Pelagius of Oviedo
Encyclopedia
Pelagius of Oviedo (died 28 January 1153) was a medieval ecclesiastic, historian, and forger
who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop
from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from 1142 to 1143. He was an active and independent-minded prelate, who zealously defended the privileges and prestige of his diocese. During his episcopal tenure he oversaw the most productive scriptorium
in Spain, which produced the vast Corpus Pelagianum, to which Pelagius contributed his own Chronicon regum Legionensium ("chronicle of the Kings of León
"). His work as a historian is generally reliable, but for the forged, interpolated, and otherwise skillfully altered documents that emanated from his office he has been called el Fabulador ("the Fabulist") and the "prince of falsifiers". It has been suggested that a monument be built in his honour in Oviedo.
The earliest known reference to Pelagius is as a deacon
at Oviedo in 1096. He was an archdeacon
there in 1097. His consecration as the auxiliary of bishop Martin I
took place on 29 December 1098. He succeeded Martin four years later, as the choice of Alfonso VI, and with vigour took up the defence of his church's properties and jurisdictions. The Archbishop of Toledo (1086), Bernard de Sedirac, sought to incorporate the sees of Oviedo, León, and Palencia into his province as suffragans. In 1099 Pope Urban II
gave the order. In 1104, Pelagius of Oviedo and Peter of León went to Rome to plead their case to the new pope, Paschal II
, who granted them a privilege of exemption and made them dependent directly on Rome (1105). At the same time (1104), Pelagius engaged in lawsuits with the count Fernando Díaz
, the countess Enderquina Muñoz, and the abbot of Corias
to maintain his rights of seignory
within Asturias. He was also involved in jurisdictional battles with the neighbouring sees of Burgos (over Asturias de Santillana) and Lugo
, and between 1109 and 1113 had to fight off the metropolitan claims of the Archdiocese of Braga as well. In 1121 the Archdiocese of Toledo successfully petitioned Pope Callistus II to remove Paschal's 1105 exemption, though this was regained in 1122.
Pelagius was generally on good terms with Alfonso VI (died 1109) and his successor, Urraca (died 1126). After 1106 no new Count of Asturias was appointed and it seems that the title lapsed, while a castellan
, a novus homo
, with lesser authority replaced the last count. This was probably in the interests of Pelagius and his authority, since the county of Asturias corresponded to the centre of his diocese. The bishop gave Urraca political support against both her husband, Alfonso the Battler
of Aragon
, and her son, the future Alfonso VII, who was in conflict with his mother after 1110. She in turn made grants to Oviedo on three separate occasions, in 1112, 1118, and 1120 and Pelagius was the dominant Asturian at court, confirming fifteen royal charters during her reign. Pelagius had a part in reconciling the queen and her son at a council of the realm in Sahagún
(1116). After Alfonso's accession he never recovered his importance, rarely appearing at the new king's court and never receiving a gift from him.
In 1130 Pelagius was deposed by a synod held under Cardinal Humbert at Carrión
, along with Diego
and Munio, bishops of León and Salamanca, and the abbot of Samos
, because they had opposed the marriage of Alfonso VII and Berenguela of Barcelona
(1127) on grounds of consanguinity
. Their deposition was politically motivated, engineered by Alfonso and the prelate Diego Gelmírez
. During the last decades of the eleventh century and the first of the twelfth, Santiago de Compostela
became one of the leading centres of pilgrimage in the among the Catholic faithful, aided by the efforts of its archbishop, Diego Gelmírez. The rivalry between Pelagius and Diego can be seen in the former's attempt to establish Oviedo as a comparable destination for pilgrims, by expanding the cult of the relics of the Cathedral of San Salvador, most importantly the alleged Sudarium of Christ
. He has even been credited with the creation of the Arca Santa
to house his cathedral's relics.
Pelagius continued to live in Oviedo and be addressed as bishop. When his successor, Alfonso, died in January 1142, Pelagius took up the diocesan administration again until early in the summer of 1143. By June the see was being administered by Froila Garcés, the archdeacon, and in September Martin II was elected bishop at a council in Valladolid
. He had planned his own funeral and had reserved a space in the Cathedral of San Salvador for his burial. Nevertheless, his death came unexpectedly while he was visiting Santillana del Mar
, and there he was buried.
, and Zaragoza
in 1142. In the sixteenth century Ambrosio de Morales discovered a manuscript titled "Many Genealogies of the Scripture until Our Lady and Saint Anne", a genealogy of the Virgin Mary and Saint Anne
ascribed to Pelagius, in the cathedral library of Oviedo. It contained several historical texts under the heading "Itacius", after the first of them, the chronicle by Hydatius
. This manuscript has since been lost, but it demonstrates an especial interest of Pelagius' in the extended family of Jesus and his maternal grandmother.
, the Chronica ad Sebastianum, and the Chronicon of Sampiro
(which was heavily interpolated, but ultimately truncated). Altogether these form the Liber chronicorum ("Book of Chronicles"), which was finalised in 1132, when its preface, with an index, was composed.
Pelagius' original chronicle, that known as Chronicon regum Legionensium, was completed sometime after 1121, since it refers to the marriage of Alfonso VI's daughter Sancha to Rodrigo González, who is given the title Count. The Chronicon can be found in twenty-four manuscripts, the earliest on dating to the late twelfth century. It begins with the rise of Vermudo II in 982 and ends with the death of Alfonso VI in 1109. Pelagius work as a historian has been contrasted with that of the contemporary anonymous authors of the Historia seminense and the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris. Pelagius' Latin is "unsophisticated and workmanlike ... [lacking] the verve and the rhetorical flourishes" of the Historia, and he does not display the "conspicuous erudition" of either. Pelagius probably drew up his history in haste with a minimum of preparation.
Lopsided though it is in it coverage, Pelagius' Chronicon is the most important source for many eleventh-century events, such as the division of the realm that took place on Ferdinand I's death (1065). He is also a contemporary and frequent eyewitness for the reigns of Alfonso VI and Urraca; indeed, his is the only contemporary account that covers the entire reign of Alfonso VI, whom he laudingly calls "the father and defender of all the Spanish churches." The reign of Alfonso V
before him is covered very briefly, but that of Alfonso's father, Vermudo II, takes up roughly half the entire Chronicon and is highly critical of the king. Pelagius is the only source for the imprisonment of his predecessor, Bishop Gudesteus
, by Vermudo in the 990s. The criticism of Vermudo is a useful window onto Pelagius' ideology and bias. Pelagius' Chronicon is mostly interested in ecclesiastical history, especially that of his province, and its description of royal activity is barren, rarely amounting to more than a list of successes, such as cities conquered. The historian credits Divine Providence
at every turn, such as when Almanzor was allowed to ravage the Christian states because of Vermudo II's sins. Pelagius was also interested in genealogy, a fact which comes through also in the Liber testamentorum, although his genealogy of the Leonese kings is imperfect. The Chronicon regum Legionensium and the revised chronicle of Sampiro influenced the later authors of the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris and the Chronica naierensis
, and also Lucas de Tuy
, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada
, and Alfonso X. Pelagius' importance as a historian is a matter of academic disagreement. He is neither free from legend, nor miracle, nor all invention, but he did not set out to reconstruct the past.
Pelagius also penned an account of the translation of the relics of Pelagius of Córdoba from León to Oviedo and of those of Froilán to Valle César, near Oviedo, which he included in his chronicle.
, and is the most important monument to this period in the history of painting in Spain.
The Gregorian reform
had always desired the reorganisation of the Spanish Church along the same lines as had been during the Visigothic Kingdom
. As the see of Oviedo was created during the period of the Asturian Kingdom
, Pelagius had recorded the false history of a diocese founded at a place called Lugo de Asturias during the period of the Vandal
domination in Spain in the fourth century, before even the Visigoths. Pelagius forged many related documents to demonstrate his diocese's claims against those of Burgos and Lugo. To fend off claims by several sees to be Oviedo's legitimate metropolitan he forged documents claiming that Oviedo had once been a metropolitan seat as well. He made to be forged a letter from Pope John VIII
, dated incorrectly to 899, in which Oviedo was made a metropolitan. He had acta (decrees) drawn up for synods which had supposedly taken place at Oviedo in 821 and 872, but for which there is no evidence. In these Lugo and Braga are listed as suffragans of Oviedo and it is claimed that after the Islamic conquest (711)
God had translated all the rights and privileges of the church of Toledo to Oviedo, along with her relics, as a punishment for Spain's sins. Pelagius also wrote a history of the movement of the Arca Santa from Jerusalem to Oviedo, which is preserved in the Liber testamentorum and was also interpolated into the Chronica ad Sebastianum in the Liber chronicorum.
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop
Auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from 1142 to 1143. He was an active and independent-minded prelate, who zealously defended the privileges and prestige of his diocese. During his episcopal tenure he oversaw the most productive scriptorium
Scriptorium
Scriptorium, literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the copying of manuscripts by monastic scribes...
in Spain, which produced the vast Corpus Pelagianum, to which Pelagius contributed his own Chronicon regum Legionensium ("chronicle of the Kings of León
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band that originated in Albion, Oklahoma but formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Anthony Caleb Followill , Ivan Nathan Followill and Michael Jared Followill Kings of Leon is an American rock band that originated in Albion,...
"). His work as a historian is generally reliable, but for the forged, interpolated, and otherwise skillfully altered documents that emanated from his office he has been called el Fabulador ("the Fabulist") and the "prince of falsifiers". It has been suggested that a monument be built in his honour in Oviedo.
Life
The date and place of Pelagius' birth are unknown. The Liber testamentorum includes a genealogy that suggests that Pelagius may have been related to the western Asturian families that founded the monasteris of Coria and Lapedo. He also made a donation to his own canons of properties he owned in Villamoros and Trobajuelo, near León, suggesting perhaps a Leonese connexion.The earliest known reference to Pelagius is as a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
at Oviedo in 1096. He was an archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
there in 1097. His consecration as the auxiliary of bishop Martin I
Martin I (Bishop of Oviedo)
Martin I was the fifteenth Bishop of Oviedo from 1094.On 23 March 1097 Alfonso VI, probably at Sahagún, where he had spent Christmas, made a large donation to Bishop Martin which was confirmed by most of the major court figures...
took place on 29 December 1098. He succeeded Martin four years later, as the choice of Alfonso VI, and with vigour took up the defence of his church's properties and jurisdictions. The Archbishop of Toledo (1086), Bernard de Sedirac, sought to incorporate the sees of Oviedo, León, and Palencia into his province as suffragans. In 1099 Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...
gave the order. In 1104, Pelagius of Oviedo and Peter of León went to Rome to plead their case to the new pope, Paschal II
Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II , born Ranierius, was Pope from August 13, 1099, until his death. A monk of the Cluniac order, he was created cardinal priest of the Titulus S...
, who granted them a privilege of exemption and made them dependent directly on Rome (1105). At the same time (1104), Pelagius engaged in lawsuits with the count Fernando Díaz
Fernando Díaz
Fernando Díaz was a Spanish nobleman and military leader in the Kingdom of León, the most powerful Asturian magnate of the period. He held the highest rank in the kingdom, that of count , from at least 24 September 1089...
, the countess Enderquina Muñoz, and the abbot of Corias
San Juan Bautista de Corias
San Juan Bautista de Corias is a former Benedictine monastery in Corias on the right bank of the Narcea dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was founded in 1032 on his own land by Count Piñolo Jiménez and his wife Aldonza Muñoz, wealthy Leonese aristocrats...
to maintain his rights of seignory
Seignory
In English law, Seignory or seigniory , the lordship remaining to a grantor after the grant of an estate in fee simple....
within Asturias. He was also involved in jurisdictional battles with the neighbouring sees of Burgos (over Asturias de Santillana) and Lugo
Diocese of Lugo
The Diocese of Lugo is one of the five Roman Catholic sees within Galicia, in north-western Spain. The bishop has cathedra in the Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Lugo; his jurisdiction covers 1,138 parishes in three provinces:* Province of A Coruña; one district with 56 parishes*...
, and between 1109 and 1113 had to fight off the metropolitan claims of the Archdiocese of Braga as well. In 1121 the Archdiocese of Toledo successfully petitioned Pope Callistus II to remove Paschal's 1105 exemption, though this was regained in 1122.
Pelagius was generally on good terms with Alfonso VI (died 1109) and his successor, Urraca (died 1126). After 1106 no new Count of Asturias was appointed and it seems that the title lapsed, while a castellan
Castellan
A castellan was the governor or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum "castle". Also known as a constable.-Duties:...
, a novus homo
Novus homo
Homo novus was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul...
, with lesser authority replaced the last count. This was probably in the interests of Pelagius and his authority, since the county of Asturias corresponded to the centre of his diocese. The bishop gave Urraca political support against both her husband, Alfonso the Battler
Alfonso the Battler
Alfonso I , called the Battler or the Warrior , was the king of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I...
of Aragon
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
, and her son, the future Alfonso VII, who was in conflict with his mother after 1110. She in turn made grants to Oviedo on three separate occasions, in 1112, 1118, and 1120 and Pelagius was the dominant Asturian at court, confirming fifteen royal charters during her reign. Pelagius had a part in reconciling the queen and her son at a council of the realm in Sahagún
Sahagún
Sahagún can refer to:*Sahagún, Spain, a town and monastery in Léon, Spain. Cradle of the Mudéjar architecture*Sahagún, Córdoba, the second town in population in Córdoba Department, Colombia, also called "The Cultural City of Cordoba"People...
(1116). After Alfonso's accession he never recovered his importance, rarely appearing at the new king's court and never receiving a gift from him.
In 1130 Pelagius was deposed by a synod held under Cardinal Humbert at Carrión
Carrión de los Condes
Carrión de los Condes is a municipality in the province of Palencia, part of the Autonomous Community of Castile and León, Spain.It is 40 kilometers from Palencia, on the Way of Saint James.-History:...
, along with Diego
Diego (bishop of León)
Diego was the Bishop of León from 1112 or 1113 until his deposition in 1130. He succeeded his uncle Pedro, whose episcopate, and life, had ended in exile after the Battle of Candespina...
and Munio, bishops of León and Salamanca, and the abbot of Samos
Samoš
Samoš is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Kovačica municipality, in the South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 1,247 people .-See also:...
, because they had opposed the marriage of Alfonso VII and Berenguela of Barcelona
Berenguela of Barcelona
Berenguela or Berengaria of Barcelona was Queen consort of Castile, León and Galicia She was the daughter of Raimon III of Barcelona and Dulce Aldonza Milhaud...
(1127) on grounds of consanguinity
Consanguinity
Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...
. Their deposition was politically motivated, engineered by Alfonso and the prelate Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez was the second bishop and first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. He is a prominent figure in the history of Galicia and an important historiographer of the Spain of his day...
. During the last decades of the eleventh century and the first of the twelfth, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
became one of the leading centres of pilgrimage in the among the Catholic faithful, aided by the efforts of its archbishop, Diego Gelmírez. The rivalry between Pelagius and Diego can be seen in the former's attempt to establish Oviedo as a comparable destination for pilgrims, by expanding the cult of the relics of the Cathedral of San Salvador, most importantly the alleged Sudarium of Christ
Sudarium of Oviedo
The Sudarium of Oviedo, or Shroud of Oviedo, is a bloodstained cloth, measuring c. 84 x 53 cm, kept in the Cámara Santa of the Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, Spain. The Sudarium is claimed to be the cloth wrapped around the head of Jesus Christ after he died, as mentioned in the Gospel of...
. He has even been credited with the creation of the Arca Santa
Cámara Santa, Oviedo
The Holy chamber of Oviedo is a Roman Catholic pre-Romanesque church in Oviedo, Spain, built next to pre-romanesque Tower of San Miguel of the city's cathedral...
to house his cathedral's relics.
Pelagius continued to live in Oviedo and be addressed as bishop. When his successor, Alfonso, died in January 1142, Pelagius took up the diocesan administration again until early in the summer of 1143. By June the see was being administered by Froila Garcés, the archdeacon, and in September Martin II was elected bishop at a council in Valladolid
Valladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
. He had planned his own funeral and had reserved a space in the Cathedral of San Salvador for his burial. Nevertheless, his death came unexpectedly while he was visiting Santillana del Mar
Santillana del Mar
Santillana del Mar is a historic town situated in Cantabria, Spain. Certain features of this historical town includes Altamira Caves and many historic buildings, attracting thousands of holiday-makers every year....
, and there he was buried.
Corpus Pelagianum
Among Pelagius writings, is a short treatise on the origins of the cities of León, Oviedo, ToledoToledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, and Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
in 1142. In the sixteenth century Ambrosio de Morales discovered a manuscript titled "Many Genealogies of the Scripture until Our Lady and Saint Anne", a genealogy of the Virgin Mary and Saint Anne
Saint Anne
Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
ascribed to Pelagius, in the cathedral library of Oviedo. It contained several historical texts under the heading "Itacius", after the first of them, the chronicle by Hydatius
Hydatius
Hydatius or Idacius , bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of the Iberian Peninsula in the 5th century.-Life:Hydatius was born around the year 400 in the...
. This manuscript has since been lost, but it demonstrates an especial interest of Pelagius' in the extended family of Jesus and his maternal grandmother.
Liber chronicorum
Pelagius' original Chronicon was composed as a continuation of a series of chronicles which he gathered together and had copied into the Liber chronicorum, the principal part of the Corpus Pelagianus. These included the Historia Gothorum of IsidoreIsidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
, the Chronica ad Sebastianum, and the Chronicon of Sampiro
Sampiro
Sampiro was a Leonese cleric, politician, and intellectual, one of the earliest chroniclers of post-conquest Spain known by name. He was also the Bishop of Astorga from 1034 or 1035 until his death....
(which was heavily interpolated, but ultimately truncated). Altogether these form the Liber chronicorum ("Book of Chronicles"), which was finalised in 1132, when its preface, with an index, was composed.
Pelagius' original chronicle, that known as Chronicon regum Legionensium, was completed sometime after 1121, since it refers to the marriage of Alfonso VI's daughter Sancha to Rodrigo González, who is given the title Count. The Chronicon can be found in twenty-four manuscripts, the earliest on dating to the late twelfth century. It begins with the rise of Vermudo II in 982 and ends with the death of Alfonso VI in 1109. Pelagius work as a historian has been contrasted with that of the contemporary anonymous authors of the Historia seminense and the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris. Pelagius' Latin is "unsophisticated and workmanlike ... [lacking] the verve and the rhetorical flourishes" of the Historia, and he does not display the "conspicuous erudition" of either. Pelagius probably drew up his history in haste with a minimum of preparation.
Lopsided though it is in it coverage, Pelagius' Chronicon is the most important source for many eleventh-century events, such as the division of the realm that took place on Ferdinand I's death (1065). He is also a contemporary and frequent eyewitness for the reigns of Alfonso VI and Urraca; indeed, his is the only contemporary account that covers the entire reign of Alfonso VI, whom he laudingly calls "the father and defender of all the Spanish churches." The reign of Alfonso V
Alfonso V of León
Alfonso V , called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. He was the son of Bermudo II by his second wife Elvira García of Castile. The Abbot Oliva called him "Emperor of Spain"....
before him is covered very briefly, but that of Alfonso's father, Vermudo II, takes up roughly half the entire Chronicon and is highly critical of the king. Pelagius is the only source for the imprisonment of his predecessor, Bishop Gudesteus
Gudesteus (Bishop of Oviedo)
Gudesteus or Gudesteo was the tenth Bishop of Oviedo. He served as an auxiliary bishop to Bishop Bermudo, perhaps by then old and physically weak, from at least 978 and succeeded him as sole bishop on his death, probably in 992...
, by Vermudo in the 990s. The criticism of Vermudo is a useful window onto Pelagius' ideology and bias. Pelagius' Chronicon is mostly interested in ecclesiastical history, especially that of his province, and its description of royal activity is barren, rarely amounting to more than a list of successes, such as cities conquered. The historian credits Divine Providence
Divine Providence
In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...
at every turn, such as when Almanzor was allowed to ravage the Christian states because of Vermudo II's sins. Pelagius was also interested in genealogy, a fact which comes through also in the Liber testamentorum, although his genealogy of the Leonese kings is imperfect. The Chronicon regum Legionensium and the revised chronicle of Sampiro influenced the later authors of the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris and the Chronica naierensis
Chronica Naierensis
The Chronica Naierensis or Crónica najerense was a late twelfth-century chronicle of universal history composed at the Benedictine monastery of Santa María la Real in Nájera...
, and also Lucas de Tuy
Lucas de Tuy
Lucas de Tuy was a Leonese cleric and intellectual, remembered best as a historian. He was Bishop of Tuy from 1239 until his death....
, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada was a Navarrese-born Castilian Roman Catholic bishop and historian....
, and Alfonso X. Pelagius' importance as a historian is a matter of academic disagreement. He is neither free from legend, nor miracle, nor all invention, but he did not set out to reconstruct the past.
Pelagius also penned an account of the translation of the relics of Pelagius of Córdoba from León to Oviedo and of those of Froilán to Valle César, near Oviedo, which he included in his chronicle.
Liber testamentorum
Pelagius also had all judicial documents relating to the diocese collected and copied into a massive cartulary called the Liber testamentorum or Libro (gótico) de los testamentos, compiled around 1120, possibly at the monastery of Santos Facundo y Primitivo in Sahagún. Though it contains falsified, forged, and interpolated documents designed to buttress the claims of Oviedo, otherwise it remains an important compilation for historical research. It is illustrated with colourful miniatures in the Romanesque styleRomanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
, and is the most important monument to this period in the history of painting in Spain.
The Gregorian reform
Gregorian Reform
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...
had always desired the reorganisation of the Spanish Church along the same lines as had been during the Visigothic Kingdom
Visigothic Kingdom
The Visigothic Kingdom was a kingdom which occupied southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to 8th century AD. One of the Germanic successor states to the Western Roman Empire, it was originally created by the settlement of the Visigoths under King Wallia in the province of...
. As the see of Oviedo was created during the period of the Asturian Kingdom
Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
, Pelagius had recorded the false history of a diocese founded at a place called Lugo de Asturias during the period of the Vandal
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
domination in Spain in the fourth century, before even the Visigoths. Pelagius forged many related documents to demonstrate his diocese's claims against those of Burgos and Lugo. To fend off claims by several sees to be Oviedo's legitimate metropolitan he forged documents claiming that Oviedo had once been a metropolitan seat as well. He made to be forged a letter from Pope John VIII
Pope John VIII
Pope John VIII was pope from December 13, 872 to December 16, 882. He is often considered one of the ablest pontiffs of the ninth century and the last bright spot on the papacy until Leo IX two centuries later....
, dated incorrectly to 899, in which Oviedo was made a metropolitan. He had acta (decrees) drawn up for synods which had supposedly taken place at Oviedo in 821 and 872, but for which there is no evidence. In these Lugo and Braga are listed as suffragans of Oviedo and it is claimed that after the Islamic conquest (711)
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
God had translated all the rights and privileges of the church of Toledo to Oviedo, along with her relics, as a punishment for Spain's sins. Pelagius also wrote a history of the movement of the Arca Santa from Jerusalem to Oviedo, which is preserved in the Liber testamentorum and was also interpolated into the Chronica ad Sebastianum in the Liber chronicorum.