Banu qasi
Ruled Dynasty | ||||
| ||||
 | ||||
| Capital | Tudela (714-802; 886-898) Zaragoza (802-886; 898-927) | |||
| Main language | Andalusian Arab | |||
| Other languages | Latin or Initial Romance | |||
| Religion | Islam (official), Mozarbe Christianity | |||
| Government | Principality | |||
| Leaders | ||||
| • 713/714-715 | Count Casio | |||
| • 715-740 | Fortune ibn Qasi | |||
| • 740-789 | Musa ibn Fortun | |||
| • 789-862 | Musa ibn Musa | |||
| • 862-875 | Lubb ibn Musa | |||
| • 875-898 | Muhammad ibn Lubb | |||
| • 898-907 | Lubb ibn Muhammad ibn Lubb | |||
| • 907-929 | Muhammad ibn Abd Allah | |||
| Historical period | High Age | |||
| • | 714 | |||
| • | 929 | |||
Banu Qasi, Beni Casi or Banu Musa (in Arabic, بنو قسي) was an important muladí family whose domains were located in the middle Ebro valley between the VIII and X, during the time this region belonged to Muslim Hispania. The personage that gives origin to the lineage has been believed to be seen in a Hispano-Gothic count named Casio, who governed the region of northern Spain between Tudela, Tarazona, Ejea de los Caballeros and Nájera. When the Muslim conquest of the Visigothic kingdom occurred, he converted to Islam and became a vassal of the Umayyads in exchange for being able to keep his domain (circa 713). Hence the family name, Banu Qasi: 'sons of Casio'.
Origin and territory
The family descended from a quasi-feudal lord from the Visigothic era, Count Casio. He commanded garrisons bordering the Basque territories. Visigothic feudalization was so advanced that Casio was able to leave the places under his command to his offspring, after agreeing with the Muslim invaders and converting to Islam. Viguera and perhaps Olite and Alfaro. The main center of the family was Arnedo and Nájera y Grañón were on the northwestern limits of their lands. Almost all of their plazas were located along two causeways of Roman origin: the one that It linked Tarazona and Briviesca and the one that followed the Iregua valley.
An expedition of the emir Abderramán I in 781 seems to have been destined for their lands.
Clan growth
The border character made the Upper March the scene of the struggle between the Franks and the Andalusians to delimit their domains in this border region, resulting in continuous changes of alliances from which the Banu Qasi came out reinforced, to the point of which became the hegemonic dynasty in the area in the mid-IX century. All of which was confirmed with the appointment in the year 852, by the recently proclaimed emir Mohamed I, of Musa ibn Musa (Musa I) as governor of the important Arnedo —center of the family's power— Tudela and, later, Zaragoza. After conquering Zaragoza, Musa ibn Musa moved to it and became the new capital of the Banu Qasi.
The clan had increased its power during the VIII century thanks to the support they gave to the emirs of Córdoba in the fights Internal conflicts between Arabs and Berbers, which were frequent during the years that followed the conquest. Musa ibn Fortún (grandson of the Visigothic count) stands out at this time. In his power is the upper part of the Ebro valley (Ejea, Tudela, Tarazona, Borja, Arnedo...). He provides his support to the emir Hisham I against the uprising of Said ibn al-Husayn in the Ebro valley (specifically in the Tortosa area) which he fought and killed. Afterwards he marched on Zaragoza which he seized. He was killed in turn by a freedman of Al-Husayn. However, the emir rewarded Musa I with the appointment of his son Mutárrif as governor of Pamplona, who was assassinated in the city in 799.
In a first stage, the Banu Qasi maintained good relations with their neighbors, the Christians of Pamplona, due to the second marriage of Onneca (previously married to the Basque Íñigo Jiménez and mother of Íñigo Íñiguez, who would later be the first king of Pamplona) with Musa ibn Fortún. This marriage took place around the year 784. Musa ibn Musa was born from this union, who was, therefore, the mother's brother of Íñigo Íñiguez, later known as Íñigo Arista, the first king of Pamplona. Family ties were later strengthened with the marriage of Assona (daughter of Íñigo Arista) with her uncle Musa ibn Musa. The close alliance between the Banu Qasi and the Arista lasted until the latter's collapse by the Jimena dynasty in 905.
Muse the Great
The family reached the zenith of its power with Musa ibn Musa, Musa the Great. During his lifetime, the Banu Qasi's tendency towards autonomy increased, coming to ally with the Christian kings of Pamplona, the Arista-Íñiga dynasty, against the Emir of Córdoba, Abderramán II, in 843. Until the middle of the century, the emir's armies organize frequent punitive expeditions against Musa. However, in the middle of the century, reconciled again with the emir, and as governor of Tudela, he participates in the emiral efforts against the Christians.
Musa defeats the Christians in the battle of Albelda (851), accessing the decade of greatest greatness and influence of the family. Even, as governor of Tudela, he calls himself the "third king of Spain" (along with those of Asturias and Córdoba). In 852 he ruled over the lands of Tudela, Zaragoza and perhaps Calatayud and Daroca as far as Calamocha. He is appointed governor of the Upper Marca, intervenes in Huesca and installs his son, Lope ibn Musa, in Toledo as governor. In 860, the Cordovan emir withdrew the government of Tudela.
After his death in 862, and after a new rebellion by the sons of Musa against Córdoba, the Umayyads lent their support to rival Arab lineages of the Banu Qasi, such as the Tujibids, who in the first quarter of the century X occupied the position of power that the Banu Qasi had earlier achieved in the Ebro Valley. ben Lubb, a member of the family, owned various places in the pre-Pyrenees: Monzón, Balaguer, Calasanz, Ayera and Barbastro. Faced with the growing hostility of the Pamplona sovereigns, he fortified various places: Nájera, Viguera, Caparroso and Falces.
In July 914, the lord of Tudela, Abdalah ben Muhammad ben Lubb, seized Calahorra from Sancho Garcés of Pamplona, which he may have owned since 907. In 915, however, Sancho Garcés took his revenge by invading the lands Tudelanas, capturing Ben Lubb and killing many of his soldiers in the Bardenas Reales. To obtain his freedom, the captive's brother, Mutarrif, ceded to the Pamplona king Falces y Caparroso. Two months after his captivity ended, Abdalah died, poisoned by Sancho Garcés. In 916, Abdalah's son murdered his uncle Mutárrif, which plunged the family into a series of internal struggles.
Muhammad Abdalah ben Muhammad ben Lubb, son of the person poisoned by Sancho Garcés and the new lord of Tudela, recaptured Calahorra from the Navarrese in 920, during the campaign of Abderramán III, which forced Sancho Garcés to abandon the square. He participated in the campaign of the Cordovan caliph. At that time he also dominated the towns of Viguera, heavily harassed by the Navarrese, and Nájera. When trying to take advantage of the Cordovan victories to invade the kingdom of Pamplona, he was defeated and taken captive by the Christian forces that defended the kingdom, led by King Ordoño de León. In vain he had taken refuge in Viguera, whose fortress had to capitulate. He was released in 923, but his own soldiers, bribed by the Navarrese king, assassinated him. His reckless invasion was a disaster for the Banu Qasi: they lost Viguera, Valtierra and Nájera and even Tudela itself. The Tuyibíes seized the latter from the Navarrese, who ceded shortly after to the Caliphate army that came to defend the border. In 924, the Banu Qasi had also lost Calahorra, which was attacked along with Falces by the Cordovans in the great campaign of 924. The family lost all importance: most of its members settled in Córdoba in 924 and some enlisted in the caliphal army; others converted to Christianity and went to León and Pamplona.