees themselves; which, however, proved the ruin of Monasteries; those inferior officers running into great abuses.
Hence, husbands, tutors, and every person in general, who took upon him the defense of another, were also called Advowees, or Advocates:—Hence several cities, also, had their Advowees; which were established long after the ecclesiastical ones, and doubtless from their example. Thus, we read in history of the Advowees of Augsburg, of Arles, etc. The Vidames assumed the quality of Advowees; and hence it is, that several historians of the 8th Century, confuse the two functions together. See VIDAME.
Spelman distinguishes two Kinds of Ecclesiastical Advowees:—The one, of Causes, or Processes, Advocati Causarum; the other, of Territory, or Lands, Advocati Solt.
The former were nominated by the King, and were usually Lawyers, who undertook to plead the causes of the Monasteries.
The other, which still subsist, and are sometimes called by their primitive Name, Advowees, though more usually Patrons, were hereditary; as being the Founders and Endowers of Churches, etc. or their Heirs. See PATRON.
In this sense, Women were sometimes Advocatesses, Advocatissae—And, in effect, the Canon Law mentions some who had this Title, and who had the same Right of Presentation, etc., in their Churches, which the Advowees themselves had. In a Stat. 25 Edw. II. we meet with Advowee Paramount, for the Highest Patron; that is, the King. See PARAMOUNT. There were also Advowees of Countries, and Provinces.
In a Charter of the Year 1187, Berthold Duke of Zeringhen, is called Advowee of Thuringia; and in the Notaria of the Belgic Churches, published by Astreus, the Count of Louvain is titled Count and Advowee of Brabant. In the 11th and 12th Centuries, we also meet with the Advowees of Alsace, of Swabia, etc. Raymond de Agiles relates, that after the Recovery of Jerusalem from the Saracens, it being proposed to elect a King thereof; the Bishops pleaded, Non debere ibi eligi Regem, ubi Deus passus & coronatus est, etc. That "they ought by no means to appoint a King, in a Place where God had suffered and been crowned; but should content themselves with electing an Advowee, or Advocate of the City, to take Care of the Garrison, etc." In effect, Dodechin, a German Abbot, who wrote a Voyage to the Holy Land in the 12th Century, calls Godfrey of Bouillon, Advowee of the Holy Sepulchre.