Qasim Khan

Who was Qasim Khan?

Qasím Khan was the first khan of the Qasim Khanate, a Tatar khanate since 1450s. He was the son of Kazan khan Oluğ Möxämmäd.

He participated in the battles of Belyov in 1437 and of Suzdal in 1445. After the treaty of Suzdal, he and his brother Yaqub were sent to Moscow to control the results of the treaty. He stayed at the palace of Vasili II of Russia to serve him. In 1449 at the Pakhra river he defeated troops of Sayed Akhmad, the khan of the Great Horde, that came to conquer Muscovy. In 1447–1453 he supported Vasili in his struggle against Dmitry Shemyaka. In 1452 Vasili II granted him a principality in Ryazan Principality, in territory formerly of Mishar Yurt, as a hereditary estate and Kasimov city. Those lands were designated the Qasim Khanate. Being the khan of Kasimov, he also struggled for Kazan's throne.