The Ayutthaya Kingdom (; th, อยุธยา, ,
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...
: or , ) was a
Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351
to 1767, centered around the city of
Ayutthaya Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to:
* Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767
** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom
* Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locally ...
, in Siam, or present-day
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is considered to be the precursor of modern Thailand and its developments are an important part of the
History of Thailand
The Tai ethnic group migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of centuries. The word ''Siam'' ( th, สยาม ) may have originated from Pali (''suvaṇṇabhūmi'', "land of gold") or Sanskrit श्याम (''śyāma'', "dark ...
.
The Ayutthaya Kingdom emerged from the
mandala
A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...
of city-states on the Lower
Chao Phraya
The Chao Phraya ( or ; th, แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา, , or ) is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand.
E ...
Valley in the late fourteenth century during the decline of the
Khmer Empire. After a century of territorial expansions, Ayutthaya became centralized and rose as a major power in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. Ayutthaya faced
invasions
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
from the
Toungoo dynasty
, conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty
, common_name = Taungoo dynasty
, era =
, status = Empire
, event_start = Independence from Ava
, year_start ...
of
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, starting a centuries' old rivalry between the two regional powers, resulting in the
First Fall of Ayutthaya
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
in 1569. However,
Naresuan
King Naresuan the Great (( th, สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช, , ) or Sanphet II ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๒), ( my , နရဲစွမ် (သို့) ဗြနရာဇ်); 1555/1556 – ...
( 1590–1605) freed Ayutthaya from brief Burmese rule and expanded Ayutthaya militarily. By 1600, the kingdom's vassals included some city-states in the
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
,
Sukhothai,
Lan Na
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
and parts of
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
and
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
although the extent of Ayutthaya's control over its neighbors varied over time. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Ayutthaya emerged as an entrepôt of international trade and its cultures flourished. The reign of
Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
( 1657–1688) was known for historic contact between the Siamese court and Europeans, most iconically with the
1686 Siamese embassy to
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The Late Ayutthaya Period was described as a "golden age" of Siamese culture and saw the rise in predominance of trade and political and cultural influence from the Chinese trade, a development that would continue to expand for the next century following the fall of Ayutthaya.
In the eighteenth century, a series of socio-economic and political pressures within the kingdom, prominent among them sequential succession conflicts due to the nature of the Ayutthaya succession system, left Ayutthaya militarily weakened and thus unable to effectively deal with a renewed series of Burmese invasions, in
1759–60 and
1765–67, from the new and vigorous and expansionistic
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
of Burma, determined to acquire its growing wealth and eliminate their long-time regional rivals.
In April 1767, after a 14-month siege, the city of Ayutthaya fell to besieging Burmese forces and was completely destroyed, thereby ending the 417-year-old Ayutthaya Kingdom. Siam, however, quickly recovered from the collapse and the seat of Siamese authority was moved to
Thonburi
__NOTOC__
Thonburi ( th, ธนบุรี) is an area of modern Bangkok. During the era of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, its location on the right (west) bank at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River had made it an important garrison town, which is ...
, and later
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
, within the next 15 years.
In foreign accounts, Ayutthaya was called "Siam", but many sources say the people of Ayutthaya called themselves ''
Tai
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisations ...
'', and their kingdom ''Krung Tai'' ( th, กรุงไท) meaning 'Tai country' (). It was also referred to as ''Iudea'' in a painting requested by the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
.
History
Origins
The origin of Ayutthaya had been subjected to scholarly debates. Traditional accounts hold that King
Uthong
King U-thongThe Royal Institute. List of monarchs Ayutthaya''. ( th, พระเจ้าอู่ทอง) or King Ramathibodi I ( th, สมเด็จพระรามาธิบดีที่ ๑ ; 1314–1369) was the first king of ...
, the ruler of a city called "Uthong", moved his court due to the threat of an epidemic. The city of "Uthong" was not the modern
U Thong District
U Thong ( th, อู่ทอง, ) is the district (''amphoe'') in the western part of Suphan Buri province, north of Bangkok.
History
Higham states, "U-Thong was occupied for many centuries prior to the development of the Dvaravati state. ...
,
Suphan Buri Province, which was a major
Dvaravati
The Dvaravati ( th, ทวารวดี ; ) was an ancient Mon kingdom from the 7th century to the 11th century that was located in the region now known as central Thailand. It was described by the Chinese pilgrim in the middle of the 7th ce ...
site but had already been abandoned before the foundation of Ayutthaya. ''Van Vliet's chronicles'', a seventeenth-century work, stated that King Uthong was a Chinese merchant who established himself at
Phetchaburi
Phetchaburi ( th, เพชรบุรี, ) or Phet Buri () is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in southern Thailand, capital of Phetchaburi Province. In Thai, Phetchaburi means "city of diamonds" (''buri'' meaning "city" in Sanskrit). It is approx ...
before moving to Ayutthaya. ''Tamnan Mulla Satsana'', a sixteenth-century
Lanna
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
literature, stated that King Uthong was from
Lavo Kingdom. Regardless of his origin, King Uthong, who had been a post-Angkorian ruler of one of the cities in Lower Chao Phraya Valley, moved his court to an island on intersection of three rivers; Chao Phraya River,
Lopburi River
The Lopburi River ( th, แม่น้ำลพบุรี, , ) is a tributary of the Chao Phraya River in central Thailand. It splits from the Chao Phraya river at Tambon Bang Phutsa, Singburi. Passing through Tha Wung district and the town of ...
and
Pa Sak River
The Pa Sak River ( th, แม่น้ำป่าสัก, , Pronunciation is a river in central Thailand. The river originates in the Phetchabun Mountains, Dan Sai District, Loei Province, and passes through Phetchabun Province as the backb ...
, and founded Ayutthaya there in 1351, naming it after
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
, one of the holiest Hindu cities of India of the same name.
The city of Ayutthaya itself, however, might have existed before the supposed "foundation" in 1351. Some temples in Ayutthaya have been known to exist before 1351. Recent archaeological works reveal pre-existing
baray
A ''baray'' ( km, បារាយណ៍) is an artificial body of water which is a common element of the architectural style of the Khmer Empire of Southeast Asia. The largest are the East Baray and West Baray in the Angkor area, each rectangula ...
s superimposed on by subsequent structures and support the Lavo theory. The barays later became Bueng Phra Ram ( th, บึงพระราม) in the place called Nong Sano ( th, หนองโสน), in which King Uthong had laid his foundation. Excavation map shows the traces from a
baray
A ''baray'' ( km, បារាយណ៍) is an artificial body of water which is a common element of the architectural style of the Khmer Empire of Southeast Asia. The largest are the East Baray and West Baray in the Angkor area, each rectangula ...
close to the southwestern tip of
Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon
Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon ( th, วัดใหญ่ชัยมงคล) is a Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to t ...
which could have been built on a former important Angkorian temple complex. Lavo (modern
Lopburi
Lopburi ( th, ลพบุรี, , ) is the capital city of Lopburi Province in Thailand. It is about northeast of Bangkok. It has a population of 58,000. The town (''thesaban mueang'') covers the whole ''tambon'' Tha Hin and parts of Th ...
) had been the center of
Angkorian
Khmer architecture ( km, ស្ថាបត្យកម្មខ្មែរ), also known as Angkorian architecture ( km, ស្ថាបត្យកម្មសម័យអង្គរ), is the architecture produced by the Khmers during the Ang ...
political and cultural influence in
Central Thailand
Central Thailand (Central plain) or more specifically Siam (also known as Suvarnabhumi and Dvaravati) is one of the regions of Thailand, covering the broad alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River. It is separated from northeast Thailand (Isan) by ...
. The Lavo kingdom had established the port on the site of Ayutthaya called Ayodhaya Sri Rama Thepnakorn ( th, อโยธยาศรีรามเทพนคร). King Uthong established his base on the pre-existing Angkorian site.
Many polities had existed in the Lower Chao Phraya Valley before the foundation of Ayutthaya including the Khmer Empire, Lopburi,
Suphan Buri and Phetchaburi. Suphanburi had sent a tribute mission to
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
in 1180 and Petchaburi to the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
in 1294. Some argue that Suphanburi was, in fact, ''Xiān'' mentioned in Chinese sources.
Early expansion and wars
![Three Chedi(s) of Wat Phra Si Sanphet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Three_Chedi%28s%29_of_Wat_Phra_Si_Sanphet.jpg)
The integrity of the patchwork of cities of early Ayutthaya Kingdom was maintained largely through familial connections under the
mandala system.
King Uthong had his son, Prince
Ramesuan, the ruler of Lopburi (Lavo), his brother, the ruler of Praek Sriracha(in modern
Chainat Province
Chai Nat ( th, ชัยนาท, ) is one of the central provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Nakhon Sawan, Sing Buri, Suphan Buri, and Uthai Thani. The town of Chai Nat is 188 km north ...
) and his brother-in-law,
Khun Luang Pa-ngua, the ruler of Suphanburi. The ruler of Phetchaburi was his distant relative. The king would appoint a prince or a relative to be the ruler of a city, and a city that was ruled by a prince was called ''Muang Look Luang'' ( th, เมืองลูกหลวง). Each city ruler swore allegiance and loyalty to the King of Ayutthaya but also retained certain privileges.
Politics of Early Ayutthaya was characterized by rivalries between the two dynasties; the
Uthong dynasty
The Ayutthaya Kingdom (; th, อยุธยา, , IAST: or , ) was a Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is consid ...
based on Lopburi and the
Suphannabhum dynasty based on Suphanburi. When King Uthong died in 1369, he was succeeded by his son Ramesuan. However, Khun Luang Pa-Ngua, the ruler of Suphanburi, marched and usurped the throne from Ramesuan in 1370, prompting Ramesuan to return to Lopburi. Khun Luang Pa-Ngua crowned himself as King
Borommaracha I and with his death in 1388 was succeeded by his son
Thong Lan
King Thong Lan () was a king of Ayutthaya, an ancient kingdom in Thailand.
A son of Borommarachathirat I and member of the House of Suphannaphum, Thong Lan succeeded his father to the throne of Ayutthaya in 750 LE (1931 BE, 1388/89 CE) at the ...
. However, Ramesuan then marched from Lopburi to seize Ayutthaya and had Thong Lan executed. Ramesuan was crowned king once more and was eventually succeeded by his son
Ramracha at his death in 1395. Prince
Intharacha, who was King Borommaracha's nephew, usurped the throne from Ramracha in 1408. Uthong dynasty was then purged and became a mere noble family of Ayutthaya until the 16th century.
Ayutthaya sent military campaigns into
Sukhothai,
Angkor
Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...
, and
Lan Na
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
. Victory of King Borommaracha I over Sukhothai, whose capital was now at
Phitsanulok
Phitsanulok ( th, พิษณุโลก, ) is an important, historic city in lower northern Thailand and is the capital of Phitsanulok Province. Phitsanulok is home to Naresuan University and Pibulsongkram Rajabhat University, as well as ...
, in 1378 put Sukhothai under the dominance of Ayutthaya.
Borommaracha II
Borommarachathirat II or Borom Rachathirat II ( th, บรมราชาธิราชที่ ๒), also known as King Samphraya ( th, เจ้าสามพระยา) (1386–1448), was a king of Ayutthaya. His reign saw its early expan ...
led armies to attack Angkor in 1431 (forcing the Cambodians to move their capital from
Angkor
Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...
to
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...
), and also expanded into the
Korat Plateau
The Khorat Plateau ( th, ที่ราบสูงโคราช) is a plateau in the northeastern Thai region of Isan. The plateau forms a natural region, named after the short form of Nakhon Ratchasima, a historical barrier controlling access ...
. Borommaracha II made his son Prince Ramesuan the ruler of Sukhothai at Phitsanulok. Upon his death in 1448, Prince Ramesuan took the throne of Ayutthaya as King
Borommatrailokkanat
Borommatrailokkanat ( th, บรมไตรโลกนาถ, , sa, Brahmatrailokanātha) or Trailok (1431–1488) was the king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom from 1448 to 1488. He was one of many monarchs who gained the epithet ''King of White Elep ...
, also known as "Trailokkanat", thus Ayutthaya and Sukhothai was united. The ''Ligor Chronicles'' composed in the seventeenth century said that the ruler of Petchaburi had sent his son to rule
Ligor
Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat prov ...
in
Southern Thailand
Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus.
Geography
Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounded ...
.
Ligor Kingdom was then incorporated into Ayutthaya.
An alternate viewpoint of this period of Ayutthaya, promoted by Baker and Phongpaichit, challenged the traditional narrative of Ayutthaya's glorious conquests over Sukhothai and Angkor, arguing that this period, while still involving Ayutthaya military expeditions into other countries, did so alongside peaceful policies, as evident with the intermarrying of royal dynasties between the Suphannabhum (Ayutthaya) and Sukhothai dynasties over generations that ensured Sukhothai's gradual political merger into Ayutthaya and the back and forth cultural influences shared between Ayutthaya and Angkor.
Centralization and institutionalization
![Southeast Asian history - Around 1540](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Southeast_Asian_history_-_Around_1540.png)
Ayutthaya had acquired two mandalas; Sukhothai and Ligor. The ''Muang Look Luang'' system was inadequate to govern relatively vast territories. The government of Ayutthaya was centralized and institutionalized under King Trailokkanat in his reforms promulgating in Palatine Law of 1455, which became the constitution of Ayutthaya for the rest of its existence and continued to be the constitution of Siam until 1892, albeit in altered forms. The central government was dominated by the ''
Chatusadom
Chatusadom or Catustambha ( th, จตุสดมภ์ , literally "Four Pillars" from Sanskrit ''Catur'' "Four" + ''Stambha'' "Pillars") was the Thai system of central executive governance during the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Thonburi Kingdom and Rat ...
'' system ( th, จตุสดมภ์ lit. "Four Pillars), in which the court was led by two Prime Ministers; the ''Samuha Nayok'' the Civil Prime Minister and the ''Samuha Kalahom'' the Grand Commander of Forces overseeing Civil and Military affairs, respectively. Under the ''Samuha Nayok'' were the Four Ministries. In the regions, the king sent not "rulers" but "governors" to govern cities. The cities were under governors who were from nobility not rulers with privileges as it had previously been. The "Hierarchy of Cities" was established and cities were organized into four levels. Large, top level cities held authorities over secondary or low-level cities.
The emerging Kingdom of Ayutthaya was also growing powerful. Relations between Ayutthaya and
Lan Na
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
had worsened since the Ayutthayan support of Thau Choi's rebellion in 1451, Yuttitthira, a noble of the Kingdom of Sukhothai who had conflicts with Trailokkanat of Ayutthaya, gave himself to Tilokaraj. Yuttitthira urged Trailokkanat to invade Phitsanulok, igniting the
Ayutthaya-Lan Na War over the Upper Chao Phraya valley (the Kingdom of Sukhothai). In 1460, the governor of Chaliang surrendered to Tilokaraj. Trailokkanat then used a new strategy and concentrated on the wars with Lan Na by moving the capital to Phitsanulok. Lan Na suffered setbacks and Tilokaraj eventually sued for peace in 1475.
Due to the lack of succession law and a strong concept of
meritocracy
Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and achiev ...
, whenever the succession was in dispute, princely governors or powerful dignitaries claiming their merit gathered their forces and moved on the capital to press their claims, culminating in several bloody coups.
At the start of the 15th century, Ayutthaya showed an interest in the
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
, but the great trading ports of the
Malacca Sultanate
The Malacca Sultanate ( ms, Kesultanan Melaka; Jawi script: ) was a Malay sultanate based in the modern-day state of Malacca, Malaysia. Conventional historical thesis marks as the founding year of the sultanate by King of Singapura, Parameswa ...
contested its claims to sovereignty. Ayutthaya launched several abortive conquests against Malacca which was diplomatically and economically fortified by the military support of
Ming China
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
. In the early-15th century the Ming admiral
Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...
established a base of operation in the port city, making it a strategic position the Chinese could not afford to lose to the Siamese. Under this protection, Malacca flourished, becoming one of Ayutthaya's great foes until the
capture of Malacca by the Portuguese.
First Burmese wars
![Burmese-Siamese War of 1548-49](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Burmese-Siamese_War_of_1548-49.svg)
Starting in the middle of the 16th century, the kingdom came under repeated attacks by the
Taungoo Dynasty
, conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty
, common_name = Taungoo dynasty
, era =
, status = Empire
, event_start = Independence from Ava
, year_start ...
of
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. The
Burmese–Siamese War (1547–49) resulted in a failed Burmese siege of Ayutthaya.
A second siege (1563–64) led by King
Bayinnaung
, image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG
, caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar
, reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581
, coronation = 11 January 1551 at Toung ...
forced King
Maha Chakkraphat
Maha Chakkraphat ( th, มหาจักรพรรดิ, ; lit.: 'The Great Emperor'; 1509 – 1569) was king of the Ayutthaya kingdom from 1548 to 1564 and 1568 to 1569. Originally called Prince Thianracha, or Prince Tien, he was put on the t ...
to surrender in 1564. The royal family was taken to
Pegu (Bago), with the king's second son
Mahinthrathirat
Mahinthrathirat ( th, มหินทราธิราช, , ; 1539–1569) was king of Ayutthaya 1564 to 1568 and again in 1569. He ruled his first reign as a vassal of Toungoo Burma before restoring his father in 1568 as the sovereign king. H ...
installed as the vassal king.
In 1568, Mahinthrathirat revolted when his father managed to return from Pegu as a
Buddhist monk.
The ensuing third siege captured Ayutthaya in 1569 and Bayinnaung made
Mahathammarachathirat Maha Thammaracha ( th, มหาธรรมราชา, ; pi, Mahā Dhammarājā; sa, Mahā Dharmarājā; literally "Great Dharmic King"), or the extended version Maha Thammarachathirat ( th, มหาธรรมราชาธิราช, ; ...
(also known as Sanphet I) his vassal king, instating the Sukhothai dynasty.
In May 1584, less than three years after Bayinnaung's death,
Uparaja
Uparaja or Ouparath, also Ouparaja ( my, ဥပရာဇာ ; km, ឧបរាជ, ; th, อุปราช, ; lo, ອຸປຮາດ, ''Oupahat''), was a royal title reserved for the viceroy in the Buddhist dynasties in Burma, Cambodia, and ...
Naresuan
King Naresuan the Great (( th, สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช, , ) or Sanphet II ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๒), ( my , နရဲစွမ် (သို့) ဗြနရာဇ်); 1555/1556 – ...
(or Sanphet II), the son of Sanphet I, proclaimed Ayutthaya's independence. This proclamation resulted in repeated invasions of Ayutthaya by Burma which the Siamese fought off ultimately finishing in an elephant duel between King
Naresuan
King Naresuan the Great (( th, สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช, , ) or Sanphet II ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๒), ( my , နရဲစွမ် (သို့) ဗြနရာဇ်); 1555/1556 – ...
and Burmese heir-apparent
Mingyi Swa
Mingyi Swa ( my, မင်းကြီးစွာ, or ; 27 November 1558 – ) was List of heirs to the Burmese thrones, heir apparent of Burma from 1581 to 1593. The eldest son of King Nanda Bayin, Nanda of the Toungoo dynasty, Toungoo Dynasty ...
in 1593 during the fourth siege of Ayutthaya in which
Naresuan
King Naresuan the Great (( th, สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช, , ) or Sanphet II ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๒), ( my , နရဲစွမ် (သို့) ဗြနရာဇ်); 1555/1556 – ...
famously slew Mingyi Swa.
Today, this Siamese victory is
observed annually on 18 January as
Royal Thai Armed Forces
The Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) ( th, กองทัพไทย; ) are the armed forces of the Kingdom of Thailand.
The nominal head of the Thai Armed Forces (จอมทัพไทย; ) is the King of Thailand. The armed forces are ...
day. Later that same year warfare erupted again (the
Burmese–Siamese War (1593–1600)) when the Siamese invaded Burma, first occupying the
Tanintharyi province in southeast Burma in 1593 and later the cities of Moulmein and
Martaban
Mottama ( my, မုတ္တမမြို့, ; Muttama mnw, မုဟ်တၟံ, ; formerly Martaban) is a town in the Thaton District of Mon State, Myanmar. Located on the west bank of the Thanlwin river (Salween), on the opposite side o ...
in 1594. In 1599, the Siamese attacked the city of
Pegu
Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon.
Etymology
The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...
but were ultimately driven out by Burmese rebels who had assassinated Burmese King
Nanda Bayin
, image =
, caption =
, reign = 10 October 1581 –
, coronation = 15 October 1581
, succession =
, predecessor = Bayinnaung
, successor = Nyaungyan
, suc-type = Successor
, reg-t ...
and taken power.
[
In 1613, after King ]Anaukpetlun
Anaukbaklun ( my, အနောက်ဘက်လွန် ; 21 January 1578 – 9 July 1628) was the sixth king of Taungoo Burma and was largely responsible for restoring the kingdom after it collapsed at the end of 16th century. In his 22–yea ...
reunited Burma and took control, the Burmese invaded the Siamese-held territories in Tanintharyi province, and took Tavoy. In 1614, the Burmese invaded Lan Na which at that time was a vassal of Ayutthaya. Fighting between the Burmese and Siamese continued until 1618 when a treaty ended the conflict. At that time, Burma had gained control of Lan Na and while Ayutthaya retained control of southern Tanintharyi (south of Tavoy).[
]
Foreign influence and dynastic struggles
In 1605, Naresuan died of illness while on campaign against a Burmese spillover conflict in the Shan region, leaving a greatly expanded Siamese kingdom to be ruled by his younger brother, Ekathotsarot
Ekathotsarot ( th, เอกาทศรถ, , ) or Sanphet III ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๓); 1560 – 1610/11) was the King of Ayutthaya from 1605 to 1610/11 and overlord of Lan Na from 1605 to 1608/09, succeeding his brother Nare ...
(Sanphet III).[Rajanubhab, D., 2001, Our Wars With the Burmese, Bangkok: White Lotus Co. Ltd., ] Ekathotsarot's reign was marked with stability for Siam and its sphere of influence, as well as increased foreign interactions, especially with the Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
, Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
, and Tokugawa Shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
(by way of the Red Seal Ships
were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian ports with red-sealed letters patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century. Between 1600 and 1635, more than 350 Japa ...
), among others. Indeed, representatives from many foreign lands began to fill Siam's civil and military administration - Japanese traders and mercenaries led by Yamada Nagamasa
was a Japanese adventurer who gained considerable influence in the Ayutthaya Kingdom at the beginning of the 17th century and became the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, which is on the Malay Peninsula in present-day Southern Thailand.
...
, for example, had considerable influence with the king.[Chakrabongse, C., 1960, Lords of Life, London: Alvin Redman Limited]
Ekathotsarot's era ended with his death in 1610/11. The question of his succession was complicated by the alleged suicide of his eldest legitimate son, Suthat, while his second legitimate son, Si Saowaphak
Si Saowaphak ( th, ศรีเสาวภาคย์, ) or Sanphet IV ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๔; r. 1610/11–1611) was a short-reigning king of Ayutthaya of the Sukhothai dynasty in 1610/11. Prince Si Saowaphak was the son of ...
, was never legally designated as an heir by Enkathotsarot himself. Nonetheless, Si Saowphak succeeded to the throne against his late father's wishes, and led a short and ineffective reign in which he was kidnapped and held hostage by Japanese merchants, and later murdered. After this episode, the kingdom was handed to Songtham
Songtham ( th, ทรงธรรม, ) or Intharacha III was the King of Ayutthaya from 1610/11 to 1628 of the House of Sukhothai. His reign marked the prosperity of the Ayutthaya kingdom after it regained independence from Toungoo Dynasty, and ...
, a lesser son born of Enkatotsarot and a first-class concubine.
Songtham temporarily restored stability to Ayutthaya and focused inward on religious construction projects, notably a great temple at Wat Phra Phutthabat
Wat Phra Phutthabat () is a Buddhist temple in Saraburi, Thailand. Its name means "temple of Buddha's footprint", because it contains a natural depression believed to be a footprint of the Lord Buddha.
History
Phra Phutthabat temple was built ...
. In the sphere of foreign policy, Songtham lost suzerainty of Lan Na
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
, Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
and Tavoy
Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...
, expelled the Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, and expanded Siam's foreign trade ties to include both the English East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southe ...
and French East India Company
The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...
, along with new merchant colonies in Siam representing communities from all across Asia. Additionally, Songtham maintained the service of Yamada Nagamasa, whose Japanese mercenaries were at this point serving as the king's own royal guard.
As Songtham's life began to fade, the issue of succession generated conflict once again when both King Songtham's brother, Prince Sisin, and his son, Prince Chetthathirat
Chetthathirat ( th, เชษฐาธิราช, ) or Borommaracha II (; 1613 – 1629) was the eldest son of King Song Tham and older brother of Athittayawong and Phra Sisin or Phra Phanpi Sisin ( th, พระพันปีศรีศ ...
, found support for their claims among the Siamese court. Although Thai tradition typically favored brothers over sons in matters of inheritance, Songtham enlisted the help of his influential cousin, Prasat Thong
Prasat ThongThe Royal Institute. List of monarchs Ayutthaya''. ( th, ปราสาททอง, ; c. 1600–1656; 1629–1656) was the first king of the Prasat Thong dynasty, the fourth dynasty of the Siamese Ayutthaya Kingdom.
Accounts vary ...
to ensure his son would inherit the kingdom instead. When Songtham died in 1628, Prasat Thong used his alliance with Yamada Nagamasa's mercenaries to purge everyone who had supported Prince Sisin's claim, eventually capturing and executing Sisin as well. Soon Prasat Thong became more powerful in Siam than the newly-crowned King Chetthathriat, and through further intrigue staged a coup in which Chetthathirat was deposed and executed in favor of his even younger brother Athittayawong
AthittayawongThe Royal Institute. List of monarchs Ayutthaya''. ( th, อาทิตยวงศ์, ; born 1620) was the shortest-reigning monarch of Ayutthaya, only for 36 days in 1629 and the last king of the Sukhothai dynasty.Chakrabongse, C ...
, whom Prasat Thong intended to use as a puppet ruler.
This form of government was quickly met with resistance by elements within the Thai court who were dissatisfied with the idea of having two acting heads of state. Since Prasat Thong already ruled Siam in all but name as Kalahom
Chatusadom or Catustambha ( th, จตุสดมภ์ , literally "Four Pillars" from Sanskrit ''Catur'' "Four" + ''Stambha'' "Pillars") was the Thai system of central executive governance during the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Thonburi Kingdom and Rat ...
, he opted to resolve the issue by orchestrating the final dethronement and execution of the child king in 1629. Thus, Prasat Thong had completely usurped the kingdom by double (perhaps triple) regicide, extinguishing the Sukhothai dynasty 60 years after its installation by the Burmese. Many of King Prasat Thong's former allies abandoned his cause following his ascension to the throne. In the course of quelling such resistance, Prasat Thong assassinated his former ally Yamada Nagamasa in 1630 (who now opposed Prasat Thong's coup), and promptly banished all the remaining Japanese from Siam. While a community of Japanese exiles were eventually welcomed back into the country, this event marks the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate's long-standing formal relationship with the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
Narai the Great and revolution
Upon his death in 1656, King Prasat Thong was succeeded first by his eldest son, Chai, who was almost immediately deposed and executed by the late King's brother, Si Suthammaracha
Si Suthammaracha ( th, ศรีสุธรรมราชา, ) was the King of Ayutthaya from August 1656 to 26 October 1656 (2 months 17 Days). He was a younger brother of Prasat Thong.
Not long after Si Suthammaracha seized the throne from C ...
, who in turn was defeated in single combat by his own nephew, Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
. Narai finally assumed a stable position as King of Ayutthaya with the support of a mainly foreign court faction consisting of groups that had been marginalized during the reign of his father, Prasat Thong. Among his benefactors were, notably, Persian, Dutch, and Japanese mercenaries. It should therefore come as no surprise that the era of King Narai was one of an extroverted Siam. Foreign trade brought Ayutthaya not only luxury items but also new arms and weapons. In the mid-17th century, during King Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
's reign, Ayutthaya became very prosperous.
In 1662 war between Burma and Ayutthaya (the Burmese-Siamese War (1662-64)) erupted again when King Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
attempted to take advantage of unrest in Burma to seize control of Lan Na. Fighting along the border between the two adversaries continued for two years and at one time Narai seized Tavoy and Martaban. Ultimately, Narai and the Siamese ran out of supplies and returned home back within their border.[
]
While commercially thriving, Narai's reign was also socially tumultuous. Much of this can be attributed to three-way conflict between the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, French, and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
trading companies now operating in Siam at an unprecedented intensity due to Siam's role as a center of trade, fostered by Narai. Of these competing foreign influences, Narai tended to favor relations with the French, wary of the growing Dutch and English colonial possessions in the South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
.
Soon, Narai began to welcome communities of French Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
into his court, and pursue closer relations with both France and the Vatican. Indeed, the many diplomatic missions conducted by Narai to such far-flung lands are some of the most celebrated accomplishments of his reign. Narai as well leased the ports of Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
and Mergui
Myeik (, or ; mnw, ဗိက်, ; th, มะริด, , ; formerly Mergui, ) is a rural city in Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar (Burma), located in the extreme south of the country on the coast off an island on the Andaman Sea. , the estimate ...
to the French, and had many French generals incorporated into his army to train it in Western strategy and supervise the construction of European-style forts. During this time, Narai abandoned the traditional capital of Ayutthaya Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to:
* Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767
** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom
* Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locally ...
for a new Jesuit-designed palace in Lopburi
Lopburi ( th, ลพบุรี, , ) is the capital city of Lopburi Province in Thailand. It is about northeast of Bangkok. It has a population of 58,000. The town (''thesaban mueang'') covers the whole ''tambon'' Tha Hin and parts of Th ...
.
As a growing Catholic presence cemented itself in Siam, and an unprecedented number of French forts were erected and garrisoned on land leased by Narai, a faction of native Siamese courtiers, Buddhist clergy, and other non-Catholic and/or non-French elements of Narai's court began to resent the favorable treatment French interests received under his reign. This hostile attitude was especially directed at Constantine Phaulkon
Constantine Phaulkon (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Γεράκης, ''Konstantinos Gerakis''; γεράκι is the Greek word for "falcon"; 1647 – 5 June 1688, also known as Costantin Gerachi, ''Capitão Falcão'' in Portuguese and simply as ' ...
, a Catholic Greek adventurer and proponent of French influence who had climbed to the rank of Narai's Prime Minister and chief advisor of foreign affairs. Much of this turmoil was primarily religious, as the French Jesuits were openly attempting to convert Narai and the royal family to Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Narai was courted not just by Catholic conversion, but as well by proselytizing Muslim Persians, Chams
The Cham (Cham: ''Čaṃ'') or Champa people (Cham: , ''Urang Campa''; vi, Người Chăm or ; km, ជនជាតិចាម, ) are an Austronesian ethnic group. From the 2nd century to 1832 the Cham populated Champa, a contiguous territo ...
and Makassars in his court, the later of which communities launched an unsuccessful revolt in 1686 to replace Narai with a Muslim puppet king. While members of the anti-foreign court faction were primarily concerned with Catholic influence, there is evidence to suggest that Narai was equally interested in Islam, and had no desire to fully convert to either religion.
Nonetheless, a dissatisfied faction now led by Narai's celebrated Elephantry commander, Phetracha
Phetracha (alternative spellings: ''Bedraja'', ''P'etraja'', ''Petraja'', ''Petratcha''; also called ''Phra Phetracha''; th, เพทราชา, ; 1632– 5 February 1703) was a king of the Ayutthaya kingdom in Thailand, usurping the throne fr ...
, had long planned a coup to remove Narai. When the king became seriously ill in May 1688, Phetracha and his accomplices had him arrested along with Phaulkon and many members of the royal family, all of whom were put to death besides Narai, who died in captivity in July of that year. [''Mission Made Impossible: The Second French Embassy to Siam, 1687'', by Michael Smithies, Claude Céberet, Guy Tachard, Simon de La Loubère (2002) Silkworm Books, Thailand ]. With the king and his heirs out of the way, Phetrachathen usurped the throne and officially crowned himself King of Ayutthaya on August 1.
King Phetracha took Mergui back from French control almost immediately, and began the pivotal Siege of Bangkok
The siege of Bangkok was a key event of the Siamese revolution of 1688, in which the Kingdom of Siam ousted the French from Siam. Following a coup d'état, in which the pro-Western king Narai was replaced by Phetracha, Siamese troops besieged the F ...
, which culminated in an official French retreat from Siam. Pretacha's reign, however, was not stable. Many of Phetracha's provincial governors refused to recognize his rule as legitimate, and rebellions by the late Narai's supporters persisted for many years. The most important change to Siam in the aftermath of the revolution was Phetracha's refusal to continue Narai's foreign embassies. King Phetracha opted instead to reverse much of Narai's decisions and closed Thailand to almost all forms of european interaction except with the Dutch.
Late Ayutthaya Period
Golden age of culture
After a bloody period of dynastic struggle, Ayutthaya entered into what has been called a golden age, a relatively peaceful episode in the second quarter of the 18th century when art, literature, and learning flourished, most prominently during the reign of King Borommakot
Borommakot ( th, บรมโกศ, ) or Maha Thammarachathirat II ( th, สมเด็จพระมหาธรรมราชาธิราชที่ ๒) was the king of Ayutthaya from 1733 to 1758. His reign was the last blooming period ...
( 1733-1758). Ayutthaya wat architecture reached its high point in the late 17th-18th centuries, the construction and renovation of temples in this period completely transformed Ayutthaya's skyline (much of the surviving buildings in Ayutthaya were built or renovated during Borommakot's reign). Siamese wat murals started becoming elaborate. In 1753, following the request made by a delegation of Sri Lankan monks who traveled to Ayutthaya, Borommakot
Borommakot ( th, บรมโกศ, ) or Maha Thammarachathirat II ( th, สมเด็จพระมหาธรรมราชาธิราชที่ ๒) was the king of Ayutthaya from 1733 to 1758. His reign was the last blooming period ...
sent two Siamese monks to reform Theravada Buddhism
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
Prosperity, growth of Chinese trade and influence
Despite the departure of most Europeans from Ayutthaya, their economic presence in Ayutthaya was negligible in comparison to the Ayutthaya China-Indian Ocean trade. Lieberman, later reinforced by Baker and Phongpaichit, refutes the idea that Siam's alleged isolationism from global trade following the French and English departure in 1688 led to Ayutthaya's gradual decline leading up to its destruction by the Burmese in 1767, stating:
Instead, the 18th century was arguably the Ayutthaya Kingdom's most prosperous, particularly due to trade with Qing China
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...
. The growth of China's population in the late 17th-18th centuries, alongside nationwide rice shortages and famines in Southern China, meant that China was eager to import rice from other nations, particularly from Ayutthaya. During the Late Ayutthaya Period (1688–1767), the Chinese population in Ayutthaya possibly tripled in size to 30,000 from 1680 to 1767. The Chinese played a pivotal role in stimulating Ayutthaya's economy in the last 100 years of the kingdom's existence and eventually played a pivotal role in Siam's quick recovery from the Burmese invasions of the 1760s, whose post-Ayutthaya monarchs (Taksin
King Taksin the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระเจ้าตากสินมหาราช, , ) or the King of Thonburi ( th, สมเด็จพระเจ้ากรุงธนบุรี, ; ; Teochew dialect, Teochew: Dên ...
and Rama I
Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok Maharaj (, 20 March 1737 – 7 September 1809), personal name Thongduang (), also known as Rama I, was the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the first monarch of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam (now Tha ...
), held close ties, through blood and through political connections, to this Sino-Siamese community.
Succession conflicts and instability
The last fifty years of the kingdom witnessed a bloody struggle among the princes. The throne was their prime target. Purges of court officials and able generals followed. The last monarch, Ekkathat
Ekkathat ( th, เอกทัศ, , ) or Borommoracha III ( th, บรมราชาที่ 3) or King of Suriyamarin Throne Hall ( th, สมเด็จพระที่นั่งสุริยาศน์อมรินทร์) was th ...
, originally known as Prince Anurakmontree, forced the king, who was his younger brother, to step down and took the throne himself.
Corruption was rampant due to economic prosperity. People fled into the countryside, as well as through a variety of other ways, in order to flee corvee conscription.
Second Burmese wars and the resumption of warfare
There were minor foreign wars, in the absence of major wars that occurred in the 16th and late 18th-early 19th centuries. Ayutthaya fought with the Nguyễn Lords
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...
(Vietnamese rulers of south Vietnam) for control of Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
starting around 1715. But a greater threat came from Burma, where the new Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
had reunified Burma and was embarking on a series of campaigns of conquests and subjugations outside of Burma.
The Burmese–Siamese War (1759–1760)
The Burmese–Siamese War (1759–1760) ( my, ယိုးဒယား-မြန်မာစစ် (၁၇၅၉–၁၇၆၀); th, สงครามพม่า-สยาม (พ.ศ. 2302–2303)) was the first military conflict between th ...
begun by the Konbaung Dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
of Burma failed to take Ayutthaya but took northern Taninthayi. The resulted in the sack of the city of Ayutthaya and the debellatio
The term "debellatio" or "debellation" (Latin "defeating, or the act of conquering or subduing", literally, "warring (the enemy) down", from Latin ''bellum'' "war") designates the end of war caused by complete destruction of a hostile state. Israel ...
n of the kingdom in April 1767.
Fall
The first Burmese invasion in 1759-60, from the newly ascendant Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
, besieged Ayutthaya but failed to capture the city, but successfully took the Tenasserim port city of Tavoy
Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...
(Dawei), permanently seizing it from Siamese control.
In 1765, a combined 40,000-strong Burmese force invaded the territories of Ayutthaya from the north and west. Major outlying towns quickly capitulated. After a 14-month siege, the city of Ayutthaya capitulated and was burned in April 1767.[ Ayutthaya's art treasures, the libraries containing its literature, and the archives housing its historic records were almost totally destroyed,][ and the Burmese brought the Ayutthaya Kingdom to ruin.][ Lieberman states that, "hundreds of thousands possibly died during the 765-67Burmese invasion."
Burmese rule lasted a mere few months. The Burmese, who had also been fighting a simultaneous war with the Chinese since 1765, were forced to withdraw in early-1768 when Chinese forces threatened their own capital.]
With most Burmese forces having withdrawn, the country was reduced to chaos. All that remained of the old capital were some ruins of the royal palace. Provinces proclaimed independence under generals, rogue monks, and members of the royal family.
One general, Phraya Taksin, former governor of Tak and of Siamese-Chinese descent, began the reunification effort. He gathered forces and began striking back at the Burmese, using his connections to the Chinese community to lend him significant resources and political support. He finally established a capital at Thonburi
__NOTOC__
Thonburi ( th, ธนบุรี) is an area of modern Bangkok. During the era of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, its location on the right (west) bank at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River had made it an important garrison town, which is ...
, across the Chao Phraya
The Chao Phraya ( or ; th, แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา, , or ) is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand.
E ...
from the present capital, Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
. Taak-Sin ascended the throne, becoming known as King Taak-Sin or Taksin.
The ruins of the historic city of Ayutthaya and "associated historic towns" in the Ayutthaya Historical Park
Ayutthaya Historical Park ( th, อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์พระนครศรีอยุธยาPronunciation) covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, Thailand. The ...
have been listed by UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
as World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. The city of Ayutthaya was refounded near the old city, and is now capital of Ayutthaya Province.
Government
Kings
The kings of Ayutthaya were absolute monarchs with semi-religious status. Their authority derived from the ideologies of Hinduism and Buddhism as well as from natural leadership. The king of Sukhothai was the inspiration of Inscription 1 found in Sukhothai, which stated that King Ramkhamhaeng would hear the petition of any subject who rang the bell at the palace gate. The king was thus considered as a father by his people.
At Ayutthaya, however, the paternal aspects of kingship disappeared. The king was considered the ''chakkraphat'' (Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
''chakravartin
A ''chakravarti'' ( sa, चक्रवर्तिन्, ''cakravartin''; pi, cakkavatti; zh, 轉輪王, ''Zhuǎnlúnwáng'', "Wheel-Turning King"; , ''Zhuǎnlún Shèngwáng'', "Wheel-Turning Sacred King"; ja, 転輪王, ''Tenrin'ō'' ...
'') who through his adherence to the law made all the world revolve around him. According to Hindu tradition, the king is the avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
of Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
, destroyer of demons, who was born to be the defender of the people. The Buddhist belief in the king is as righteous ruler ( sa, dharmaraja) who strictly follows the teaching of Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
and aims at the well-being of his people.
The kings' official names were reflections of those religions: Hinduism and Buddhism. They were considered as the incarnation of various Hindu gods: Indra
Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...
, Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
, or Vishnu (Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
). The coronation ceremony
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
was directed by brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
s as the Hindu god
Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati.
The deities of Hinduism have evolved ...
Shiva was "lord of the universe". However, according to the codes, the king had the ultimate duty as protector of the people and the annihilator of evil.
According to Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, the king was also believed to be a bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
. One of the most important duties of the king was to build a temple or a Buddha statue as a symbol of prosperity and peace.
For locals, another aspect of the kingship was also the analogy of "The Lord of the Land" or "He who Rules the Earth" (''Phra Chao Phaendin''). According to the court etiquette, a special language, '' Rachasap'' ( sa, Rājāśabda, 'royal language'), was used to communicate with or about royalty. In Ayutthaya, the king was said to grant control over land to his subjects, from nobles to commoners, according to the ''sakna'' or ''sakdina ''Sakdina'' ( th, ศักดินา) was a system of social hierarchy in use from the Ayutthaya to early Rattanakosin periods of Thai history. It assigned a numerical rank to each person depending on their status, and served to determine their ...
'' system codified by King Borommatrailokkanat
Borommatrailokkanat ( th, บรมไตรโลกนาถ, , sa, Brahmatrailokanātha) or Trailok (1431–1488) was the king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom from 1448 to 1488. He was one of many monarchs who gained the epithet ''King of White Elep ...
(1448–88). The ''sakdina'' system was similar to, but not the same as feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
, under which the monarch does not own the land. While there is no concrete evidence that this land management system constituted a formal palace economy
A palace economy or redistribution economy is a system of economic organization in which a substantial share of the wealth flows into the control of a centralized administration, the palace, and out from there to the general population. In turn ...
, the French François-Timoléon de Choisy
François Timoléon, abbé de Choisy (; 16 August 1644 – 2 October 1724) was a French cross-dresser, abbé, and author. He wrote numerous works on church history as well as travelogues, memoirs and fiction.
Biography
De Choisy was born in Pari ...
, who came to Ayutthaya in 1685, wrote, "the king has absolute power. He is truly the god of the Siamese: no-one dares to utter his name." Another 17th century writer, the Dutchman Jan van Vliet
Jan van Vliet (April 11, 1622 – March 18, 1666), also known as Janus Ulitius, was one of the 17th-century pioneers of Germanic philology.
Biography
Van Vliet was probably born in Middelburg, but grew up in The Hague. From 1637 to about ...
, remarked that the King of Siam was "honoured and worshipped by his subjects second to god." Laws and orders were issued by the king. For sometimes the king himself was also the highest judge who judged and punished important criminals such as traitors or rebels.
In addition to the ''sakdina'' system, another of the numerous institutional innovations of Borommatrailokkanat
Borommatrailokkanat ( th, บรมไตรโลกนาถ, , sa, Brahmatrailokanātha) or Trailok (1431–1488) was the king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom from 1448 to 1488. He was one of many monarchs who gained the epithet ''King of White Elep ...
was to adopt the position of ''uparaja
Uparaja or Ouparath, also Ouparaja ( my, ဥပရာဇာ ; km, ឧបរាជ, ; th, อุปราช, ; lo, ອຸປຮາດ, ''Oupahat''), was a royal title reserved for the viceroy in the Buddhist dynasties in Burma, Cambodia, and ...
'', translated as 'viceroy' or 'prince', usually held by the king's senior son or full brother, in an attempt to regularise the succession to the throne—a particularly difficult feat for a polygamous dynasty. In practice, there was inherent conflict between king and ''uparaja'' and frequent disputed successions. However, it is evident that the power of the throne of Ayutthaya had its limits. The hegemony of the Ayutthaya king was always based on his charisma based on his age and supporters. Without supporters, bloody coups took place from time to time. The most powerful figures of the capital were always generals, or the Minister of Military Department, ''Kalahom''. During the last century of Ayutthaya, bloody fighting among princes and generals, aiming at the throne, plagued the court.
With the exception of Naresuan
King Naresuan the Great (( th, สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช, , ) or Sanphet II ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๒), ( my , နရဲစွမ် (သို့) ဗြနရာဇ်); 1555/1556 – ...
's succession by Ekathotsarot
Ekathotsarot ( th, เอกาทศรถ, , ) or Sanphet III ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๓); 1560 – 1610/11) was the King of Ayutthaya from 1605 to 1610/11 and overlord of Lan Na from 1605 to 1608/09, succeeding his brother Nare ...
in 1605, 'the method of royal succession at Ayutthaya throughout the seventeenth century was battle.' Although European visitors to Thailand at the time tried to discern any rules in the Siamese order of succession, noting that in practice the dead king's younger brother often succeeded him, this custom appears not to have been enshrined anywhere. The ruling king did often bestow the title of ''uparaja'' upon his preferred successor, but in reality, it was an 'elimination process': any male member of the royal clan (usually the late king's brothers and sons) could claim the throne of Ayutthaya for himself, and win by defeating all his rivals. Moreover, groupings of nobles, foreign merchants, and foreign mercenaries actively rallied behind their preferred candidates in hopes of benefiting from each war's outcome.
Mandala system
Ayutthaya politically followed the mandala system, commonly used throughout Southeast Asia kingdoms before the 19th century. In the 17th century, the Ayutthaya monarchs were able to frequently appoint non-natives as governors of Ayutthaya-controlled towns and cities, in order to prevent competition from its nobility. By the end of the Ayutthaya period, the Siamese capital held strong sway over the polities in the lower Chao Phraya plain but had a gradually looser control of polities the further away from the capital at Ayutthaya. The Thai historian Sunait Chutintaranond notes, "the view that Ayudhya was a strong centralized state" did not hold and that "in Ayudhya the hegemony of provincial governors was never successfully eliminated."
Political development
Social classes
The reforms of King Borommatrailokkanat (r. 1448–1488) placed the king of Ayutthaya at the centre of a highly stratified social and political hierarchy that extended throughout the realm
A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire.
Etym ...
. Despite a lack of evidence, it is believed that in the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the basic unit of social organization was the village community composed of extended family households. Title to land resided with the headman, who held it in the name of the community, although peasant proprietors enjoyed the use of land as long as they cultivated it. The lords gradually became courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official r ...
s () and tributary rulers of minor cities. The king ultimately came to be recognized as the earthly incarnation
Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
of Shiva or Vishnu and became the sacred object of politico-religious cult practices officiated over by royal court brahmans, part of the Buddhist court retinue. In the Buddhist context, the ''devaraja'' (divine king) was a bodhisattva. The belief in divine kingship prevailed into the 18th century, although by that time its religious implications had limited impact.
Ranking of social classes
With ample reserves of land available for cultivation, the realm depended on the acquisition and control of adequate manpower for farm labor and defense. The dramatic rise of Ayutthaya had entailed constant warfare and, as none of the parties in the region possessed a technological advantage, the outcome of battles was usually determined by the size of the armies. After each victorious campaign, Ayutthaya carried a number of conquered people back to its own territory, where they were assimilated and added to the labour force. Ramathibodi II
Chettathirat ( th, เชษฐาธิราช, ) or (upon accession to the Ayutthayan throne) Ramathibodi II ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๒; 1472/73 – July/10 October 1529) was the King of Sukhothai from 1485 and King of Ay ...
(r. 1491–1529) established a corvée
Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year.
Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...
system under which every freeman had to be registered as a ''phrai'' (servant) with the local lords, ''chao nai'' (). When war broke out, male ''phrai'' were subject to impressment
Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means. The large size of ...
. Above the ''phrai'' was a ''nai'' (), who was responsible for military service, corvée
Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year.
Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...
labour on public works, and on the land of the official to whom he was assigned. ''Phrai Suay'' () met labour obligations by paying a tax. If he found the forced labour under his ''nai'' repugnant, he could sell himself as a ''that'' (, 'slave') to a more attractive ''nai'' or lord, who then paid a fee in compensation for the loss of corvée labour. As much as one-third of the manpower supply into the 19th century was composed of ''phrai''.
Wealth, status, and political influence were interrelated. The king allotted rice fields to court officials, provincial governors, and military commanders, in payment for their services to the crown, according to the ''sakdina ''Sakdina'' ( th, ศักดินา) was a system of social hierarchy in use from the Ayutthaya to early Rattanakosin periods of Thai history. It assigned a numerical rank to each person depending on their status, and served to determine their ...
'' system. Understandings of this system have been evaluated extensively by Thai social scientists like Jit Phumisak
Chit Phumisak (also spelt Jit Poumisak; th, จิตร ภูมิศักดิ์, ; 25 September 1930 – 5 May 1966) was a Thai Marxist historian, activist, author, philology, philologist, poet, songwriter, and communism, communist revol ...
and Kukrit Pramoj
Mom Rajawongse Kukrit Pramoj ( th, คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช, , ; 20 April 1911 – 9 October 1995) was a Thai politician, scholar and professor. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand 1973–1974. He was t ...
. The size of each official's allotment was determined by the number of commoners or ''phrai'' he could command to work it. The amount of manpower a particular headman, or official, could command determined his status relative to others in the hierarchy and his wealth. At the apex of the hierarchy, the king, who was symbolically the realm's largest landholder, theoretically commanded the services of the largest number of ''phrai'', called ''phrai luang'' ('royal servants'), who paid taxes, served in the royal army, and worked on the crown lands.
However, the recruitment of the armed forces depended on ''nai'', or ''mun nai'', literally meaning 'lord', officials who commanded their own ''phrai som'', or 'subjects'. These officials had to submit to the king's command when war broke out. Officials thus became the key figures in the kingdom's politics. At least two officials staged coups, taking the throne themselves while bloody struggles between the king and his officials, followed by purges of court officials, were common.
King Trailok, in the early-16th century, established definite allotments of land and ''phrai'' for the royal officials at each rung in the hierarchy, thus determining the country's social structure until the introduction of salaries for government officials in the 19th century.
Outside this system to some extent were the sangha
Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...
(Buddhist monastic community), which all classes of men could join, and the overseas Chinese. Wat
A wat ( km, វត្ត, ; lo, ວັດ, ; th, วัด, ; khb, 「ᩅᨯ᩠ᨰ」(waD+Dha); nod, 「ᩅ᩠ᨯ᩶」 (w+Da2)) is a type of Buddhist temple and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State, Yunnan, the Southern Provi ...
s became centers of Thai education and culture, while during this period the Chinese first began to settle in Thailand and soon began to establish control over the country's economic life.
The Chinese were not obliged to register for corvée duty, so they were free to move about the kingdom at will and engage in commerce. By the 16th century, the Chinese controlled Ayutthaya's internal trade and had found important places in civil and military service. Most of these men took Thai wives as few women left China to accompany the men.
Uthong was responsible for the compilation of a ''Dharmaśāstra
''Dharmaśāstra'' ( sa, धर्मशास्त्र) is a genre of Sanskrit texts on law and conduct, and refers to the treatises (shastras, śāstras) on dharma. Unlike Dharmasūtra which are based upon Vedas, these texts are mainly b ...
'', a legal code based on Hindu sources and traditional Thai custom. The ''Dharmaśāstra'' remained a tool of Thai law until late in the 19th century. A bureaucracy based on a hierarchy of ranked and titled officials was introduced, and society was organized in a related manner. However, the caste system
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
was not adopted.
The 16th century witnessed the rise of Burma, which had overrun Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...
in the Burmese-Siamese War of 1563-1564. In 1569, Burmese forces, joined by Thai rebels, mostly royal family members of Thailand, captured the city of Ayutthaya and carried off the whole royal family to Burma ( Burmese-Siamese War 1568-70). Dhammaraja (1569–90), a Thai governor who had aided the Burmese, was installed as vassal king at Ayutthaya. Thai independence was restored by his son, King Naresuan (1590–1605), who turned on the Burmese and by 1600 had driven them from the country.
Determined to prevent another treason like his father's, Naresuan set about unifying the country's administration directly under the royal court at Ayutthaya. He ended the practice of nominating royal princes to govern Ayutthaya's provinces, assigning instead court officials who were expected to execute policies handed down by the king. Thereafter royal princes were confined to the capital. Their power struggles continued, but at court under the king's watchful eye.
To ensure his control over the new class of governors, Naresuan decreed that all freemen subject to ''phrai'' service had become ''phrai luang'', bound directly to the king, who distributed the use of their services to his officials. This measure gave the king a theoretical monopoly on all manpower, and the idea developed that since the king owned the services of all the people, he also possessed all the land. Ministerial offices and governorships—and the sakdina that went with them—were usually inherited positions dominated by a few families often connected to the king by marriage. Indeed, marriage was frequently used by Thai kings to cement alliances between themselves and powerful families, a custom prevailing through the 19th century. As a result of this policy, the king's wives usually numbered in the dozens.
Even with Naresuan's reforms, the effectiveness of the royal government over the next 150 years was unstable. Royal power outside the crown lands—in theory, absolute—was in practice limited by the laxity of the civil administration. The influence of central government and the king was not extensive beyond the capital. When war with the Burmese broke out in the late 18th century, provinces easily abandoned the capital. As the enforcing troops were not easily rallied to defend the capital, the city of Ayutthaya could not stand against the Burmese aggressors.
Military
Ayutthaya's military was the origin of the Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army or RTA ( th, กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
History
Origin
The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's so ...
. The army was organized into a small standing army of a few thousand, which defended the capital and the palace, and a much larger conscript-based wartime army. Conscription was based on the ''Phrai'' system (including phrai luang and phrai som), which required local chiefs to supply their predetermined quota of men from their jurisdiction on the basis of population in times of war. This basic system of military organization was largely unchanged down to the early Rattanakosin period.
The main weaponry of the infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...
largely consisted of swords, spears and bow and arrows. The infantry units were supported by cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
and elephantry
A war elephant was an elephant that was trained and guided by humans for combat. The war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephan ...
corps.
Territory
According to a French source, Ayutthaya in the 18th century included these principal cities: Martaban, Ligor
Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat prov ...
or Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Tenasserim, Junk Ceylon
Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...
or Phuket
Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...
Island, Singora
Songkhla ( th, สงขลา, ), also known as Singgora or Singora (Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies south of Ba ...
or Songkhla
Songkhla ( th, สงขลา, ), also known as Singgora or Singora (Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies south of Ba ...
. Her tributaries were Patani
Patani Darussalam ( Bahasa Malayu Arabic : , also sometimes Patani Raya or Patani Besar, "Greater Patani"; th, ปาตานี) is a historical region in the Malay peninsula. It includes the southern Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala (Ja ...
, Pahang
Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...
, Perak
Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...
, Kedah
Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...
and Malacca.
Particularly in the South, Ayutthaya's claims were often discredited or underplayed by the Malay sultanates, resulting in some number of military expeditions starting in the 17th and 18th centuries to subjugate querulous sultanates, most infamously with King Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
's military expedition to the Sultanate of Singora
The Sultanate of Singora was a heavily fortified port city in southern Thailand and the precursor of the present-day town of Songkhla. It was founded in the early 17th century by a Persian, Dato Mogol, and flourished during the reign of his so ...
in 1680.
Culture and society
Population
For the entirety of the Ayutthaya Kingdom's duration, it was largely managed by a society of a service nobility composed of a few thousand and serfs (phrai) composed of the rest of the population, comparable to the contemporary Ancient Regime
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...
in France or Feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
in the rest of Europe. The social ladder existed during times of war and, particularly during the late Ayutthaya period, of rich commoners challenging the societal status quo of the Ayutthaya Kingdom as a result of commercial prosperity during the kingdom's last 150 years of peaceful existence.
According to the historian Chris Baker, the Ayutthaya peasantry practiced commuter agriculturalism and largely lived in dense areas along the canals leading up to the city of Ayutthaya and other cities within the kingdom, producing homemade goods and textiles for the international market.
Language
The Siamese (Thai) language was initially spoken only by the Ayutthaya elite, but gradually grew to transcend social classes and becoming widespread throughout the kingdom by the Late Ayutthaya Period (late 17th-18th centuries), although the Mon language
The Mon language (, mnw, ဘာသာမန်, links=no, (Mon-Thai ဘာသာမည်) ; my, မွန်ဘာသာ; th, ภาษามอญ; formerly known as Peguan and Talaing) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon peopl ...
was spoken among everyday people throughout the Chao Phraya delta until as late as 1515. The Khmer language
Khmer (; , ) is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language spoken by the Khmer people, and the Official language, official and national language of Cambodia. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pāli, Pali, especiall ...
was an early prestige language of the Ayutthaya court, until it was supplanted by the Siamese language, however it was still continually spoken by the ethnic Khmer community living in Ayutthaya. Many variants of Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
were spoken, with the substantial increase of the Chinese population in Ayutthaya, eventually becoming a large minority in the kingdom during the Late Ayutthaya Period.
Various minority languages spoken inside the kingdom included Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
, Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, Cham
Cham or CHAM may refer to:
Ethnicities and languages
*Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia
**Cham language, the language of the Cham people
***Cham script
***Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script
*Cham Albanian ...
, Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, etc...
Religion
Ayutthaya's main religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
was Theravada Buddhism
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
. However, many of the elements of the political and social system were incorporated from Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
scriptures and were conducted by Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
priests. Many areas of the kingdom also practiced Mahayana Buddhism
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
, Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and, influenced by French Missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
who arrived through China in the 17th century, some small areas converted to Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. The influence of Mahayana and Tantric practices also entered Theravada Buddhism, producing a tradition called Tantric Theravada
Southern Esoteric Buddhism and Borān kammaṭṭhāna ('former practices') are terms used to refer to certain esoteric practices, views and texts within Theravada Buddhism. It is sometimes referred to as Tantric Theravada due to its parallel with ...
.
The natural world was also home to a number of spirits which are part of the Satsana Phi
The Tai folk religion, or Satsana Phi ( lo, ສາສະໜາຜີ, links=no; th, ศาสนาผี, links=no, , "religion of spirits"), or Ban Phi ( Ahom: 𑜈𑜃𑜫 𑜇𑜣) is a form of animist religious beliefs intermixed with Buddh ...
. ''Phi'' ( th, ผี) are spirits of buildings or territories, natural places, or phenomena; they are also ancestral spirits that protect people, or can also include malevolent spirits. The ''phi'' which are guardian deities of places, or towns are celebrated at festivals with communal gatherings and offerings of food. The spirits run throughout Thai folklore
Thai folklore is a diverse set of mythology and traditional beliefs held by the Thai people. Most Thai folklore has a regional background for it originated in rural Thailand. With the passing of time, and through the influence of the media, large ...
.
''Phi'' were believed to influence natural phenomena including human illness and thus the baci
''Baci/Basi'' ( lo, ບາສີ; th, บายศรี, ) and ''su kwan'' (Lao: ; Thai: , RTGS: ''su khwan''; meaning "calling of the soul") is an important ceremony practised in Lao culture, Sipsong Panna and Northern and Isan Thai culture ...
became an important part of people identity and religious health over the millennia. Spirit house
A spirit house is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that is found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The spirit house is normally in the form of smal ...
s were an important folk custom which were used to ensure balance with the natural and supernatural world. Astrology was also a vital part to understanding the natural and spiritual worlds and became an important cultural means to enforce social taboos and customs.
Arts and performances
The myth and epic stories of Ramakien
The ( th, รามเกียรติ์, , ; ; sometimes also spelled ) is one of Thailand's national epics, derived from the Buddhist Dasaratha Jataka. Fundamentally, it is a Thai version of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Ramakien is an importan ...
provide the Siamese with a rich source of dramatic materials. The royal court of Ayutthaya developed classical dramatic forms of expression called ''khon
Khon ( th, โขน, ) is a dance drama genre from Thailand. Khon has been performed since the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
It is traditionally performed solely in the royal court by men in masks accompanied by narrators and a traditional piphat ensemb ...
'' ( th, โขน) and '' lakhon'' ( th, ละคร). ''Ramakien'' played a role in shaping these dramatic arts. During the Ayutthaya period, ''khon
Khon ( th, โขน, ) is a dance drama genre from Thailand. Khon has been performed since the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
It is traditionally performed solely in the royal court by men in masks accompanied by narrators and a traditional piphat ensemb ...
'', or a dramatized version of Ramakien, was classified as ''lakhon nai
Lakhon nai ( th, ละครใน, ) is a Thai performing art originating in the royal court of Thailand (formerly Siam). It features slow choreography accompanied by a piphat
A ''piphat'' is a kind of ensemble in the classical music of Th ...
'' or a theatrical performance reserved only for aristocratic audience. The Siamese drama and classical dance later spread throughout mainland Southeast Asia and influenced the development of high-culture art in most countries, including Burma, Cambodia, and Laos.
Historical evidence shows that the Thai art of stage plays must have already been highly evolved by the 17th century. Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, the Sun King of France, had a formal diplomatic relation with Ayutthaya's King Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the ...
. In 1687, France sent the diplomat Simon de la Loubère
Simon de la Loubère (; 21 April 1642 – 26 March 1729) was a French diplomat to Siam (Thailand), writer, mathematician and poet. He is credited with bringing back a document which introduced Europe to Indian astronomy, the "Siamese method" ...
to record all that he saw in the Siamese Kingdom. In his famous account ''Du Royaume de Siam'', La Loubère carefully observed the classic 17th century theatre of Siam, including an epic battle scene from a khon performance, and recorded what he saw in great detail:
Of the attire of Siamese Khôn dancers, La Loubère recorded that, " ose that dance in Rabam, and Cone, have gilded paper-bonnets, high and pointed, like the Mandarins caps of ceremony, but which hang down at the sides below their ears, which are adorned with counterfeit stones, and with two pendants of gilded wood."
La Loubère also observed the existence of muay Thai
Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...
and muay Laos, noting that they looked similar (i.e., using both fists and elbows to fight) but the hand-wrapping techniques were different.
The accomplishment and influence of Thai art and culture, developed during the Ayutthaya period, on the neighboring countries was evident in the observation of James Low, a British scholar on Southeast Asia, during the early-Rattanakosin Era: "The Siamese have attained to a considerable degree of perfection in dramatic exhibitions – and are in this respect envied by their neighbours the Burmans, Laos, and Cambojans who all employ Siamese actors when they can be got."[
]
Literature
Ayutthaya was a kingdom rich in literary production. Even after the sack of Ayutthaya in 1767, many literary masterpieces in the Thai language survived. However, Ayutthayan literature (as well as Thai literature before the modern era) was dominated by verse composition (i.e., poetry), whereas prose works were reserved to legal matters, records of state affairs and historical chronicles. Thus, there are many works in the nature of epic poetry in the Thai language. The Thai poetical tradition was originally based on indigenous poetical forms such as ''rai'' (ร่าย), ''khlong'' (โคลง), ''kap'' (กาพย์) and ''klon'' (กลอน). Some of these poetical forms—notably ''khlong''—have been shared between the speakers of tai languages since ancient time (before the emergence of Siam).
Tamil influence on the Siamese language
Through Buddhist and Hindu influence, a variety of ''Chanda
Sanskrit prosody or Chandas refers to one of the six Vedangas, or limbs of Vedic studies.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Chandas" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, , page 140 It is the study of poetic metr ...
'' prosodic meters were received via Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. Since the Thai language is mono-syllabic, a huge number of loan words from Sanskrit, Tamil and Pali are needed to compose these classical Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
meters. According to B.J. Terwiel, this process occurred with an accelerated pace during the reign of King Borommatrailokkanat
Borommatrailokkanat ( th, บรมไตรโลกนาถ, , sa, Brahmatrailokanātha) or Trailok (1431–1488) was the king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom from 1448 to 1488. He was one of many monarchs who gained the epithet ''King of White Elep ...
(1448-1488) who reformed Siam's model of governance by turning the Siamese polity into an empire under the mandala
A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...
feudal system. The new system demanded a new imperial language for the noble class. This literary influence changed the course of the Thai or Siamese language, setting it apart from other ''tai'' languages, by increasing the number of Sanskrit and Pali words drastically and imposing the demand on the Thais to develop a writing system that preserves the orthography of Sanskrit words for literary purpose. By the 15th century, the Thai language had evolved into a distinctive medium along with a nascent literary identity of a new nation. It allowed Siamese poets to compose in different poetical styles and mood, from playful and humorous rimed verses, to romantic and elegant ''klong'' and to polished and imperious ''chan'' prosodies modified from classical Sanskrit meters. Thai poets experimented with these different prosodic forms, producing innovative "hybrid" poems such as ''Lilit'' ( th, ลิลิต, an interleave of ''khlong'' and ''kap'' or ''rai'' verses) or ''Kap hor Klong'' ( th, กาพย์ห่อโคลง - ''khlong'' poems enveloped by ''kap'' verses). The Thai thus developed a keen mind and a keen ear for poetry. To maximize this new literary medium, however, an intensive classical education in Pali was required. This made poetry an exclusive occupation of the noble classes. However, B.J. Terwiel notes, citing a 17th-century text book ''Jindamanee'', that scribes and common Siamese men, too, were encouraged to learn basic Pali and Sanskrit for career advancement.[
]
''Ramakien''
Most countries in Southeast Asia share an Indianised culture. Traditionally, therefore, Thai literature was heavily influenced by the Indian culture
Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term al ...
and Buddhist-Hindu ideology since the time it first appeared in the 13th century. Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
's national epic
A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with as ...
is a version of the story of Rama-Pandita, as recounted by Gotama Buddha in the Dasharatha Jataka called the Ramakien
The ( th, รามเกียรติ์, , ; ; sometimes also spelled ) is one of Thailand's national epics, derived from the Buddhist Dasaratha Jataka. Fundamentally, it is a Thai version of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Ramakien is an importan ...
, translated from Pali and rearranged into Siamese verses. The importance of the Ramayana epic in Thailand is due to the Thai's adoption of the Hindu religio-political ideology of kingship, as embodied by Rama. The Siamese capital, Ayutthaya, was named after the holy city of Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
, the city of Rama. Thai kings of the current dynasty from Rama VI forward, and retroactively, have been referred to as "Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
" to the present day (relations with the west caused the crown to seek a brief name to convey royalty to both Thais and foreigners, following European styles).
A number of versions of the Ramakien epic were lost in the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767. Three versions currently exist. One of these was prepared under the supervision (and partly written by) King Rama I
Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok Maharaj (, 20 March 1737 – 7 September 1809), personal name Thongduang (), also known as Rama I, was the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the first monarch of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam (now Tha ...
. His son, Rama II
Phra Phutthaloetla Naphalai ( th, พระพุทธเลิศหล้านภาลัย, 24 February 1767 – 21 July 1824), personal name Chim ( th, ฉิม), also styled as Rama II, was the second monarch of Siam under the Chakri ...
, rewrote some parts for khon
Khon ( th, โขน, ) is a dance drama genre from Thailand. Khon has been performed since the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
It is traditionally performed solely in the royal court by men in masks accompanied by narrators and a traditional piphat ensemb ...
drama. The main differences from the original are an extended role for the monkey god Hanuman
Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...
and the addition of a happy ending
A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the main protagonists and their sidekicks, while the main villains/antagonists are dead/defeated.
In storylines where the protagon ...
. Many of popular poems among the Thai nobles are also based on Indian stories. One of the most famous is Anirut Kham Chan which is based on an ancient Indian story of Prince Anirudha.
Khun Chang Khun Phaen: the Siamese epic folk poem
In the Ayutthaya period, folktales also flourished. One of the most famous folktales is the story of ''Khun Chang Khun Phaen
''Khun Chang Khun Phaen'' ( th, ขุนช้างขุนแผน, ) is a long Thai epic poem which originated from a legend of Thai folklore and is one of the most notable works in Thai literature. The work's entire length is over 20,000 ...
'' ( th, ขุนช้างขุนแผน), referred to in Thailand simply as "''Khun Phaen''", which combines the elements of romantic comedy and heroic adventures, ending in high tragedy. The epic of ''Khun Chang Khun Phaen'' (KCKP) revolves around ''Khun Phaen'', a Siamese general with superhuman magical powers who served the King of Ayutthaya, and his love-triangle relationship between himself, Khun Chang, and a beautiful Siamese girl named Wan-Thong. The composition of KCKP, much like other orally-transmitted epics, evolved over time. It originated as a recitation or ''sepha
Sepha ( th, เสภา, ) is a genre of Thai poetic storytelling that had its origins in the performances of troubadours who stylized recitations were accompanied by two small sticks of wood (krap) to give rhythm and emphasis. The etymology o ...
'' within the Thai oral tradition from around the beginning of the 17th century (c. 1600). Siamese troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
s and minstrel
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...
s added more subplots and embellished scenes to the original story line as time went on. By the late period of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, it had attained the current shape as a long work of epic poem
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
with the length of about 20,000 lines, spanning 43 '' samut thai'' books. The version that exists today was composed with ''klon'' meter throughout and is referred to in Thailand as ''nithan Kham Klon'' ( th, นิทานคำกลอน) meaning a 'poetic tale'.
Architecture
The Ayutthaya Buddhist temple falls into one of two broad categories: the ''stupa
A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In Buddhism, circumamb ...
''-style solid temple and the ''prang
Prang may refer to:
Places
* Prang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a town of Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan
*Prang Besar, an old name for Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia
* Prang Ghar Tehsil or Pran Ghar Subdivision, a subdivisi ...
''-style ( th, ปรางค์). The prangs can also be found in various forms in Sukhothai, Lopburi, Bangkok (Wat Arun
Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan ( th, วัดอรุณราชวราราม ราชวรมหาวิหาร ) or Wat Arun (, "Temple of Dawn") is a Buddhist temple (''wat'') in Bangkok Yai district of Bangkok, Tha ...
). Sizes may vary, but usually the prangs measure between 15 and 40 meters in height, and resemble a towering corn-cob like structure.
Prangs essentially represent Mount Meru. In Thailand Buddha relics were often housed in a vault in these structures, reflecting the belief that the Buddha is a most significant being, having attained enlightenment and having shown the path to enlightenment to others.
Notable archeological sites
Daily life
Clothing
Three clothing styles were evident in the Ayutthaya period. Each style depended on social class.
1. Court clothing (worn by the king, queen, concubines, and senior government officials):
*Men: The king wore ''mongkut
Mongkut ( th, มงกุฏ; 18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was ''Phra Bat Somdet Phra Menthora Ramathibod ...
'' ( th, มงกุฎ), as headgear, round Mandarin collar
A mandarin collar, standing collar, band collar or choker collar is a short unfolded stand-up collar style on a shirt or jacket. The style derives its Western name from the mandarin bureaucrats in Qing-era China that employed it as part of th ...
with ''khrui
The ''khrui'' ( th, ครุย, ) is a light outer garment worn as a gown or robe in certain ceremonial settings in Thailand. It is long-sleeved and open at the front, and is made of a sheer or mesh fabric, lined with a band of satin, felt or o ...
'' and wore '' chong kben'' ( th, โจงกระเบน), as trousers.
**Court officers, (who served in the royal palace) wore ''lomphok
The ''lomphok'' ( th, ลอมพอก, ; literally, "piled up and layered-wrapped head cover") is a ceremonial headgear of Thailand, historically worn by royalty and nobility. It is a tall pointed hat, made of white cloth wrapped around a bambo ...
'', as headgear, ''khrui'', and wore ''chong kben''.
*Women The queen wore ''chada Chada may refer to:
*Chada, Nalgonda, a village in Andhra Pradesh, India
*Chada and mongkut, crown-like traditional Thai headdresses
*Chada, a character in the anime series NieA 7
, also known as ''NieA under 7'', is a doujinshi manga seri ...
'' ( th, ชฎา), as headgear, ''sabai
''Sbai'' ( km, ស្បៃ ; lo, ສະໄບ; Malay: ''Sebai''; Jawi: ''سباي''; th, สไบ, ) or ''phaa biang'' ( lo, ຜ້າບ່ຽງ; th, ผ้าเบี่ยง ) is a shawl-like garment or breast cloth worn in mainland ...
'' ( th, สไบ), (a breast cloth that wrap over one shoulder around chest and back) and wore ''pha nung
The panung ( th, ผ้านุ่ง, , ) is a traditional garment worn in Thailand. A long strip of cloth, described in 1921 by the US vice-consul, as "a piece of cotton cloth 3 by 10 feet" is wrapped around the waist, reaching below the knees ...
'' ( th, ผ้านุ่ง), as a skirt.
** Concubines wore long hair, ''sabai'', and ''pha nung''.
2. Nobles (rich citizens):
*Men: wore mandarin collar shirt, a ''mahadthai'' hair style ( th, ทรงมหาดไทย), and wore ''chong kben''.
*Women: wore the ''sabai'' and ''pha nung''.
3. Villagers:
*Men: wore a loincloth, displayed a naked chest, a ''mahadthai'' hair style, sometimes wore ''sarong
A sarong or sarung () is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often has woven plaid o ...
'' or ''chong kben''.
*Women: wore the ''sabai'' and ''pha nung''.
Economy
The Thais never lacked a rich food supply. Peasants planted rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
for their own consumption and to pay taxes. Whatever remained was used to support religious institutions. From the 13th to the 15th centuries, however, a transformation took place in Thai rice cultivation. In the highlands, where rainfall had to be supplemented by a system of irrigation to control water levels in flooded paddies, the Thais sowed the glutinous rice that is still the staple in the geographical regions of the north and northeast. But in the floodplain of the Chao Phraya, farmers turned to a different variety of rice—the so-called floating rice, a slender, non-glutinous grain introduced from Bengal—that would grow fast enough to keep pace with the rise of the water level in the lowland fields.
The new strain grew easily and abundantly, producing a surplus that could be sold cheaply abroad. Ayutthaya, at the southern extremity of the floodplain, thus became the hub of economic activity. Under royal patronage, corvée labour dug canals on which rice was brought from the fields to the king's ships for export to China. In the process, the Chao Phraya delta—mud flats between the sea and firm land hitherto considered unsuitable for habitation—was reclaimed and cultivated. Traditionally the king had a duty to perform a religious ceremony to bless the rice planting.
Although rice was abundant in Ayutthaya, rice exports were banned from time to time when famine occurred because of natural calamity or war. Rice was usually bartered for luxury goods and armaments from Westerners, but rice cultivation was mainly for the domestic market and rice export was evidently unreliable.
Trade
Currency
Ayutthaya officially used cowrie shell
Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana'') du ...
s, ''prakab'' (baked clay coins), and ''pod duang
Bullet money or bullet coins, known in Thai as ' ( th, พดด้วง, also spelled ''pod duang'', etc.), were a type of coinage historically used in Siam (now Thailand) and its predecessor kingdoms. They were almost exclusively made of silv ...
'' as currencies. ''Pod duang'' became the standard medium of exchange from the early-13th century to the reign of King Chulalongkorn
Chulalongkorn ( th, จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V. He was known to the Siamese of his time as ''Phra Phuttha Chao Luang'' (พร ...
.
Ayutthaya as international trading port
Trade with Europeans was lively in the 17th century. In fact European merchants traded their goods, mainly modern arms such as rifles and cannons, for local products from the inland jungle such as ''sappan
''Biancaea sappan'' is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is native to tropical Asia. Common names in English include sappanwood and Indian redwood. Sappanwood is related to brazilwood (''Paubrasilia echinata''), ...
'' (lit. 'bridge') woods, deerskin, and rice. Tomé Pires
Tomé Pires (1465?–1524 or 1540)Madureira, 150–151. was a Portuguese apothecary from Lisbon who spent 1512 to 1515 in Malacca immediately after the Portuguese conquest, at a time when Europeans were only first arriving in Southeast As ...
, a Portuguese voyager, mentioned in the 16th century that Ayutthaya, or ''Odia'', was "rich in good merchandise". Most of the foreign merchants coming to Ayutthaya were European and Chinese, and were taxed by the authorities. The kingdom had an abundance of rice, salt, dried fish, arrack
Arrack is a distilled alcoholic drink typically produced in India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, made from the fermented sap of coconut flowers or sugarcane, and also with grain (e.g. red rice) or fruit depending upon the country of origin. It ...
, and vegetables.
Trade with foreigners, mainly the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, reached its peak in the 17th century. Ayutthaya became a main destination for merchants from China and Japan. It was apparent that foreigners began taking part in the kingdom's politics. Ayutthaya's kings employed foreign mercenaries who sometimes joined the wars with the kingdom's enemies. However, after the purge of the French in the late-17th century, the major traders with Ayutthaya were the Chinese. The Dutch from the Dutch East Indies Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...
(Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC), were still active. Ayutthaya's economy declined rapidly in the 18th century, until the Burmese invasion caused the total collapse of Ayutthaya's economy in 1767.
Contacts with the West
In 1511, immediately after having conquered Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
, the Portuguese sent a diplomatic mission headed by Duarte Fernandes Duarte Fernandes (16th century) was a Portuguese diplomat, explorer, and was the first European to establish diplomatic relations with Thailand, when in 1511 he led a diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya Kingdom (Kingdom of Siam), after the Portuguese ...
to the court of King Ramathibodi II
Chettathirat ( th, เชษฐาธิราช, ) or (upon accession to the Ayutthayan throne) Ramathibodi II ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๒; 1472/73 – July/10 October 1529) was the King of Sukhothai from 1485 and King of Ay ...
of Ayutthaya. Having established amicable relations between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Kingdom of Siam, they returned with a Siamese envoy who carried gifts and letters to the King of Portugal. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit the country. Five years after that initial contact, Ayutthaya and Portugal concluded a treaty granting the Portuguese permission to trade in the kingdom. A similar treaty in 1592 gave the Dutch a privileged position in the rice trade.
Foreigners were cordially welcomed at the court of Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
(1657–1688), a ruler with a cosmopolitan outlook who was nonetheless wary of outside influence. Important commercial ties were forged with Japan. Dutch and English trading companies were allowed to establish factories, and Thai diplomatic missions were sent to Paris and The Hague. By maintaining these ties, the Thai court skillfully played off the Dutch against the English and the French, avoiding the excessive influence of a single power.
In 1664, however, the Dutch used force to exact a treaty granting them extraterritorial rights as well as freer access to trade. At the urging of his foreign minister, the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon
Constantine Phaulkon (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Γεράκης, ''Konstantinos Gerakis''; γεράκι is the Greek word for "falcon"; 1647 – 5 June 1688, also known as Costantin Gerachi, ''Capitão Falcão'' in Portuguese and simply as ' ...
, Narai turned to France for assistance. French engineers constructed fortifications for the Thais and built a new palace at Lopburi
Lopburi ( th, ลพบุรี, , ) is the capital city of Lopburi Province in Thailand. It is about northeast of Bangkok. It has a population of 58,000. The town (''thesaban mueang'') covers the whole ''tambon'' Tha Hin and parts of Th ...
for Narai. In addition, French missionaries engaged in education and medicine and brought the first printing press into the country. Louis XIV's personal interest was aroused by reports from missionaries suggesting that Narai might be converted to Christianity.
The French presence encouraged by Phaulkon, however, stirred the resentment and suspicions of the Thai nobles and Buddhist clergy. When word spread that Narai was dying, a general, Phetracha
Phetracha (alternative spellings: ''Bedraja'', ''P'etraja'', ''Petraja'', ''Petratcha''; also called ''Phra Phetracha''; th, เพทราชา, ; 1632– 5 February 1703) was a king of the Ayutthaya kingdom in Thailand, usurping the throne fr ...
(reigned 1688–1693) staged a coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
, the 1688 Siamese revolution, seized the throne, killed the designated heir, a Christian, and had Phaulkon put to death along with a number of missionaries. He then expelled the remaining foreigners. Some studies said that Ayutthaya began a period of alienation from Western traders, while welcoming more Chinese merchants. But other recent studies argue that, due to wars and conflicts in Europe in the mid-18th century, European merchants reduced their activities in the East. However, it was apparent that the Dutch East Indies Company or VOC was still doing business in Ayutthaya despite political difficulties.
File:Dutch East India Company Merchant Ship.jpg, Dutch East India Company merchant ship.
File:Lopburi King Narai plate.jpg, Memorial plate in Lopburi showing King Narai with French ambassadors.
File:Audience with Narai, 1685-10-18 (b).jpg, The French ambassador Chevalier de Chaumont
Alexandre, Chevalier de Chaumont (1640 – 28 January 1710 in Paris) was the first French ambassador for King Louis XIV in Siam in 1685.Chakrabongse, C., 1960, Lords of Life, London: Alvin Redman Limited He was accompanied on his mission by Ab ...
presents a letter from Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
to King Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
. Constance Phaulkon is seen kowtowing in the lower left corner of the print
File:SiameseEmbassyToLouisXIV1686NicolasLarmessin.jpg, Siamese embassy to Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
in 1686, by Nicolas de Larmessin.
File:Françoise Foliot - Eclipse de soleil au Siam en 1688.jpg, French Jesuits observing an eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...
with King Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the Pr ...
and his court in April 1688, shortly before the Siamese revolution.
File:OkKhunChamnan.JPG, Ok-khun Chamnan
Ok-khun Chamnan Chaichong ( th, ออกขุนชำนาญใจจง) was a Siamese diplomat who visited France and Rome on an embassy in 1688. He was preceded by the embassy of Kosa Pan in 1686.
Failed embassy to Portugal (1684)
Ok-khun ...
, a Siamese ambassador who visited France and Rome on an embassy in 1688
File:Kosa Pan, Charles Le Brun, 1686.jpg, A portrait of , a Thai ambassador accredited by King of Ayutthaya to the court of King , by , 1686
Contacts with East Asia
Between 1405 and 1433, the Chinese Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. Emperor Yongle
The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.
Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyna ...
designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, and impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin. He also might have wanted to extend the tributary system
A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...
. It is believed that the Chinese fleet under Admiral Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...
travelled up the Chao Phraya River to Ayutthaya on three occasions.
Meanwhile, a Japanese colony
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...
was established in Ayutthaya. The colony was active in trade, particularly in the export of deer hides and saphan wood to Japan in exchange for Japanese silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
and Japanese handicrafts (swords, lacquered boxes, high-quality paper). From Ayutthaya, Japan was interested in purchasing Chinese silks, as well as deerskin
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs ...
s and ray or shark skins (used to make a sort of shagreen
Shagreen is a type of rawhide consisting of rough untanned skin, historically from a horse's or onager's back, or from shark or ray.
Etymology
The word derives from the French ''chagrin'' and is related to Italian ''zigrino'' and Venetian '' ...
for Japanese sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
handles and scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. As well, rifles may be stored in a scabbard by horse riders. Military cavalry and cowboys had scabbards for their saddle ring carbine rifles and Lever action, lever-action ...
s).
The Japanese quarters of Ayutthaya Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to:
* Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767
** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom
* Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locally ...
were home to about 1,500 Japanese inhabitants (some estimates run as high as 7,000). The community was called ''Ban Yipun'' in Thai, and was headed by a Japanese chief nominated by Thai authorities.[Ishii Yoneo. "Siam and Japan in pre-modern times: a note on mutual images". In Denoon, p. 154.] It seems to have been a combination of traders, Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
converts (''Kirishitan
The Japanese term , from Portuguese ''cristão'' (cf. Kristang), meaning "Christian", referred to Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used in Japanese texts as a historiographic term for Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries.
M ...
'') who had fled their home country to various Southeast Asian countries following the persecutions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
and Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
, and unemployed former samurai who had been on the losing side at the battle of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...
.
Padre António Francisco Cardim
António Francisco Cardim (1596 – April 30, 1659) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest, missionary, and historian who recorded the events of the fathers and brothers of the Jesuit missions in China, Japan, and other places in the Far East.
Early l ...
recounted having administered the sacrament to around 400 Japanese Christians in 1627 in the Thai capital of Ayuthaya ("a 400 japoes christaos") There were also Japanese communities in Ligor
Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat prov ...
and Patani
Patani Darussalam ( Bahasa Malayu Arabic : , also sometimes Patani Raya or Patani Besar, "Greater Patani"; th, ปาตานี) is a historical region in the Malay peninsula. It includes the southern Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala (Ja ...
.[Boxer, p.297]
File:ZhengHeShips.gif, Early 17th-century Chinese woodblock print, thought to represent Zheng He's ships.
File:วัดพนัญเชิงวรวิหาร by Pholtograph.jpg, ''Luang Pho Tho'' or ''Sam Pao Kong'', the highly revered Buddha statue in Wat Phanan Choeng
Wat Phanan Choeng ( th, วัดพนัญเชิงpronunciation is a Buddhism, Buddhist temple in the city of Ayutthaya historical park, Ayutthaya, Thailand, on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River at the south-eastern side of the co ...
temple was visited in 1407 by Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...
during the naval expedition.
File:RedSealShip.JPG, A 1634 Japanese Red seal ship
were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with red-sealed letters patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century. Between 1600 and 1635, more than 350 Japanese ships wen ...
. Tokyo Naval Science Museum.
File:Ayutthaya 17th century.jpg, The Japanese quarter in Ayutthaya is indicated at the bottom center ("Japonois") of the map.
File:Yamada-Nagamasa-Portrait-Shizuoka-Sengen-Shrine.png, Portrait of ''Yamada Nagamasa'' c.1630.
File:Ayutthaya Japanese village 4.jpg, Interior of the Japanese Village museum in Ayutthaya
Notable foreigners, 17th century Ayutthaya
* Constantine Phaulkon
Constantine Phaulkon (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Γεράκης, ''Konstantinos Gerakis''; γεράκι is the Greek word for "falcon"; 1647 – 5 June 1688, also known as Costantin Gerachi, ''Capitão Falcão'' in Portuguese and simply as ' ...
, Greek adventurer and first councillor of King Narai
* François-Timoléon de Choisy
François Timoléon, abbé de Choisy (; 16 August 1644 – 2 October 1724) was a French cross-dresser, abbé, and author. He wrote numerous works on church history as well as travelogues, memoirs and fiction.
Biography
De Choisy was born in Pari ...
* Father Guy Tachard
Guy Tachard (; 1651 – 1712), also known as Père Tachard, was a French Jesuit missionary and mathematician of the 17th century, who was sent on two occasions to the Kingdom of Siam by Louis XIV. He was born in Marthon, near Angoulême.
In 1 ...
, French Jesuit writer and Siamese Ambassador to France (1688)
* Louis Laneau
Louis Laneau (31 May 1637 in Mondoubleau16 March 1696 in Ayutthaya) was a French bishop of the 17th century who was active as a missionary in the kingdom of Siam (modern Thailand). He was a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He was ini ...
, Apostolic Vicar of Siam
* Claude de Forbin
Claude, chevalier, then count de Forbin-Gardanne (6 August 1656 – 4 March 1733) was a French naval commander. In 1685–1688 he was on a diplomatic mission to Siam. He became governor of Bangkok and a general in the Siamese army, and left Siam ...
, French Admiral
* Yamada Nagamasa
was a Japanese adventurer who gained considerable influence in the Ayutthaya Kingdom at the beginning of the 17th century and became the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, which is on the Malay Peninsula in present-day Southern Thailand.
...
, Japanese adventurer who became the ruler of the Nakhon Si Thammarat
* George White (merchant), English merchant
* Jeremias van Vliet
Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...
, Dutch Opperhoofd ''Opperhoofd'' is a Dutch word (plural ''opperhoofden'') that literally translates to "upper-head", meaning "supreme headman". The Danish equivalent ''overhoved'', which is derived from a Danish pronunciation of the Dutch or Low German word, is als ...
Historiography
The history of the Ayutthaya Kingdom overall has been a neglected period of historiography in Thailand, as well as abroad, characterized by well-researched and popular histories of subperiods of Ayutthaya. Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit
Pasuk Phongpaichit ( th, ผาสุก พงษ์ไพจิตร, , born 11 February 1946) is a Thai economist. A professor at Chulalongkorn University, she is the author of several books on corruption in Thailand.
Pasuk earned BA and MA ...
's "''A History of Ayutthaya: Siam In the Early Modern World''", published in 2017, was the first English-academic book to have analyzed the full four hundred years of the Ayutthaya Kingdom's existence. The historiography of Southeast Asia originated from post-colonial capitals. As Thailand had never been fully colonized, it never had a European patron from which national histories could be written about themselves until the arrival of the Americans in the 1960s.
Early Rattanakosin period documents traced their "national" origins to the founding of Ayutthaya in 1351. In the early 20th-century however, Thai elites, influenced by Western ideas of European nationalism and the nation state, used that framework to create a nationalist history of Thailand, implementing it in ways deemphasized Ayutthaya's importance to Thai history by portraying the Sukhothai Kingdom as the first "Thai" kingdom or golden age of "Thai-ness" (Buddhism, Thai-style democracy, free trade, abolition of slavery), Rattanakosin as the "rebirth", and Ayutthaya as a period of decline between Sukhothai and Rattanakosin. This resulted in Ayutthaya being largely forgotten in the historiography of Thailand for half a century following the works of Prince Damrong
Prince Tisavarakumarn, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (Thai language, Thai: ; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมว ...
in the early 20th century.
The nationalist-themed histories of Ayutthaya, pioneered by Prince Damrong
Prince Tisavarakumarn, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (Thai language, Thai: ; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมว ...
, primarily featured the stories of kings fighting wars and the idea of Eurocentric territorial subjugation of neighboring states. These historical themes remains influential in Thailand and in Thai popular history up until the present, which has only been challenged by a newer generation of historians and academics in Thailand and abroad starting in the 1980s, emphasizing the long-neglected commercial and economic aspects which were important to Ayutthaya. New released sources and translations from a variety of historical records (China, the Netherlands, etc...) have made the researching of Ayutthaya history more accessible in the past two and three decades.
Since the 1970s, newer generations of academics have come up and challenged the old historiography, paying more attention and publishing works about the history of Ayutthaya, prominently beginning with Charnvit Kasetsiri
Charnvit Kasetsiri ( th, ชาญวิทย์ เกษตรศิริ, ; born May 6, 1941) is a Thai historian. He is a professor emeritus of the Thammasat University and was its rector in 1994–1995.
Life and academic career
He studied ...
's "''The Rise of Ayudhya''", published in 1977. Kasetsiri, in 1999, argues that, "Ayutthaya was the first major political, cultural, and commercial center of the Thai."
The idea that Ayutthaya suffered a decline following the departure of Europeans in the late 17th century was an idea popularized, at first, in the Rattanakosin court, in an attempt to legitimize the new dynasty over the Ayutthaya Ban Phlu Luang Dynasty, and more contemporarily by Anthony Reid's book on the "Age of Commerce". However, more recent studies, such as by Victor Lieberman
Victor B. Lieberman (born 22 July 1945) is an American historian of early modern Southeast Asia and Eurasia. He presently serves as the Raoul Wallenberg Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Asian and Comparative History a ...
in "Strange Parallels in Southeast Asia" and by Baker and Phongpaichit in "A History of Ayutthaya", have mostly refuted Reid's hypothesis, in particular Lieberman criticizing Reid's methodology of using the example of Maritime Southeast Asia to explain Mainland Southeast Asia, citing the opening of Qing China's revocation of its maritime ban and the subsequent increase in trade between China and Siam and Ayutthaya's historical importance as a regional Asian trade center rather than one in which Europeans held any power or any significant influence for any extended period of time.
Surviving accounts
Much of Ayutthaya's documents were burned during the 1767 sack of Ayutthaya. In the early Rattanakosin period, King Rama I
Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok Maharaj (, 20 March 1737 – 7 September 1809), personal name Thongduang (), also known as Rama I, was the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the first monarch of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam (now Tha ...
compiled all surviving Ayutthaya law records and published the Three Seals Law
The ''Three Seals Law'' or ''Three Seals Code'' ( th, กฎหมายตราสามดวง; ) is a collection of law texts compiled in 1805 on the orders of King Rama I of Siam. Most of the texts were laws from the Ayutthaya era which ...
in 1805. The best surviving accounts of the Ayutthaya Kingdom comes from outside accounts, such as that of Jeremais Van Vliet, a Dutch person whose accounts of Ayutthaya remain one of the best preserved accounts of Ayutthaya during its existence. Chinese Court records also provide a large amount of surviving records about Ayutthaya.
Image gallery
File:Bhuddaheadkjfmartin.jpg, Detached Buddha head encased in fig tree roots
File:Ayutthayakingdomkjfmartin1.jpg, Seated Buddha, Ayutthaya
File:Ayutthayakjfmartin.jpg, Seated Buddha, Ayutthaya
File:Ayutthaya Historical Park 1.jpg, Ayutthaya Historical Park
File:Ayutthaya Historical Park 3.jpg, Ayutthaya Historical Park
File:View of Ayuthia, Siam, now known to the Siamese as Krung Kao Wellcome L0020134.jpg, Ayutthaya skyline, photographed by John Thomson, early 1866
File:WatMahathatOldTime.jpg, The main prang of Wat Mahathat, collapsed in 1904, photographed in the early 20th century
File:วิหารมงคลบพิตร.jpg, Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit before restoration in the late 19th/20th century
File:Ayutthaya Wat Na Phra Men 2.jpg, Interior of Wat Na Phra Men
In popular culture
* ''Love Destiny (TV series)
''Love Destiny'' ( th, บุพเพสันนิวาส; ; ) is a 2018 Thai historical television series that originally aired on Channel 3 from February 21 to April 11, 2018. The 15-episode series contains elements of romance, comedy, ...
'' ( th, บุพเพสันนิวาส; ''Bupphesanniwat''), 2018 Thai historical television series.
* ''The Legend of Suriyothai
''The Legend of Suriyothai'' ( th, สุริโยไท, italics=yes) is a 2001 Thai film directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol, which portrays the life of Queen Suriyothai, who is regarded by Thai people as the "great feminist". It records the c ...
'', 2001 Thai biographical historical drama film series about Queen Suriyothai
Suriyothai ( th, สุริโยทัย, , ; Burmese:သူရိယထိုင်း) ), date=June 2019 was a royal queen consort during the 16th century Ayutthaya Kingdom, Ayutthaya period of Siam (now Thailand). She is famous for havi ...
.
* ''King Naresuan (film)
''The Legend of King Naresuan'' ( th, ตำนานสมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช; ) is a Cinema of Thailand, Thai biographical film, biographical historical drama film Film series, series about Naresuan, King Na ...
'', 2007–2015 Thai biographical historical drama film series about King Naresuan the Great
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
.
See also
* Ayutthaya Historical Park
Ayutthaya Historical Park ( th, อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์พระนครศรีอยุธยาPronunciation) covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, Thailand. The ...
* Ayutthaya Province
* Baan Hollanda
Baan Hollanda was a Dutch village in Thailand built during the Ayutthaya era in 1634. Baan Hollanda was located on the Chao Phraya River close to the Tambon Suan Phlu shipyard in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Prov ...
* Bang Rajan
The village of Bang Rachan ( th, บางระจัน, ) was in the north of Ayutthaya, the old capital of Siam, the predecessor state of modern Thailand. Today their village is located in Khai Bang Rachan District of Sing Buri Province. Th ...
* Family tree of Ayutthaya kings
* History of Thailand
The Tai ethnic group migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of centuries. The word ''Siam'' ( th, สยาม ) may have originated from Pali (''suvaṇṇabhūmi'', "land of gold") or Sanskrit श्याम (''śyāma'', "dark ...
* List of Ayutthaya kings
Notes
Citations
General references
* Original text adapted from the
Library of Congress Country Study of Thailand
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Further reading
General works
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''Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya''
There are 18 versions of ''Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya'' (''Phongsawadan Krung Si Ayutthaya'') known to scholars. See: .
* Fifteenth-Century Fragment –
Michael Vickery version
in English and Thai) an
Ubonsi Atthaphan version in pp.215-231
(in Thai)
* Van Vliet Chronicle (1640) – Translated and compiled by the Dutch merchant. The original Thai manuscripts disappeared.
The Luang Prasoet Version
(1680) – Ayutthaya History (in Thai)
* CS 1136 Version (1774)
* The Nai (Nok) Kaeo Version (1782)
in pp.232-244
(in Thai)
* CS 1145 Version (1783)
* ''Sanggitiyavamsa''nbsp;– Pali chronicle compiled by Phra Phonnarat, generally discussing Buddhism History of Thailand.
* CS 1157 Version of Phan Chanthanumat (1795)
* Thonburi Chronicle (1795)
* Somdet Phra Phonnarat Version (1795) – Thought to be identical to Bradley Version below.
''Culayuddhakaravamsa'' Vol.2 – Pali chronicle.
– includes other three versions of the chronicle.
Phra Chakraphatdiphong (Chat) Version (1808)
(in Thai)
* Brith Museum Version (1807)
* Wat Ban Thalu Version (1812)
''Culayuddhakaravamsa'' Sermon (1820) .
– includes other three versions of the chronicle.
* Bradley or Two-Volume Version (1864) – formerly called Krom Phra Paramanuchit Chinorot Version. ol. 1
OL may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band
* Old Lace (comics) a telepathically linked dinosaur hero
Businesses and organizations
* OLT Express Germany (IATA code: OL), a scheduled and charter airl ...
ol. 2ol. 3
OL may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band
* Old Lace (comics) a telepathically linked dinosaur hero
Businesses and organizations
* OLT Express Germany (IATA code: OL), a scheduled and charter airl ...
o
Vol.1
Vol.2
Pramanuchit's Abridged Version (1850)
(in English)
* Royal Autograph Version (1855)
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Some of these are available in Cushman, Richard D. (2000). ''The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya: A Synoptic Translation'', edited by David K. Wyatt. Bangkok: The Siam Society
The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage ( th, สยามสมาคมในพระบรมราชูปถัมภ์) was established in 1904 with a mission to promote knowledge of the culture, history, arts, and natural sciences of Thai ...
.
Burmese accounts
These are Burmese historical accounts of Ayutthaya.
* Kham Hai Kan Chao Krung Kao (''Lit.'' Testimony of inhabitants of Old Capital (i.e., Ayutthaya))
* Kham Hai Kan Khun Luang Ha Wat The Testimonies of Ayutthaya Kingdom, Ayutthaya are a group of historical documents derived from an original Mon language, Mon chronicle compiled following the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. While the original Mon copy has been lost, it has been transla ...
(''Lit.'' Testimony of the "King who Seeks a Temple" (nickname of King Uthumphon))
An English translation.
* Palm Leaf Manuscripts No.11997 of the Universities Central Library Collection or ''Yodaya Yazawin'' – Available in English in Tun Aung Chain tr. (2005) ''Chronicle of Ayutthaya'', Yangon: Myanmar Historical Commission
Western accounts
* ''Second Voyage du Pere Tachard et des Jesuites envoyes par le Roi au Royaume de Siam.'' Paris: Horthemels, 1689.
External links
* Online Collection
Southeast Asia Visions Collection by Cornell University Library
{{Thailand topics, state=collapsed
Ayutthaya Kingdom
Tai history
Former countries in Thai history
Former kingdoms
Indianized kingdoms
14th century in Thailand
15th century in Thailand
16th century in Thailand
17th century in Thailand
18th century in Siam
1750s in Thailand
1760s in Thailand
1767 in Thailand
1351 establishments in Asia
1767 disestablishments
1760s disestablishments in Asia
14th-century establishments in Thailand
1760s disestablishments in Thailand
Former monarchies of Southeast Asia
States and territories established in 1351