Pelayo of Asturies

Monument in memory of Pelagius at Covadonga, site of his famous victory.

Pelagius (Spanish: Pelayo, Portuguese: Pelágio; died 737) was the founder of the Kingdom of Asturias, ruling from 718 until his death. He is credited with beginning the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors, 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 or was motivated by any religious desire.

The chief sources for Pelagius' life and career are two Latin chronicles produced in the kingdom he founded in the late ninth century. The earlier is the Chronica Albeldensia, written at Albelda towards 881, and preserved in the Codex Vigilanus with a continuation to 976.^[1] The later is the Chronicle of Alfonso III, which was revised in the early tenth century and preserved in two textual traditions, called the Chronica Rotensis^[2] and the Chronica ad Sebastianum^[3], which diverge in several key passages.^[1] The only likely earlier sources from which these chroniclers could derive information are regnal lists.^[4]

Pelagius was a Visigoth nobleman, the son of Fafila. The Chronica Albeldensis states that this Fafila was a dux of Galicia who was killed by Wittiza.^[4] The Chronicle of Alfonso III calls Pelagius a grandson of Chindasuinth and says that his father was blinded in Córdoba, again at the instigation of Wittiza.^[5] Wittiza is also said to have exiled Pelagius from Toledo upon assuming the crown in 702. All of this, however is a late tradition.^[5]

According to the late tradition, Munuza, the Berber governor of Iegione (either Gijón or León), became attracted to Pelagius' sister and sent word to Tariq ibn Ziyad, who ordered him to capture Pelagius and send him to Córdoba.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[6] A battle was fought near Covadonga (in monte Asevua or in monte Libana) and Alkama was killed and Oppa captured.^[6] Moorish chronicles of the event describe Pelagius and his small force as "thirty wild donkeys."^[9] 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 royal election by the local magnates in the Visigothic manner,^[8] Pelagius made his capital at Cangas de Onís. His kingdom was centred on the eastern Asturias. He married his daughter Ermesinda to his eastern neighbour, Peter of Cantabria. Pelagius reigned for eighteen or nineteen years until his death in 737, when he was succeeded by his son Fafila.