Muhammad IV of Bornu

Muhammad IV
Mai of the Kanem–Bornu Empire
Reign15th century (0–5 years)
c. 1451–1456
PredecessorAmarma
SuccessorGaji
Diedc. 1456
"Meghjibád-Nerí-Kerbúri"
DynastySayfawa dynasty (Dawudid)
FatherKade III

Muhammad IV (Muḥammad bin Kade) was mai (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the mid-15th century, ruling approximately 1451–1456. Muhammad ruled during the "Era of Instability", a chaotic period of internal and external conflict in the empire.

Life

Muhammad was a son of mai Kade III. Muhammad did not directly succeed his father, who had been killed by the rival claimant Dunama V Ahmad. Most reconstructions of this period place Muhammad as the successor of mai Amarma.

Later chronicles of the Kanem–Bornu Empire remembered Muhammad as a "cruel and sanguinary prince" and a tyrant. He had a brief reign; different sources give dates between as low as a few days and at most five years. The site of Muhammad's death is recorded as Meghjibád-Nerí-Kerbúri, or variations thereof (such as Magi Jibidam, Maki Zabatam). Muhammad was succeeded as mai by Gaji, whose relation to previous rulers is unclear.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Different king lists (girgams) and chronicles translated in the 19th–20th centuries give Muhammad different regnal lengths: a few days (Barth), 3 years (Palmer), or 5 years (Urvoy, Nachtigal, Landeroin). As a result of this, and due to different calculations for other mais, various dates have been given for his reign, including 1456 (Barth), 1452/1453–1455 (Palmer), 1453–1458 (Urvoy), 1364–1369 (Landeroin), and 1394–1399 (Nachtigal). The placement of Muhammad IV in the sequence of rulers differs considerably from the others in Landeroin and Nachtigal's lists. Cohen (1966) considered a reign of 5 years most likely. Lange (1984) dated Muhammad's reign to 1445–1449, Stewart (1989) dated it to 1456, and Bosworth (2012) dated it to 1451–1456.
  2. ↑ The 14th and 15th centuries saw protracted civil wars between the rival Idrisid (descendants of Idris I Nikalemi) and Dawudid (descendants of Dawud Nikalemi) branches of the Sayfawa dynasty.
  3. ↑ Some chronologies of Kanem–Bornu rulers omit the 14th-century Muhammad II Manza, lowering the regnal numbers of later rulers of this name. This ruler is then considered Muhammad III.

References

  1. ↑ Lange, Dierk (2012). "Ali Gajideni". Dictionary of African Biography. Oxford University Press. pp. 172–173. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  2. 1 2 Stewart, John (1989). African States and Rulers: An Encyclopedia of Native, Colonial and Independent States and Rulers Past and Present. McFarland & Company. p. 35.
  3. 1 2 3 Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2012) [1996]. The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-0-7486-2137-8.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cohen, Ronald (1966). "The Bornu King Lists". Boston University Papers on Africa: Volume II: African History. Boston University Press. pp. 59, 63, 66, 81.
  5. 1 2 Lange, Dierk (1984). "The kingdoms and peoples of Chad". In Niane, Djibril Tamsir (ed.). General history of Africa, IV: Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. University of California. p. 261. ISBN 978-92-3-101710-0.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barth, Heinrich (1857). Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849–1855. Longmans. pp. 642–643.
  7. 1 2 Palmer, H. R. (1926). History Of The First Twelve Years Of The Reign Of Mai Idris Alooma Of Bornu (1571–1583) (Fartua, Ahmed Ibn). p. 115.