Crafting the image of Pelayo: identity and state-building in early medieval Asturian chronicles

ABSTRACT

In the late ninth century, a series of chronicles from the Christian kingdom of Asturias staked a claim on Visigothic identity, and thus ancestral legitimacy to rule in Iberia, for Asturias and its kings. Connecting Pelayo, the first king of the Asturian kingdom, to the last Visigothic kings and crafting his image as an ideal Goth and Christian was essential to this process. Informed by scholarship on “borderlands” and boundary-making, this article demonstrates how the chroniclers renegotiated the parameters of Gothic identity to impose the idea of a strict border between legitimate and illegitimate, good Catholic and heretic, and loyalty and disloyalty. In doing so, they provided Pelayo with a layered and flexible Gothic-Christian-Asturian identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Asturian chronicles
• Asturian kingdom
• ethnicity
• Iberia
• identity
• Pelayo

Acknowledgements

Earlier versions were presented at the Texas Medieval Association conference and the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. I would like to thank the participants of those sessions, the reviewers and editors of the journal, as well as Brent Campney, George Díaz, Megan McDonie, and Chris Wickham for their input. All errors remain my own. Thanks also to the University of Texas-Austin’s Center for European Studies for providing travel funds, and UTRGV’s Office of Faculty Success and Diversity which provided travel funding and Faculty Development Leave that allowed me to complete this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Barton, History, 23–26, 33–34. On the Asturian kingdom, Collins, Caliphs, 50–82; Monsalvo Antón, Historia, 73–78, 119–29.

2 For text and commentary on 754, see López Pereira, Continuatio; on Alfonso III and Albelda, see Gil, Chronica. For English translations and commentary on 754 and Alfonso III, see Wolf, Conquerors. On the terms “Andalusi Christian” and “Mozarab,” Hitchcock, Mozarabs, ix–xx; Beale-Rivaya, “History.”

3 Ayala Martínez, “Formación;” Ríos Saloma, “Restauración;” Boyd, “Second Battle.”

4 García Sanjuán, “Weaponizing.”

5 García de Castro Valdés, “Batalla,” 724, on the date.

6 Martin, “Linaje;” Deswarte, Destruction, esp. 11–12, 124; Isla Frez, “Poder,” 66; Pick, Her Father’s Daughter, 44.

7 Buchberger, Shifting, 61–66, 78–79, 99–100; Buchberger, “Gothic Identity.”

8 My ultimate aim is a monograph, tentatively titled The Afterlife of Gothic Identity: Religion, Ethnicity, and Legitimacy in Early Medieval Iberia.

9 The chroniclers’ introduction of election rhetoric illustrates this well: Isla Frez, Crónica, 70–73.

10 Buchberger, Shifting, 33–100.

11 Overviews: Innes, “Introduction;” Pohl, “History,” 347–49. Influential texts: Spiegel, “History;” Goffart, Narrators.

12 Goffart, Narrators, 17.

13 Among many examples: Pohl et al., Visions; Reimitz, History; Buchberger, Shifting; Wood, Politics.

14 Pohl, “Introduction--Strategies,” 31–33; Reimitz, History, 19; Spiegel, “History,” 24.

15 Gantner et al., Resources; Hen and Innes, Uses of the Past; Heydemann and Reimitz, Historiography and Identity II.

16 Dacosta Martínez, “¡Pelayo vive!,” 89–90, 116–17, 122–23.

17 Brady and Wadden, Origin Legends; Hartmann, “Good Ruler.”

18 Barton, History, 30–40, has an accessible overview.

19 Among many examples: Ayala Martínez et al., Identidad; Curta, Borders; Manzano, “Creation,” and Frontera; Poisson, Frontière; Pohl et al., Transformation. For the historiographical development, see Berend, “Preface;” Darling, “Mediterranean;” Jarrett, “Before.”

20 Few medievalists employ such an approach, as noted by Jarrett, “Sources.” See recently Ballan, “Borderland Anxieties.”

21 Abrecht, “Places,” 58; Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera, 79–83, 101; Vila, Crossing, viii–ix, 6–9. Darling, “Mediterranean,” and Heyman, “Culture Theory,” offer accessible overviews of the “borderlands studies” field.

22 Brunsma et al., “Liminality,” 498–99.

23 Eriksen, Ethnicity; Loveman, National Colors; Spickard, “Shape Shifting,” 12–13; Wimmer, Ethnic; Geary, “Situational;” Pohl, “Introduction—Strategies;” Safran, Defining.

24 Wimmer, Ethnic, 2–7.

25 Wimmer, Ethnic, chaps. 3–4; Pohl, “Introduction--Strategies,” 27–43.

26 Jenkins, Social Identity, 17; Okamoto, Redefining, 4–13; Burke and Stets, Identity Theory, 130–54; Pohl, “Historiography,” 10–11. On the identity matrix concept, Brunsma et al., “Liminality.”

27 Rosaldo, Culture, 216.

28 Gil, Chronica. All citations of the chronicles come from this edition, and translations are adapted from Wolf, Conquerors.

29 Gil, Chronica, 227; Collins, Caliphs, 52. Albelda is edited by Gil in Chronica, 435–84.

30 Collins, Caliphs, 54–55; Furtado, “Reassessing,” 183–85.

31 Gil, Chronica, 226–27.

32 Albelda Ordo Gotorum [Obetensium] regum (hereafter OGOR) XV, 463–74; Gil, Chronica, 210–11; Collins, Caliphs, 52. The qualification “in Oviedo” appears only in A, but it is both relevant to the present discussion and helpful in distinguishing this section from Ordo gentis Gotorum (hereafter OGG) XIV. For clarity, I will refer in notes to each portion of the text with both an abbreviated section title and the section number in Gil’s edition.

33 Albelda OGG XIV, 454–61; Gil, Chronica, 202.

34 Albelda León king list XVa, 461–63.

35 Escalona, “Family,” 237.

36 Gil, Chronica, 107, 114–15; Collins, Caliphs, 55–56; Escalona, “Family,” 225.

37 Ad Sebastianum is sometimes called Ovetensis based on its probable creation in Oviedo. Gil edits them in parallel in Chronica, 383–433.

38 Gil, Chronica, 166–75; Collins, Caliphs, 55.

39 Gil, Chronica, 152–56.

40 Gil, Chronica, 147–51; Isla Frez, “Poder,” 64–65; Escalona, “Family,” 238; Hillgarth, Visigoths, 71–73; Collins, “Arab Conquest,” 146–47.

41 Gil, Chronica, 151; Furtado, “Reassessing,” 181.

42 Toledo IV.75, in Martínez Díez and Rodríguez, Colección, 5:251: “primatus totius gentis cum sacerdotibus successorem regni concilio conmuni constituant.” Unless otherwise noted, councils come from this volume. Translation adapted from the Spanish of Vives, Concilios, 218.

43 Castellanos, Visigothic Kingdom, 62.

44 Castellanos, Visigothic Kingdom, 61; Collins, Visigothic Spain, 90; Pick, Her Father’s Daughter, 23–27.

45 Toledo V.3, 282: “Ut quisquis talia meditatus fuerit, quem nec electio omnium provehit nec Gothicae gentis nobilitas ad hunc honoris apicem trahit, sit a consortio catholicorum privatus et divino anathemate condemnatus.” Toledo VI.17, 326–27: “Rege vero defuncto nullus tyrannica praesumtione regnum adsummat, … nisi genere Gothus et moribus dignis provehatur ad apicem regni.”

46 Buchberger, Shifting, 76–78.

47 Albelda OGG XIV.33, 460: “Vitiza rg. ans. X. Iste in vita patris in Tudense hurbe Gallicie resedit. Ibique Fafilanem ducem, Pelagii patrem, quem Egica rex illuc direxerat, quadam occasione uxoris fuste in capite percusset, unde post ad mortem pervenit. Et dum idem Vittizza regnum patris accepit, Pelagium filium Fafilanis, qui postea Sarracenis cum Astures revellavit, ob causam patris quam prediximus ab hurbe regia expulit.”

48 Alfonso III Roda 5, 392–94: “huxores et concubinas plurimas accepit;” Sebastian 5, 393: “cum uxoribus et concubinis plurimis se coinquinavit;” Collins, Arab Conquest, 143. Similarly, for Pelayo’s sister: Roda 8, 400; Dacosta Martínez, “Enemigos,” 912.

49 Albelda OGOR XV.1, 463: “Iste, ut supra diximus, a Vittizzane rege de Toleto expulsus Asturias ingressus.” On the explanation’s absence from A, see Gil, Chronica, 205; Pérez Marinas, “Regnum,” 137.

50 Albelda León king list XVa.1, 461: “Pelagius filius Veremundi, nepus Ruderici, regis Toletani.”

51 There were two further Visigothic kings ruling only in the east: Agila II and Ardo. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 131–40.

52 Alfonso III Roda 8, 400: “Pelagius quidam, spatarius Vitizani et Ruderici regum;” Du Cange et al., Glossarium.

53 Alfonso III Sebastian 8, 399: “Arabes tamen, patria simul cum regno oppresso. … Goti vero partim gladio, partim fame perierunt. Sed qui ex semine regio remanserunt, quidam ex illis Franciam petierunt, maxima vero pars in patria Asturiensium sibique Pelagium, filium quondam Faffilani ducis, ex semine regio principem elegerunt.”

54 Martin, “Linaje,” 5; Escalona, “Family,” 253.

55 Collins, Caliphs, 63.

56 Alfonso III 5, 392–94: “concilia dissoluit,” “episcopis, presbiteris, seu diaconibus huxores abere precepit,” “probrosus et moribus flagitiosus fuit.”

57 Alfonso III Roda 7, 396: “ob causam fraudis filiorum Vitizani Sarrazeni ingressi sunt Spaniam;” Sebastian 6, 395: “Filii vero Wittizani, invidia ducti eo quod Rudericus regnum patris eorum acceperat, callide cogitantes missos ad Africam mittunt, Sarracenos in auxilium petunt eosque navibus advectos Spaniam intromittunt. … patrie excidium intulerunt.”

58 Alfonso III 5, 393–95; 7, 396–98.

59 Alfonso III 7, 395–96.

60 Bronisch, “Ideología,” 95.

61 Bonch Reeves, Visions, 172, 184–85. On generic rather than specific citations of Visigothic law: Barrett, “Written,” 189–91.

62 Toledo IV.75, 252–54; Buchberger, Shifting, 75; Castellanos, Visigothic Kingdom, 93.

63 Lex Visigothorum II.1.8, 53–54.

64 Council of Mérida, in Vives, Concilios, 327.

65 Albelda OGOR XV.1, 463: “Primum in Asturias Pelagius rg. in Canicas an. XVIII.”

66 Albelda OGG XIV.33, 460: “cum Astures revellavit;” Albelda OGOR XV.1, 463–64: “est libertas populo Xp̄iano. … Astororum regnum divina providentia exoritur.”

67 Collins, Caliphs, 63.

68 Albelda León king list XVa.1, 461: “accepit regnum … regnavit annis XVIII.”

69 Alfonso III 8, 399–401: “principem elegerunt;” Roda 11, 410: “in regno a. 19;” Sebastian 11, 409: “nonum decimum regni sui annum.”

70 Toledo III, 51 (see below, n. 94); Isla Frez, “Consideraciones,” 159; Gil, Chronica, 100–01 n. 66.

71 Alfonso III Roda 8, 401: “Qui per omnes Astores mandatum dirigens, in unum collecti sunt et sibi Pelagium principem elegerunt.” On assembly in council: Bronisch, “Guerra,” 57–58.

72 See above, note 53.

73 Alfonso III, 386–87: “Incipit cronica Visegotorum a tempore Bambani regis usque nunc.”

74 Alfonso III Sebastian 8, 399: “in patria Asturiensium;” 10, 407; 11, 409.

75 Alfonso III Roda 9, 404: “Spanie salus et Gotorum gentis exercitus reparatus.” Contra claims in Martin, “Pérdida,” that restoration only appears in the “Prophetic Chronicle” sections of Albelda. I follow Santiago Castellanos in preserving ”Spania” rather than translating it as “Spain:” Castellanos, Visigothic Kingdom, ix–x.

76 Bronisch, “Guerra,” 64–65.

77 Isidore of Seville, Historia Gothorum, prologue, 168–70; Merrills, History, 185–96, 227; Isla Frez, “Identidades,” 15.

78 Alfonso III 11, 408–409: “Tunc populatur patria, restauratur ecclesia.” On populatur, Pérez Marinas, “Regnum,” 143–44 n. 55.

79 Gil, Chronica, 129.

80 Collins, Caliphs, 61 n. 34.

81 Hillgarth, Visigoths, 72–73.

82 Montenegro and del Castillo, “Orígenes,” esp. 200.

83 Deswarte, “Destruction,” 141–42.

84 Martin, “Pérdida.”

85 Isla Frez, “Identidades,” 14–15.

86 Wimmer, Ethnic, 50–55.

87 Isla Frez, Crónica, 199–200, 21: “la intención obvia es generar una identidad y una legitimidad,” and “los astures … sin abandonar su condición de godos;” Isla Frez, “Identidades,” 13: “otras líneas de cohesión política.”

88 Deswarte, Destruction, 141–42, 157.

89 Hillgarth, Visigoths, 71; Pick, Her Father’s Daughter, 23–24.

90 Isla Frez, Crónica, 64, 71–72.

91 Collins, Arab Conquest, 147–48.

92 Alfonso III 5–7, 392–96.

93 Sawyer and Wood, Kingship; de Jong, Penitential State; Hartmann, “Good Ruler.” On the Visigoths: Drews, “Image,” esp. 319–20; Díaz and Valverde, “Theoretical,” 75–76.

94 Toledo III, 49: “anno regnante quarto gloriosissimo atque piissimo et Deo fidelissimo domno Reccaredo rege;” 51: “religiosissimo principi;” 54: “Quamvis deus omnipotens pro utilitatibus populorum regni nos culmen subire tribuerit et moderamen gentium non paucarum regiae nostrae curae commiserit;” Pick, Her Father’s Daughter, 26–27.

95 Isidore, Sentences 3.48.7, 298; Fear, “Isidore,” 341.

96 See above, note 62.

97 Albelda OGOR XV.1, 463–64: “hostis Ismahelitarum,” “oste Sarracenorum;” Tolan, Saracens, 10–12. On Saracen as a racial concept, see Turner, Theorizing Medieval Race.

98 Albelda OGOR XV.1, 463–64: “in Libana monte ruente iudicio Dei opprimuntur,” “divina providentia exoritur.”

99 Alfonso III Sebastian 10, 407: “egressique fideles de coba ad pugnam;” 11, 409: “unc demum fidelium adgregantur agmina.”

100 Marschner, “Familiar Stranger,” 262, 268–69.

101 Alfonso III Roda 8, 398: “Araves tamen, regionem simul et regno opresso;” Sebastian 8, 399: “Arabes tamen, patria simul cum regno oppresso;” Roda 10, 408: “hos Arabes persequentes eclesiam Domini;” Sebastian 9, 405: “sententiam severitatis per meritum.”

102 Alfonso III 10, 408–409: “Iudicio Domini … ipse hos Arabes persequentes eclesiam Domini immenso montis mole oppressit.”

103 Alfonso III 10, 406: “non defuisse Domini magnalia: nam quum lapides egresse essent a fundivalis et ad domum sancte virginis Marie pervenisset super mittentes revertebant et Caldeos fortiter trucidabant. Et quia Dominus non dinumerat astas, set cui vult porrigit palmas, … Caldei conversi sunt in fugam.”

104 Alfonso III Roda 8, 400–01: “set quod iam cogitaverat de salbationem eclesie,” “esse revellum.”

105 Alfonso III Roda 9, 404: “Spes nostra Xp̄s est quod per istum modicum monticulum, quem conspicis, sit Spanie salus et Gotorum gentis exercitus reparatus;” Sebastian 9, 405: “Confidimus enim in Domini misericordia quod ab isto modico monticulo, quem conspicis, sit Spanie salus et Gotorum gentis exercitus reparatus.”

106 Alfonso III Roda 8, 401–402: “Oppanem quendam, Toletane sedis episcopum, filium Vitizani regis, ob cuius frauden Goti perierunt;” Sebastian 8, 399: “Spalensis sedis metropolitanum episcopum.”

107 Alfonso III Roda 9, 402–04: “Oppa episcopus in tumulo ascendens ante coba dominica Pelagium sic adloquitur dicens: ‘Pelagi, Pelagi, ubi es?’ Qui ex fenestra respondens ait: ‘Adsum.’ Cui episcopus: ‘Puto te non latere, confrater et fili, qualiter omnis Spania dudum, <dum> in uno ordine sub regimine Gotorum esset ordinata, pre ceteris terris doctrina atque scientia rutilaret. Et quum, ut supri dixi, omnis exercitus Gotorum esset congregatus Ismaelitarum non valuit sustinere impetum; quamto magis tu in isto montis cacumine defendere te poteris, quod mici difficile videtur! Immo audi consilium meum et ab hac volumtate animum revoca, ut multis vonis utaris et consortia Caldeorum fruaris.’ Ad hec Pelagius respondit, ‘Non legisti in scripturis divinis quia ecclesia Domini ad granum sinapis devenitur et inde rursus per Domini misericordia in magis erigitur?’ Episcopus respondit: ‘Vere scriptum sic est.’ Pelagius dicit: ‘Spes nostra Xp̄s est quod per istum modicum monticulum, quem conspicis, sit Spanie salus et Gotorum gentis exercitus reparatus. Confido enim quo promissio Domini impleatur in nobis quod dictum est per David: "Visitavo in virga iniquitates eorum et in flagellis peccata eorum; misericordiam autem meam non abertam ab eis.” Et nunc ex oc, fidens in misericordia Ihesu Xp̄i hanc multitudinem despicio et minime pertimesco. Prelium ergo quam tu minas nobis, habemus advocatum aput Patrem Dominum Ihesum Xp̄m, qui ab istis paucis potens est liverare nos.’”

108 See above, note 106.

109 Torrente Fernández, “Goticismo,” 305–07.

110 Gil, Chronica, 402.

111 Collins, Visigothic Spain, 111; J. Wood, “Playing,” 630–33. This may have been made official in 681 at Toledo XII: Martínez Díez and Rodríguez, Colección 6.169-71; Díaz, “Monasticism,” 197; Martin, Géographie, 246–47.

112 Matthew 17: 20 (New Revised Standard Version); Psalms 88: 33–34; “Christ is our hope:” 2 Corinthians 1: 7; advocate: 1 John 2: 1.

113 Bronisch, “Guerra santa,” 59.

114 See above, note 78.

115 Bronisch, “Guerra santa,” 59.

116 Gil, Chronica, 149; Dacosta Martínez, “¡Pelayo vive!,” 23–26.

117 Contra Montenegro and del Castillo, “Orígenes.”

118 Ayala Martínez, “Formación,” tracks the story in later medieval narratives.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Office of Faculty Success and Diversity and University of Austin, Center for European Studies.

Notes on contributors

Erica Buchberger

Erica Buchberger is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Her research focuses on ethnic and religious identity in early medieval Iberia and Francia. She is the author of Shifting Ethnic Identities in Gaul and Spain, 500-700: From Romans to Goths and Franks (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017), and multiple book chapters on Visigothic identity. She is preparing a second monograph on the Asturian kingdom, tentatively titled The Afterlife of Gothic Identity: Religion, Ethnicity, and Legitimacy in Early Medieval Iberia.