The renown acquired by Pelayus through the victory of Covadonga raised him at once from the position of general to the dignity of king. In his election the traditions of the ancient Gothic constitution were observed. The sentiments of freedom innate in the mountaineer of every land are reluctant to admit the superiority implied by the laws of hereditary descent or by the exercise of unlimited authority. The rude ceremonies by which regal prerogatives were conceded to this guerilla chieftain could not suggest to the wildest visionary the possibility of the gorgeous ceremonial of the Spanish court or of the absolute power exercised by Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second. It is not improbable that the commands of Pelayus were frequently disputed by his half-savage retainers. But it may well be doubted if among all the nations which composed the vast dominions of the House of Austria could have been found an equal number of adherents more faithful in misfortune, more intrepid in danger, than those who formed the little band of the exiled hero. The immunity granted the Christians after their triumph would seem to rather imply contempt by the princes of Cordova than their discouragement or any apprehension of further misfortune. The moral effect of the victory, if imperceptible on the Arabs, produced at once most significant results in the regions bordering on the Asturias. The threatening attitude of the fishermen necessitated the evacuation of the coast, and Othman-Ibn-Abu-Nesa, Governor of Gijon, abandoned his charge, and, by a forced march, joined his countrymen beyond the mountains. The warlike spirit spread fast through Cantabria and Galicia, and was even felt upon the borders of what is now Leon and Castile; the Saracen colonists who had established themselves in the most fertile districts were exterminated; and the religious aspect of the struggle, which seemed to identify the cause of the insurgents with that of the Almighty, crowded the squalid hovels of the hospitable Asturians with thousands of fugitives who sought protection and liberty in the society of their friends and kinsmen.