Don Pelayo
Pelaius or Pelagius (Latin, Pelagius; Arabic, Belai al-Rumi), Frequently referred to as don Pelayo, he is considered the first monarch of the kingdom of Asturias, which he ruled for 19 years. Its origin, which has been discussed in recent decades by a number of researchers, could be Visigothic, Asturian, or Hispano-Roman. International historiography opts for Visigothic origin, although the most modern historiography considers it to be of Asturian-Roman origin.
The testament of Alfonso III, from the year 869, in which the Great King donates to the priest Sisnando the church of Santa María de Tenciana (Tiñana, Siero) that his uncle Alfonso the Chaste had won from the properties belonging to his great-grandfather Pelayo, territorially links Pelayo with the central area of Asturias, although without providing data on his place of origin.
He halted the expansion of Muslims to the north, began the Reconquest, and has traditionally been considered the founder of the kingdom of Asturias, although recent archaeological research suggests that he could have done so based on a previous local political organization. Arabic sources Pelayo is sometimes described as a Gothic, and named as Belai al-Rumi: "Pelayo the Roman".
The Chronicles
There are two main written sources of the Asturian monarchy that refer to the existence of Pelayo. The most extensive of these chronicles is the so-called Albeldense, a text written around 880 in the court of Alfonso III. A contemporary of the previous one (after 887, in any case), and born in the same milieu, it is commonly known as the Crónica de Alfonso III, in its two versions, the Rotense or vulgar and Sebastianense or cultured. It constitutes a great agreement among the historians who have dealt with them, that the general purpose of these stories was to establish an idea of continuity between the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo and the primitive Asturian kingdom: the Chronicles declare that the Asturian kings are successors of Leovigildo and Recaredo, as well as trying to create an institutional continuity between both political realities. Modern historiography agrees that these statements constitute a paradigm called neo-Gothicism, surely fueled by Mozarabic influences, and that real or fictitious, responded very well to the political interests and the reinforcement of the personal prestige of Alfonso III.
- In the Albeldense Chronicle (year 881), Pelayo, a noble godo expelled from Toledo by Witiza, takes refuge in Asturias. When the Muslim invasion occurs, it is chosen in concilium princeps of the astures [chuckles]required] and ends with the Islamic garrisons of the cantonated region in Gijón, where the Munuza valí ruled, between 717 and 722, proceeding to the administration of the territory and the collection of taxes. "Then those of the hosts of the Saracens who had survived by the sword, when a mountain collapsed in Lebanon, were buried by the judgment of God.".
- In the Chronic RotensePelayo appears as an ancient Spatary of Witiza and Rodrigo who flees with his sister of Muslim domination. Despite his flight, Pelayo, already in Asturias, came into close contact with Munuza, the Muslim governor of Gijón. This, in love with Pelayo's sister, sends the noble godo to Cordoba, from where Pelayo will get away in 717 and after a dramatic return he manages to get safe among the astures, to which shortly afterwards he will get to sweat after his prince is appointed.
- In the Chronicle Sebastianensethe most neo-goticist of all, and reconfigured on the Rotense by Bishop Sebastian, nephew of Alfonso III himself, is dispossessed of the background novelesco, although for the first time it is attributed noble origins to Pelayo by making him the son of a supposed duke called Fáfila or Favila.
The three texts coincide in drawing a legendary character who responds to the ideals of the members of the Mozarabic community who took refuge in the court of Alfonso III, namely: being a Goth (non-Muslim), having emigrated (non-collaborationist) and practice an uncompromising (non-renegade) Christianity. These descriptions, so apparently idealized and in accordance with the interests of the Asturian regime, would make one suspect that they are mostly literary creations; it would therefore be the creation of a "neo-Gothic political archetype" that would contribute very little or nothing to the study of the historical character.. In favor of this theory, that Pelayo's Gothic origins are an invention, there is also the fact that in the so-called Mozarabic Chronicle -written in 754 (and therefore very close in time to the facts) and intended to be a continuation of the History of the Goths (Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum) by Isidoro de Sevilla- the character of Pelayo is not even mentioned. It would be logical to see detailed in this Chronicle the events by which a Gothic nobleman, supposedly the son of a dux, reinstated the Visigothic monarchy of Toledo in the north, becoming Rodrigo's linear successor, which gives to understand that for the author of the chronicle the formation of the new kingdom of the Astures and its Prínceps Pelayo had little or no relevance to the history of the Visigothic monarchy.
The current state of affairs
Theory of the Asturian origin of Pelayo
The thesis that Pelayo was of Asturian origin is the option followed by a part of modern historiography. The main arguments in favor of this theory are the following:
- The anthroponymous Pelayo is not Germanic (as all the names of the Visigoth kings are), but derives from the Latin Pelagius, marine, which points to a Spanish-Roman origin of the character. Moreover, the name was used with profusion by the inhabitants of the northwest of Hispania. The ruling of the argument is that it is known of numerous characters who were hated as godos who used names of Roman origin, such as Duke Paulo, usurper in the Septimania.
- The information provided by the non-chronistic documentation speaks of a character linked to Asturias of old who possesses founding properties in the region, which is very difficult to explain for a newly arrived godo refugee from Toledo. In the will of Alfonso III, of the year 869, King Magnus donates to the priest Sisnando the church of Sancta María de Tenciana (Tiñana, Siero) that his uncle Alfonso II had obtained from his great-grandfather, which territorially links Pelayo to the Castiello de Fozana, considered one of the first fortresses built by the elites astures in the sixth century, after the Roman collapse. When the chronistic documentation refers to the first moments of Pelayo, it does not do so as if it were a crowned prince who restores the lost kingdom of Toledo, but as the princeps of Asturorum regnumIf it is understood that the logical thing would have been to consider it Rex of Gothorum regnum Asturae. At the beginning of the s.IXd. C. (812) a text known as Testament of Alfonso II (Testamentum Ecclesiae Sancti Salvatoris) expresses the same idea: Pelayo is King of Christians and Asturesbut it also unequivocally affirms its godo origin. The counter-argument is that Pelayo took refuge in Asturias precisely because he owns properties there, which has nothing strange, even if he admits his filiation of a dux in the north peninsular.
- On the other hand, some Arab chronicles refer to Pelayo as Belay al-Rumi, this is Pelayo the Roman. Al Maqqari (1578-1632) speaks of an infidel named Pelayo, native of Asturias and add that with him begins a new dynasty that reigns over a new people. Ibn Jaldún concludes that Ibn Hayyan says they are descendants of the gods, but such an opinion is wrong. The problem of the argument is that rumi can refer to all Christians of Latin culture.
- The election of a military warlord by the rebellious astures to the new invading power in the concilium of Mount Auseva in 718 makes thought of indigenous caudillaje, but also the Visigothic monarchy was elective. This basic indigenist legitimism, which, only if it appears in the chronistic texts displaced by the official neogoticism, has led to recent historical interpretations that make Pelayo a local astur leader elected in the assembly of lineage heads to direct the insurrection, and that explain with greater shame the passage to the offensive of some asturous astures still rebellious to the Visigothic rule at the time),Astores et Uascones crebo reuelantes plures vices edomuit et suo empire subiugauit).
- It is worth noting that the facts of your life take place in places Pre-Roman worship. Like its burial in the megalithic area of Abamia, which probably dates back to the period 4000–2000 a. C.Or that of his son Favila in the dolmen of Santa Cruz. These burials seem to follow ancestral ritual patterns of tribal chiefs astures and have no bearing on the Visigoth traditions. Also the refuge in Covadonga shows a marked ritual character. Thus, the place presents remains of the worship of the deva (lit. goddess in Celtic) and so is called the river that leaps from the cave, in a clear process of superimposing Christianization (“the Santina”) over pagan places of worship.
- Some authors have predicted that the transmission of power within the Asturian monarchy was carried out following rules of Celtic origin, residues of an earlier matriarchal structure unimaginable in the Germanic successor law: thus, the woman often transmitted hereditary rights to the husband, as happens in the cases of Kings Alfonso I and Silo, who access power thanks to their wives Ermesinda and Adosinda, respectively, both of the Pelayo family. Only in later times, from the defeat of Nepociano at the hands of Ramiro I of Asturias, is definitively imposed succession by line of patriotic.
Theory of Gothic origin: Pelayo son of a dux Asturiensis
The hypothesis of the Gothic origin of Pelayo was commonly accepted since the Middle Ages and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
Recently it was defended by Eloy Benito Ruano and by professors Julia Montenegro (University of Valladolid) and Arcadio Del Castillo (University of Alicante). These investigators affirmed that Pelayo was a Goth, son of the dux asturiensis Favila, and that as a result of the alliances established by his father, this would have allowed him to be chosen as prince by the Asturians at the Council of the Mount Auseva.
The theory is based on a premise that Pelayo was a Goth. Modern historiography almost unanimously admits the idea that Don Pelayo was a Visigothic nobleman who took refuge in Asturias and managed to become leader of the hitherto irredeemable northern tribes.
To do this, the authors start from Arabic sources: Who could Don Pelayo be? Most certainly a Visigoth (Ibn Hayyan quoting Ibn Khaldun). The reference is true: Ibn Hayyan says that they are descendants of the Goths… (Ibn Khaldun), but they do not take into account the opinion of Ibn Khaldun (14th century), who affirmed "... but such an opinion is erroneous".[citation needed] However, a multitude of sources, both Christian and Muslim, affirmed Pelayo's Gothic ascendancy.
If it is accepted that Pelayo was of Gothic origin, the question is how he was able to take over the government of Asturian society. This is where the hypothesis based on the creation is launched, a process that occurred between the years 653 and 683, about the new provincial circumscription in Asturias at whose command there would be a "dux asturiensis" and in the literality of a single passage from the learned version of the Chronicle of Alfonso III, according to which Pelayo was the son of Fáfila or Favila, duke of royal blood. As can be seen, the theory rests on unreliable bases: if the Duchy of Asturia existed and if Pelayo was the son of a duke, Pelayo would be son of the Duke of Asturia who would have died at the hands of Witiza in the time of King Égica. This hypothesis has been strongly criticized for incurring in serious contradictions (Isla Frez, 1995): "The institutional continuity of the kingdom of Asturias with respect to the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo" (Montenegro and Del Castillo, 1992) / "for us it is evident that there was no continuity between the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo and that of Asturias" (Montenegro and Del Castillo, 1994) and for ignoring archaeological results that show the absence of traces of Gothic implantation and insufficient evidence of truly effective control of Asturias by the Toledo kingdom.
Currently, Pelayo's Gothic origin has been commonly admitted, highlighting the unanimity of the sources regarding Pelayo's Gothic origin, his belonging to a Gothic royal lineage and the Hispano-Gothic basis of the asturorum regnum, as well as the inconsistency of the indigenous theses.
Rebellion and reconquest of Gigia (now Gijón)
After the arrival of the Muza expedition in Asturias in 714, the Berber chief Mnuza or Munuza was in charge of the troops and the administration of the northern half of the peninsula, settling at the head of a Muslim garrison in Gijón,[citation needed] while others secured the territory and attacked the last remnants of resistance. The most important families of the Asturian aristocracy, including that of Pelayo, sent hostages to Córdoba to guarantee the capitulation. However, in the time of the Vali Al-Hurr (717–718), Pelayo returned to the mountains of Asturias, where he was elected princeps or leader of the Astures according to one of the chronicles. After a few years of mutual harassment, during the government of Anbasa (722), Munuza sent a detachment of troops to the refuge of Pelayo in Piloña. The Asturian leader and his men took refuge on Mount Auseva, where they waited for the Muslim troops, while Munuza ordered reinforcements from the plateau to end the resistance. There they ambushed the Muslim detachment, which was annihilated. This warlike action is known as the Battle of Covadonga. After this battle, Pelayo is crowned king with a crown made with oak branches in the so-called Campo de la Jura, near Cangas de Onís, by two of his captains, Suero Buyeres de Caso and his son-in-law Don Anean de Road.
The chronicles say that, after the defeat at Covadonga, Munuza fled with his forces, probably for fear that the people of Gijón would join the revolt or for fear that the Asturian troops who had defeated their own troops They caught up with him in the city. After leaving the city, Munuza tried to leave Asturias through the port of La Mesa, while the victorious troops from Covadonga made forced marches to cut off their flight to the plateau, being Munuza and his troops defeated again and Munuza dead in Olalíes, current council of Santo Adriano. Pelayo seized Gijón without much effort, once the Muslim troops and Munuza had tried to flee and had been annihilated in the attempt. When the news of the capture of Gijón spread throughout Muslim lands, many Christians joined Pelayo's army. The kingdom of Asturias had Cangas de Onís as its first capital and Pravia as its second, to become Oviedo the capital under the reign of Alfonso II. As a review of the importance of Munuza's death according to this version, it should be noted that he was the general in command of the troops in the north of the Iberian Peninsula and that his death could be considered significant within the Muslim military organization chart.
However, other later chronicles cite that Munuza managed to escape with his life and place him quite safely in charge of the Berber troops in the border areas and the same mountainous geography in the eastern Pyrenees. Similar treaties and liaison with the Aquitanian duke would lead him to marry the duke's daughter, after which, and with the duke's alliance as a safeguard, he would rise up in rebellion against his Arab superiors in alliance with the Franks, perhaps seeking to create a niche of power in the strategic point of the Pyrenees. He was suppressed by the emir's troops in a campaign of punishment and to undo the danger that this position would have posed to the newly created al-Andalus.
It should be noted that the Muslims were more interested in expanding into France and advancing towards the center of Europe, where they were stopped by Carlos Martel in the battle of Poitiers (Tours), than in clearing the rear of small hostile kingdoms that remained isolated before the Muslim advance.[citation needed]
Primitive territorial extension of the kingdom
However, the triumph of the revolt did not lead Pelayo to establish his court in Gijón, which was the most important city in low-imperial Asturias, but rather he settled in Cangas de Onís, located in the foothills of the Picos de Europe: the insecurity of its situation made it advisable to take refuge in a mountainous territory that was inaccessible to Muslim warriors. But once the Kingdom was consolidated decades later, the royal seat was transferred successively to Pravia by King Silo, husband of Adosinda, Pelayo's granddaughter, and later to Oviedo.
In principle it seems that the kingdom of Pelayo extended through the so-called nuclear Asturias, which included, at least, the central and eastern territories of present-day Asturias, according to the story of the Albeldense Chronicle, which takes place between the civitate Gegione and Covadonga. It was his successors, such as Alfonso I of Asturias or Fruela I of Asturias, who, devouring minor political entities (such as the counties of Trasmiera or Sopuerta), extended the domains of the kingdom of Asturias to Galicia and Vizcaya.
Death and burial
King Don Pelayo died in Cangas de Onís, where he had his court, in the year 737. After his death, his corpse was buried in the church of Santa Eulalia de Abamia, located in the Asturian town of Abamia, in the one where his wife, Queen Gaudiosa, had previously been buried. On the Gospel side of said church, the empty tomb that contained the remains of the king is currently preserved and opposite, placed on the Epistle side, is the one that contained the remains of Don Pelayo's wife. The chronicler Ambrosio de Morales recorded in his work that Alfonso X the Wise, King of Castile and León, ordered the transfer of the remains of King Pelayo and his wife to the Santa Cueva de Covadonga.
In a natural cavity of the Santa Cueva de Covadonga, and inserted in a stone burial mound, currently rest the remains of King Don Pelayo, those of his wife and those of Ermesinda, the king's sister. The following inscription is carved on the tomb:
THE S WHERE IS WHEN THE YEAR OF 716 HAPPENED IN THIS MILAGROSA CUEBA COMES THE RESTAVATION DO SPAIN BENCIDED THE MOROS FALLECIO YEAR 737 AND ACOMPAÑA SS M/gEr y ErMANA
Notwithstanding the foregoing, numerous historians have questioned the authenticity of the transfer of the remains of King Don Pelayo and his wife to Covadonga.
Marriage and offspring
Don Pelayo married Gaudiosa and as a result of their marriage two children were born:
- Favila de Asturias (m. 739). He was the second king of Asturias. He married Froiluba and was buried in the church of the Santa Cruz de Cangas de Onís.
- Ermesinda. He married Alfonso I, third king of Asturias and son of Duke Pedro de Cantabria. Tradition contends that its remains lie today in the Santa Cueva de Covadonga together with those of her parents and those of her husband.
| Predecessor: Title created | King of Asturias 718-737 | Successor: Favila |
Don Pelayo in popular culture
The Asturian heavy metal group, Avalanch; on his album "Llanto de un héroe" of 1999, they dedicate a song to Don Pelayo and his story.
The Spanish writer José Ángel Mañas recreated the figure of Don Pelayo in the novel ¡Pelayo! (La Esfera de los Libros, 2021).
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