Peter of Cantabria
Encyclopedia
Peter was the Duke of Cantabria. While various writers have attempted to name his parentage, (for example, making him son or brother of King Erwig
Erwig
Erwig was a king of the Visigoths in Hispania . He was the only Visigothic king to be a complete puppet of the bishops and palatine nobility....

), early sources say nothing more specific than the chronicle of 'Pseudo-Alfonso': that he was "ex semine Leuvigildi et Reccaredi progenitus" (descended from the bloodline of Liuvigild
Liuvigild
Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leogild was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to April 21, 586. From 585 he was also king of Galicia. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a unifying law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population,...

 and Reccared I). He was the father of King Alfonso I
Alfonso I of Asturias
Alfonso I , called the Catholic , was the King of Asturias from 739 to his death in 757.He was son of Duke Peter of Cantabria and held many lands in that region. He may have been the hereditary chief of the Basques, but this is uncertain...

 and of Fruela, father of Kings Aurelius
Aurelius of Asturias
Aurelius was the King of Asturias from 768 to his death.Born in León, he was the son of Fruela and nephew of Alfonso I of Asturias. He was thus a cousin of his predecessor Fruela the Cruel...

 and Bermudo I
Bermudo I of Asturias
Bermudo I , called the Deacon or the Monk, was the King of Asturias from 788 or 789 until his abdication in 791. He was a son of Fruela, brother of Alfonso I, and a brother of Aurelius...

.

According to the Muslim chroniclers, in the year 714, Musa ibn Nusair sacked Amaya
Amaya, Spain
Amaya is the name of a village in the municipality of Sotresgudo, Burgos, in Castile-Leon, Spain.Amaya is mentioned in the Chronicle of John of Biclaro, as a town captured by the Visigothic king Liuvigild in 574....

, capital of Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...

, for the second time. Peter, the provincial dux, led his people into refuge in the mountains and then joined with Pelayo of Asturias
Pelayo of Asturias
Pelagius was a Visigothic nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias, ruling it from 718 until his death. Through his victory at the Battle of Covadonga, he is credited with beginning the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors, insofar as he established an...

 against the invaders. After the Battle of Covadonga
Battle of Covadonga
The Battle of Covadonga was the first major victory by a Christian military force in Iberia following the Muslim Moors' conquest of that region in 711...

, in which Pelayo defeated an invading force, it seems likely that Peter sent his son to the court of Pelayo at Cangas de Onís
Cangas de Onis
Cangas de Onís is a municipality in the eastern part of the province and autonomous community of Asturias in the northwest of Spain. The capital of the municipality is also Cangas de Onís....

. It had been a Visigothic practice to send noble children to the royal court, this was thus a tacit admission of Pelayo's regality. According to the Crónica Albeldense
Codex Vigilanus
The Codex Vigilanus or Códice Albeldense , full name Codex Conciliorum Albeldensis seu Vigilanus, is an illuminated compilation of various historical documents from the Visigothic period in Spain...

, the territories of the two leaders were united by marriage between Peter's son Alfonso and Pelayo's daughter Ermesinda:
Adefonsus, Pelagi gener, reg. an. XVIIII. Iste Petri Cantabriae ducis filius fuit; et dum Asturias venir Ermesindam Pelagii filiam Pelagio proecipiente, accepit.


Alfonso later succeeded to the Asturian throne and was the first to use the title of king. While Iberian Muslim
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...

 scholars would call his descendants the Beni Alfons ( (Beni Iḍfunš)) after his son, some modern authors refer to the family as the Pérez Dynasty
Pérez Dynasty
The Beni Alfons or Banu Alfonso were the family of kings which ruled in Asturias, Galicia, and León from the succession of Alfonso the Catholic, son of Peter of Cantabria in 740. For the next century, rule shifted between Alfonso's descendants and those of his brother Fruela...

for Peter.
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