Pelagius of Asturias

Pelagius (Pelayo, c. 685–737) was a nobleman in the Asturias, whom the chronicles call the son of the Galician duke Favila and an exile from Toledo under Wittiza. After the Arab conquest of 711 he led a northern rebellion.

Elected princeps by the Asturian magnates with his capital at Cangas de Onís, he founded the Kingdom of Asturias in 718. At Covadonga, c. 722, his small force defeated and killed the Muslim commander Alkama, later seen as opening the Reconquista. He died in 737 and was succeeded by his son Favila; his daughter Ermesinda married Alfonso I.