Count Cassius
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Count Cassius (8th century), also Count Casius, kumis Kasi or kumis Qasi, was a Hispano-Roman or Visigoth nobleman that originated the Banu Qasi dynasty.
According to the 10th century Muwallad historian Ibn al-Qutiya, Count Cassius converted to Islam in 714 as the mawali (client) of the Umayyads, after the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, and adopted the Arabic surname Banu Qasi. Cassius had converted at the hands of the Arab Hassan ibn Yassar al-Hudhali, qadi in Zaragossa at the time of Abd ar-Rahman's arrival in the peninsula. He converted to Islam as a means to preserve his lands and political power. Cassius joined forces with Musa ibn Nusayr and Tariq ibn Ziyad and travelled to Damascus to personally swear alligeance to the Caliph Al-Walid I.
Another Arab historian Ibn Hazm listed his sons as Fortun, Abu Tawr, Abu Salama, Yunus and Yahya. The Banu Qasi dynasty was directly descended from Fortun, the eldest son of Count Cassius.
At the time of the Muslim arrival and after, Cassius ruled an area comprising Tudela, Tarazona, Borja and probably Ejea.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Alberto Cañada Juste, El posible solar originario de los Banu Qasi, in Homenaje a don José M.ª Lacarra..., Zaragoza, 1977, I.
