Pelayo of Asturias
Encyclopedia
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...
, ruling it from 718 until his death. Through his victory at the Battle of Covadonga
Battle of Covadonga
The Battle of Covadonga was the first major victory by a Christian military force in Iberia following the Muslim Moors' conquest of that region in 711...
, he is credited with beginning the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
, the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
reconquest of the Iberian peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
from the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
, insofar as he established an independent Christian state in opposition to Moorish hegemony, but there is no strong evidence that he either intended to resuscitate the old 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...
or was motivated by any religious desire.
The chief sources for Pelagius' life and career are two Latin chronicles produced in the late ninth century in the kingdom he founded. The earlier is the Chronica Albeldensia, written at Albelda
Albelda
Albelda is a municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 877 inhabitants....
towards 881, and preserved in the Codex Vigilanus
Codex Vigilanus
The Codex Vigilanus or Códice Albeldense , full name Codex Conciliorum Albeldensis seu Vigilanus, is an illuminated compilation of various historical documents from the Visigothic period in Spain...
with a continuation to 976. The later is the Chronicle of Alfonso III
Chronicle of Alfonso III
The Chronicle of Alfonso III is a chronicle composed in the early tenth century on the order of King Alfonso III of León with the goal of showing the continuity between Visigothic Spain and the later Christian medieval Spain...
, which was revised in the early tenth century and preserved in two textual traditions, called the and the , which diverge in several key passages. The only likely earlier sources from which these chroniclers could derive information are regnal lists.
Pelagius was a Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
nobleman, the son of Fafila. The Chronica Albeldensis states that this Fafila was a dux of Gallaecia
Gallaecia
Gallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
who was killed by Wittiza
Wittiza
Wittiza was the Visigothic King of Hispania from 694 until his death, co-ruling with his father, Ergica, until 702 or 703.-Joint rule:...
. The Chronicle of Alfonso III calls Pelagius a grandson of Chindasuinth
Chindasuinth
Chindasuinth was Visigothic King of Spain, from 642 until his death. He succeeded Tulga, from whom he usurped the throne in a coup; he was "officially" elected by the nobles and anointed by the bishops 30 April 642....
and says that his father was blinded in Córdoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, again at the instigation of Wittiza. Wittiza is also said to have exiled Pelagius from Toledo
Toledo, 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:...
upon assuming the crown in 702. All of this, however is a late tradition.
According to the late tradition, Munuza
Munuza
Uthman ibn Naissa better known as Munuza was the Moorish governor of northern Iberia in the early 8th century. He was subject to the Wāli of Al-Andalus, Anbasa ibn Suhaym Al-Kalbi. He was defeated in the Battle of Covadonga and killed by Pelayo of Asturias at the beginning of the Reconquista...
, the Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
governor of Iegione (either Gijón
Gijón
Gijón , officially Gijón / Xixón, is a coastal industrial city and a municipality in the autonomous community of Asturias in Spain. Early mediaeval texts mention it as "Gigia". It was an important regional Roman city, although the area has been settled since earliest history...
or León
León, Spain
León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
), became attracted to Pelagius' sister and sent word to Tariq ibn Ziyad, who ordered him to capture Pelagius and send him to Córdoba. That Munuza's seat was at Gijón or León is sufficient to demonstrate that the Arabs had established their rule in the Asturias and that Pelagius was not therefore the leader of a local resistance to Arab conquest. Rather, Pelagius may have come to terms with the Arab elite whereby he was permitted to govern locally in the manner of the previous Visigoths, as is known to have occurred between Arab rulers and Visigothic noblemen elsewhere, as in the case of Theudimer.
At some point Pelagius is said to have rebelled, but for what reasons is unknown and such rebellions by local authorities against their superiors formed a common theme in Visigothic Spain. An army was sent against him under the command of Alkama and the Christian bishop of Seville, Oppa. That Alkama was the general and that there was a bishop of Seville named Oppa among his ranks is generally accepted. A battle was fought near Covadonga
Covadonga
Covadonga is a village and one of 11 parishes in Cangas de Onís, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northwestern Spain...
(in monte Auseva or in monte Libana) and Alkama was killed and Oppa captured. Moorish chronicles of the event describe Pelagius and his small force as "thirty wild donkeys." The battle is usually dated to 718 or 719, between the governorships of al-Hurr and as-Sham, though some have dated it as late as 722 and the Chronica Albeldensia mis-dates it to the 740s.
After his election as princeps (prince, principal leader) of the Asturians by the local magnates in the Visigothic manner, Pelagius made his capital at Cangas de Onís
Cangas de Onis
Cangas de Onís is a municipality in the eastern part of the province and autonomous community of Asturias in the northwest of Spain. The capital of the municipality is also Cangas de Onís....
. The says about this election:
His kingdom, firstly centred on the eastern Asturias, soon grew. He married his daughter Ermesinda to his eastern neighbour, Peter of Cantabria
Peter of Cantabria
Peter was the Duke of Cantabria. While various writers have attempted to name his parentage, , early sources say nothing more specific than the chronicle of 'Pseudo-Alfonso': that he was "ex semine Leuvigildi et Reccaredi progenitus"...
. Pelagius reigned for eighteen or nineteen years until his death in 737, when he was succeeded by his son Fafila. He was first buried in the church of Santa Eulalia de Abamia
Iglesia de Santa Eulalia (Abamia)
Iglesia de Santa Eulalia is a church in Asturias, Spain....
, located in the surroundings of the village of Corao, near Cangas de Onís. His remains were transferred by King Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
to the Holy Cave of Covadonga, as were those of his wife Gaudiosa and his sister.