Count Cassius ( fl. 8th century A.D.), also called "Count Casius" ( es, Casio; ar, قَسِيّ قُومِس, links=no, "Qasīy Qūmis"), was a

Hispano-Roman Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

nobleman who founded the

Banu Qasi The Banu Qasi, Banu Kasi, Beni Casi ( ar, بني قسي or بنو قسي, meaning "sons" or "heirs of Cassius"), Banu Musa, or al-Qasawi were a Muladí (local convert) dynasty that in the 9th century ruled the Upper March, a frontier ter ...

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

. His actual existence has been contested on the grounds that embellishing stories related to Gothic ancestry were rather popular during the

Caliphate of Cordoba A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

. The name is anachronistic, and no Banu Qasi is attested until Mutarrif ibn Musa during the 780s, but he is identified with just his father's name and not explicitly linked to Cassius or the Banu Qasi. Historians point out that the origins of the Banu Qasi, as recounted by Ibn al-Qutiyya, could be a product of the spurious antiquarianism of the later Umayyad period rather than reliable genealogy, satisfying the need for stories which bridged the conquest.Ann Christys, ''Christians in Al-Andalus, 711-1000'', p. 176. According to the 10th-century

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Muwallad historian

Ibn al-Qūṭiyya Ibn al-Qūṭiyya (, died 6 November 977), born Muḥammad Ibn ʿUmar Ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʾIbrāhīm ibn ʿIsā ibn Muzāḥim (), also known as Abu Bakr or al-Qurtubi ("the Córdoban"), was an Andalusian historian and the greatest philologi ...

, Count Cassius converted to Islam in 714, shortly after the

Umayyad conquest of Hispania The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...

, as a client (''

mawali Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...

'') of the

Umayyads Umayyads may refer to: *Umayyad dynasty, a Muslim ruling family of the Caliphate (661–750) and in Spain (756–1031) *Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) :*Emirate of Córdoba (756–929) :*Caliphate of Córdoba The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خ ...

; his family came to be called the ''Banu Qasi'' (, the "sons of Cassius"). Cassius had converted at the hands of the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, Hassan ibn Yassar al-Hudhali,

qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

at the time of Abd ar-Rahman's arrival in the peninsula, as a means to preserve his lands and political power. Cassius joined forces with Musa ibn Nusayr and Tariq ibn Ziyad, and is reported to have travelled to

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

to personally swear allegiance to the

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad ca ...

. The 11th-century Arab historian

Ibn Hazm Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...

attributed five sons to Cassius: Fortun, Abu Tawr, Abu Salama, Yunus and Yahya. The Banu Qasi dynasty descended from Fortun, the eldest son; the second son may have been the

Abu Taur of Huesca Abu Tawr () was ''wali'' of Washka, a Muslim nobleman, perhaps member of the Banu Salama ( ar, بني سلمة) clan. Alternatively, it has been suggested that he may be the individual Al-Andalus genealogist Ibn Hazm named as Abu Tawr ibn Qasi, so ...

who invited

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

in 778; and the ''

Banu Salama The Banu Salama ( ar, بني سلمة) were an Arab Hejazi family that governed the regions of Huesca and Barbitanya (Barbastro) in the Upper March of Al-Andalus from c. 780-800 CE. In 800, the former ally of the Banu Salama, Bahlul Ibn ...

'', a family that ruled

Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...

and Barbitanya (

Barbastro Barbastro (Latin: ''Barbastrum'' or ''Civitas Barbastrensis'', Aragonese: ''Balbastro'') is a city in the Somontano county, province of Huesca, Spain. The city (also known originally as Barbastra or Bergiduna) is at the junction of the rivers Cinc ...

) in the late tenth century, may have descended from Abu Salama.Cañada Juste, ''Los Banu Qasi'', pp. 7-9. At the time of the Muslim arrival and after, Cassius ruled an area comprising Tudela,

Tarazona Tarazona is a town and municipality in the Tarazona y el Moncayo comarca, province of Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. It is the capital of the Tarazona y el Moncayo Aragonese comarca. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarazona. H ...

, Borja and, probably, Ejea.

References

Bibliography

* Cañada Juste, Alberto (1977). "El posible solar originario de los Banu Qasi", in ''Homenaje a don José M.ª Lacarra...'', Zaragoza, I. * Cañada Juste, Alberto (1977)
"Los Banu Qasi (714-924)"
in ''Principe de Viana'', vol. 41, pp. 5-95 (1980). * * Collins, Roger (1994). ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797'' (Blackwell Publishing). * Christys, Ann (eds.) (2002) ''Christians in Al-Andalus, 711-1000'', Routledge. * Glick, Thomas F. (eds.) (2005) ''Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages'', BRILL.

External links

Banu KasiCasiusKasi
an
Qasi
in the Spanish-language ''

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''. Basque history People from Navarre Banu Qasi 8th-century Al-Andalus people Spanish Muslims Converts to Islam from Christianity 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Upper March 8th-century Visigothic people {{Al-Andalus-bio-stub