Pelagius of Oviedo was a medieval ecclesiastic, historian, and forger who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from 1142 to 1143. He was an active and independent-minded prelate, who zealously defended the privileges and prestige of his diocese. During his episcopal tenure he oversaw the most productive scriptorium in Spain, which produced the vast Corpus Pelagianum, to which Pelagius contributed his own Chronicon regum Legionensium. His work as a historian is generally reliable, but for the forged, interpolated, and otherwise skilfully altered documents that emanated from his office he has been called el Fabulador and the "prince of falsifiers". It has been suggested that a monument be built in his honour in Oviedo.

Bermudo II, called the Gouty, was first a rival king in Galicia (982–984) and then king of the entire Kingdom of León (984–999). His reign is summed up by Justo Pérez de Urbel's description of him as "the poor king tormented in life by the sword of Almanzor and in death by the vengeful pen of a bishop," Pelagius of Oviedo, half of whose Chronicon covers the reign of Bermudo and is highly critical of the king. He accuses Bermudo of imprisoning Bishop Gudesteus of Oviedo in the 990s and blames the attacks of Almanzor on Bermudo's sins.