The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobleman Pelagius of Asturias . It was the first Christian political entity established following the conquest of the Visigothic kingdom by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate in 718, or probably 722. That year Pelagius defeated an Umayyad patrol at the Battle of Covadonga, in what is usually regarded as the beginning of the Reconquista. The Kingdom of Asturias transitioned to the Kingdom of León in 924, when Fruela II became king with his royal court in León.