Banu Qasi - First Rise To Prominence

First Rise To Prominence

The speculated homeland of Count Cassius was a narrow strip across the Ebro from Tudela. The Arab historian Ibn Hazm listed the sons of Count Cassius as Fortun, Abu Tawr, Abu Salama, Yunus and Yahya. Of these, it has been suggested that the second may be the Abu Taur, Wali of Huesca, who invited Charlemagne to Zaragoza in 778. Likewise, the Banu Salama, removed from power in Huesca and Barbitanya (Barbastro) at the end of the 8th century, may have derived from Abu Salama. Subsequent leaders of the family descend from the eldest son, Fortun. His son, Musa ibn Fortun ibn Qasi, first garnered notice in 788, when on behalf of emir Hisham I of Córdoba he put down the rebellion of the Banu Husain in Zaragoza. The fate of Musa ibn Fortun is debated. An account of the 788 rebellion tells of Musa's murder shortly thereafter at the hands of a Banu Husain follower, yet a "Fortun ibn Musa" is said to have been killed in his own 802 Zaragoza uprising, and it has been suggested that this name may be an error for Musa ibn Fortun. However, Ibn Hayyan also reports a Fortun of the Banu Qasi forming a coalition of the Christians of Pamplona, Álava, Castile, Amaya and Cerdaña to fight Amrus ibn Yusuf at this time, suggesting that this is instead a son of Musa ibn Fortun overlooked by ibn Hazm, whose genealogy provides most of what we know about the clan. In the next generation, Mutarrif ibn Musa, assassinated in Pamplona in 798 by pro-Frankish interests, was likely a son of Musa ibn Fortun. It was Musa's son Musa ibn Musa ibn Qasi whose rule brought the family to the peak of its power.