Pelayo: the Reluctant Visigoth and the Reconquista
Pelayo, King of Asturias, is Spain’s first national hero, credited with beginning the Reconquista with his victory at the Battle of Covadonga. What do we really know about him?
Much of the world had grown weary of war by the autumn of 1918, but in the remote mountain settlement of Covadonga in northern Spain, martial spirit and triumphant nationalism were alive and well. On 7 and 8 September 1918 several hundred Spaniards participated in what the journalist José Escofet described as a ‘great celebration of piety and love of country’, held to commemorate the 1,200th anniversary of a foundational moment in Spain’s national story – the Battle of Covadonga.
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