The ruler of one of the splinter states in northern Egypt which emerged during the political confusion of the latter part of the eighth century B.C., Bakenrenef was the son of Tefnakhte, a 'Great Chief of the Ma', who had proclaimed himself king from his family base at Sais in the Delta. Bekenrenef succeeded him and may have ruled from as far south as Memphis, outside modern Cairo. He was eventually defeated by Shabaka, one of the kings of the Kushite (Nubian) dynasty, and was said to have been burned alive.