{{Infobox monarch| | name = Biri IV | succession = ''Mai'' of the Kanem–Bornu Empire | reign = 15th century (1–6 years)<br/>{{Circa}} 1444–1445{{efn|name="BiriReign"}} | predecessor = Kade III | successor = Dunama V Ahmad | death_date = {{circa}} 1445 | house = Sayfawa dynasty (Idrisid{{efn|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lange |first=Dierk |url=https://www.google.se/books/edition/Dictionary_of_African_Biography/39JMAgAAQBAJ |title=Dictionary of African Biography |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5 |pages=172–173 |language=en |chapter=Ali Gajideni}}</ref>}}) | house-type = Dynasty | father = Dunama IV (?) }} '''Biri IV''' (Biri bin Dunama<ref name=":0232">{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_Islamic_Dynasties/maQxEAAAQBAJ |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual |date=2012 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year= |isbn=0-7486-2137-7 |pages=126–127 |orig-year=1996}}</ref>) was briefly ''mai'' (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the mid-15th century, ruling approximately 1444–1445.{{efn|name="BiriReign"|Biri is omitted in the 19th–20th century king lists (''girgam''s) published by Barth, Palmer, and Urvoy. Nachtigal and Landeroin both assign Biri a 6-year reign.<ref name=":22" /> Nachtigal dated his reign to 1455–1461 and Landeroin dated it to 1427–1433.<ref name=":22" /> Among later scholars, Biri is also omitted by Lange (1984)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lange |first=Dierk |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000184287 |title=General history of Africa, IV: Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century |date= |website= |publisher=University of California |year=1984 |isbn=978-92-3-101710-0 |editor-last=Niane |editor-first=Djibril Tamsir |pages=261 |language=en |chapter=The kingdoms and peoples of Chad}}</ref> and Stewart (1989).<ref name="stewart">{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=John |title=African States and Rulers: An Encyclopedia of Native, Colonial and Independent States and Rulers Past and Present |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=1989 |pages=35}}</ref> Cohen (1966) assigned Biri a reign of a single year without comment, contradicting Nachtigal and Landeroin's lists.<ref name=":22" /> Bosworth (2012) followed Cohen's assessment of a single year, dating Biri's reign to 1444–1445.<ref name=":0232" />}} Biri ruled during the "Era of Instability", a chaotic period of internal and external conflict in the empire.
== Life == Biri was the son of a ''mai'' named Dunama, probably Dunama IV.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Ronald |url=https://archive.org/details/bostonuniversity02bost |title=Boston University Papers on Africa: Volume II: African History |date=1966 |publisher=Boston University Press |chapter=The Bornu King Lists |pp=58, 63, 81}}</ref> Biri became ''mai'' in the mid-15th century,<ref name=":0232" /> after his predecessor Kade III<ref name=":0232" /><ref name=":22" /> had been defeated by the rival claimant Dunama V Ahmad.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Barth |first=Heinrich |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Travels_and_Discoveries_in_North_and_Cen/la_zIUj0oiwC |title=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 |date=1857 |publisher=Longmans |pages=642 |language=en}}</ref> Biri ruled only briefly{{efn|name="BiriReign"}} before he was succeeded by Dunama V Ahmad.<ref name=":0232" /><ref name=":22" />
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == <references /> {{Kanem–Bornu rulers}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Bir 04}} Category:Rulers of the Bornu Empire Category:15th-century monarchs in Africa