[3] Recent scholarship increasingly supports that Pelagius was a nobleman of Hispano-Roman descent, linked to the local Asturian elite.

In the opinion of Roger Collins, this is a late tradition and the account of the Albeldense, which locates Pelagius's origins in the north of the peninsula, is more credible.

[13] At some point Pelagius is said to have rebelled, but for what reasons is unknown; such rebellions by local authorities against their superiors formed a common theme in Visigothic Spain.

[10] Moorish chronicles of the event describe Pelagius and his small force as "thirty wild donkeys", as reported by al-Maqqari in the 17th century.

After his election as princeps (prince, principal leader) of the Asturians by the local magnates in the Visigothic manner,[12] Pelagius made his capital at Cangas de Onís.

He married his daughter Ermesinda to the future king Alfonso I, son of Pelagius's eastern neighbour, Duke Peter of Cantabria.

The chief sources for Pelagius's life and career are two Latin chronicles written in the late ninth century in the kingdom he founded.