As I discussed in the last post, the Umayyad consolidation of power in Iberia ran into problems following the debacle outside Toulouse. When the governor of Anbasa raised taxes, he had to respect treaties that had been made with conquered Visigothic nobles in 711, limiting his ability to tax them more. Instead, he decided to collect from northern Iberia, whose inhabitants had begun a guerrilla campaign against the Islamic invaders and refused to pay.
Asturias, Cantabria, and Vasconia
When the Ummayads invaded Iberia, they easily pacified the well-developed regions of Southern and Central Iberia and Tarraconensis (modern Catalonia). In Northern Iberia, the situation was very different. Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia, and Vasconia were mountainous, isolated regions inhabited by fiercely independent tribes of Celtic and pre-Latin Iberian origins. Rome had conquered them with great difficulty in the Cantabrian War of 14AD, while the Visigoths had only managed to levy occasional tribute. Many were also still pagan, and those that were Christian, were often only nominally so. When Tariq arrived, these tribes continued their isolated existence, and for the most part, they were left alone. However, the combination of resident Visigoth noble rebels and the sudden arrival of Ummayad tax collectors laid the groundwork for this rugged area to become the core of a new Christian Iberia.
Don Pelayo
It is here that I will introduce the central figure of our story. Don Pelayo, according to the chronicles, was a Visigothic noble of partial Asturian descent. He was said to be related to the the Visigothic king Chindasuinto (reigned 624-653), making him a magnet for those who sought to resist Ummayad rule, while his father had been the Dux of Galicia (Latin Gallaecia). There are many legends surrounding him, including a story of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and of time spent in Ummayad captivity in Cordoba, but little of his life can be confirmed until around 720-721.
The battle of Toulouse gave Pelayo the chance to begin resistance in earnest. The governor of al-Andalus, Anbasa, began to enforce payment of the jizya in the regions of Asturias and Cantabria. The chronology is unclear, but we know that Pelayo refused to pay and cobbled together a small force of warriors and exiles to plunder Umayyad convoys. Anbasa decided to ignore him. Pelayo did not have the strength to defeat the Umayyads and as long as he remained a minor bandit, he would fade into obscurity.
Pelayo’s rise from bandit to king was triggered by a family tragedy. The governor of the city of Gijón, Munuza, took Pelayo’s sister Adosinda into his harem, hoping to stop Pelayo’s raids by forming family ties and co-opting him into the Umayyad power structure. The move completely backfired. Adosinda is said to have committed suicide to avoid this fate. An insulted Pelayo declared himself in open rebellion against Cordoba and was proclaimed King of the Asturians in the mountain village of Cangas de Onís. The Umayyads decided that this time Pelayo had overstepped and dispatched an army of ca. 15,000 under a general named al-Qama to eliminate him.
The Hermit, the Virgin, and the Cave
As the Umayyads marched north, Pelayo retreated deep into the mountains, eventually arriving to a cave at the end of a narrow valley called Covadonga. One day in May, legend recounts that he chased a petty thief into the cave and was about to kill him when he encountered a hermit who had fled the Muslim invaders. He spent his days in devotion to the Virgin Mary, even building a small shrine in the cave, which was originally sacred to a pagan goddess. The hermit ordered Pelayo to spare the man’s life and gave him a simple cross made from some branches tied together. The hermit then told him that if he spared the man and fought under the cross, the Virgin Mary would grant his men victory.
The Battle of Covadonga
Cornered in the valley, there was nowhere to run now. The rebels had to fight or die. Al-Qama and his army arrived in the valley and offered Pelayo one more chance to surrender. He sent Oppas, the traitorous Bishop of Seville to negotiate. Pelayo was disgusted with the bishop for betraying his church and king for material gain and rebuffed his advances. Legend tells that he then shouted that the rock on which he stood would be the rock of the Iberian church and salvation of Hispania, the mustard seed that would grow into a great tree over the peninsula. Oppas returned to al-Qama and told him that only force would break Don Pelayo‘s resolve.
Pelayo deployed his men, probably no more than 2000 (300 in the chronicles) across the cliffs overlooking the valley. He and a small force of men remained in the cave. Although the rebels were outnumbered almost 10:1, they had two important advantages. First, they had the high ground on a rough and narrow battlefield that negated the enemy’s numbers and cavalry, the Berber army’s main strength. Second, most of the Asturian warriors were hardy mountaineers and expert marksmen with the slingshot, which they all carried. As the Umayyads advanced into the valley, they were met with a hail of stones, boulders, and even trees that the rebels had uprooted to throw down upon the enemy. The Berber archers responded with a hail of arrows, but they bounced harmlessly off the concave entrance of the cave and the high cliffs.
As the battle went on tragedy (or a Marian miracle) struck. A downpour started. The Berber archers’ bowstrings got wet, making their bows unusable. Al-Qama’s lightly armored men had no choice but to attack the cave or be shot to pieces. As the Berber warriors advanced to the entrance of the cave, Pelayo and his men charged out into the defile. These men were likely heavier troops, perhaps even the fabled heavy Visigothic infantry. The Berbers, already squeezed into such a small area, were caught off guard and withdrew. Al-Qama was killed and Oppas was captured. The remaining Umayyad troops withdrew,handing Pelayo a spectacular victory that would go down into legend.
Aftermath
After the battle, Oppas was executed. Pelayo then rallied anti-Umayyad elements in Asturias, Cantabria, and Galicia into a kingdom and raised a new army. He then captured Gijón, killed Munuza (avenging his sister), and expelled the last Umayyad garrisons from the region. He then crushed the Umayyads again outside León, confirming his kingdom’s independence. The Kingdom of Asturias became a thorn in the Umayyad’s side, a bulwark of Christendom that served as a reminder to the Umayyads of their failure conquer all of Iberia. The Umayyads could not focus all of their resources into conquering the Frankish Kingdom, buying Christian Europe time to mount an effective defense against Islamic expansion under Charles Martel and a counter-offensive under Charlemagne. Pelayo’s spectacular victory had given Christian Iberia a second chance. Eventually, the Kingdom of Asturias, through a series of changes, evolved into the modern nation of Spain.
Covadonga Today
The Battle of Covadonga has left two important cultural relics in modern times. First, Pelayo’s cross came to be called the Cross of Victory. This beloved symbol is currently on the Asturian flag and is ubiquitous in the region. Second, Our Lady of Covadonga, the Marian apparition that aided Pelayo in his fight, became the patroness of Asturias. Today, the Basilica of Covadonga is dedicated to her along with the cave, which is now a church. Pelayo reigned in Asturias until 737, and several centuries after, his remains and those of his wife Gaudiosa were transferred to the cave where they remain today. Because of the mythical nature of the place and the king, Pelayo and Covadonga continue to serve as a point of reference for the Asturian people, who to this day, say: “Asturias is Spain; the rest is conquered land.”