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Banu Qasi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banu Qasi (Arabic: بنو قاسي (Banû Qasî), meaning "sons" or "heirs of Cassius") was the name of a Basque Muladi (Visigoths or Hispano-Romans converted to Islam) dynasty that ruled Tudela and the lands around it in the 9th and 10th centuries. It was eventually conquered by the expansive taifa of Zaragoza at the beginning of the 11th century. The dynasty descended from the Hispano-Roman or Visigoth Count Cassius, and was a patrilineal dynasty: that is, the father's position and power was inherited by his sons, particularly the eldest son (primogeniture).
Their chief seat was Tudela, and they also held Olite and Arnedo. The autonomous realm of the Banu Qasi was an important ally of the Kingdom of Pamplona. Both states buffered each other from the incursions of the larger Muslim and Christian kingdoms around them. In fact they helped each other even in their very beginnings, when the Banu Qasi and Pamplonese troops defeated the Franks at the third Battle of Roncevaux (824).
After losing Tudela to Zaragoza, the Banu Qasi were able to establish a modest realm at Alpuente (Aragon).
Alfonso the Battler of Navarre and Aragon conquered Tudela in 1115. The Muslim and Jewish communities living there remained protected by the Navarrese state until the Castilian conquest of 1512-22, when the Spanish Inquisition forced their conversion or exile.
- Banu Kasi, Casius, Kasi and Qasi in the Spanish-language Auñamendi Encyclopedia.