Mangkunegara I, also known as Pangeran Sambernyawa ("''Life Reaping Prince''"), (born Raden Mas Said, 7 April 1725 – 1796) was the first ruler of

Mangkunegaran The Duchy of Mangkunegaran ( id, Kadipaten Mangkunegaran) is a small Javanese princely state located within the region of Surakarta in Indonesia. It was established in 1757 by Raden Mas Said, when he submitted his army to Pakubuwono III in Fe ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

in the eighteenth century.

Personal life

Mangkunegara was given the nickname "Life Reaping Prince" by Nicolaas Hartingh, because the prince had brought his enemies to death during the war. Hatingh was Dutch East India Company's Governor of the Northeast Coast of Java, located in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

. He was born on 7 April 1726 in

Kartasura Kartasura ( jv, ꦏꦂꦠꦱꦸꦫ, also spelled Kartosuro) is a district ''(kecamatan)'' in Sukoharjo Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. Kartasura is considered as a Surakarta's satellite city, and a junction of highways to Yogyakarta and Semara ...

. Mangkunegara was brought up by his mother, Raden Ayu Wulan and his father, Prince Mangkunegara Kartasura. His maternal grandfather was Prince Sambernyawa Balitar and his paternal grandfather was Amangkurat, King of Mataram.

Duke of Mangkunegara Kartasura

During the reign of the fourth amangkurat, the Kingdom of Mataram in Java was not free from the turmoil of

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Prince Mangkunegara replaced

Pakubuwono I Pakubuwono I (also as Pakubuwana I, before his reign was known as Pangeran Puger), uncle of Amangkurat III of Mataram was a combatant for the succession of the Mataram dynasty, both as a co-belligerent during the Trunajaya rebellion (from 1677 t ...

as King of Mataram, when the king had to face the uprising carried out by his two brothers, the prince and Prince Purbaya Blitar. During this conflict, the Dutch gave full support to Prince Mangkunegara so that the two brothers could no longer carry out their rebellion. The presence of Prince Mangkunegara instead of

Pakubuwono Susuhunan, or in short version Sunan, is a title used by the monarchs of Mataram and then by the hereditary rulers of Surakarta, Indonesia. Additionally in Bali and Yogyakarta, so-called " Kings of kings" reigned with this title, while their k ...

had been prepared long before the death of the king. In March 1715, Mangkunegara Prince Arya (son of Pakubuwono I) was officially announced as the crown prince of the

Kingdom of Mataram The Mataram Kingdom (, jv, ꦩꦠꦫꦩ꧀, ) was a Javanese Hindu–Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries. It was based in Central Java, and later in East Java. Established by King Sanjaya, the kingdom was rule ...

. In the same year, the appointment of crown prince was accompanied by the cannon shots of Gunturgeni, along with the ritual of cutting of the hair of the crown king. Mangkunegara became the fourth amangkurat to rule Mataram. The title "mangkunegara" was later inherited by the eldest son, R.M. Suro who was then titled Prince Arya Mangkunegara Kartasura. To quarantine the rivals, the king intended to marry his son to Prince Purbaya. The will of the king did not prevail due to resistance by Queen Amangkurat (his wife). His marriage was on condition of divorce from children Prince Prince Mangkunegara Blitar. Amangkurat's story continues with the death due to poisoning and possible successor positions shifted to the younger brother of King RM Prabasuyasa.

References

Sources

* Soekanto, Dr., "About Djogjakarta" ''1755-1825'', Djakarta: Mahabharata, Amsterdam, 1952 * Anderson, BRO’G. The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture dalam Anderson, BRO’G. Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia. Cornell University Press. 1990. * * Miksic, John N. (general ed.), et al. (2006) Karaton Surakarta. A look into the court of Surakarta Hadiningrat, central Java (First published: 'By the will of His Serene Highness Paku Buwono XII'. Surakarta: Yayasan Pawiyatan Kabudayan Karaton Surakarta, 2004) Marshall Cavendish Editions Singapore * Princes of Mangkunegaran 1725 births 1796 deaths People from Surakarta 18th-century Indonesian people {{SEAsia-royal-stub