Ayutthaya Kingdom

Flag of Ayutthaya Kingdom 1350 AD/CE to 1767 AD/CE

Capitals: Ayutthaya City, Phitsanulok, Lopburi

Continent: Asia

Official Languages: Ayutthayan Dialect

Established: 1350 AD/CE

Disestablished: 1767 AD/CE

History:

The origin of Ayutthaya had been subjected to scholarly debates. Traditional accounts hold that King Uthong, 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, Suphan Buri Province, which was a major Dvaravati 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 before moving to Ayutthaya. Tamnan Mulla Satsana, a sixteenth-century Lanna 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 and Pa Sak River, and founded Ayutthaya there in 1350, naming it after Ayodhya, 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 1350. Some temples in Ayutthaya have been known to exist before 1350. Recent archaeological works reveal pre-existing barays superimposed on by subsequent structures and support the Lavo theory. The barays later became Bueng Phra Ram (Thai: บึงพระราม) in the place called Nong Sano (Thai: หนองโสน), in which King Uthong had laid his foundation. Excavation map shows the traces from a baray close to the southwestern tip of Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon which could have been built on a former important Angkorian temple complex. Lavo (modern Lopburi) had been the center of Angkorian political and cultural influence in Central Thailand. The Lavo kingdom had established the port on the site of Ayutthaya called Ayodhaya Sri Rama Thepnakorn (Thai: 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 in 1180 and Petchaburi to the Yuan dynasty in 1294. Some argue that Suphanburi was, in fact, Xiān mentioned in Chinese sources.

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, his brother, the ruler of Praek Sriracha(in modern Chainat Province) 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 (Thai: 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 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. 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 I, who was King Borommaracha's nephew, usurped the throne from Ramracha in 1408.

Ayutthaya had set expansionist eyes on its neighbors, most notably Sukhothai, and Angkor. Victory of King Borommaracha I over Sukhothai, then centered on Phitsanulok, in 1378 put Sukhothai under the dominance of Ayutthaya. Borommaracha II led armies to sack Angkor in 1431, ending its six hundred years of existence, and also expanded into the Korat Plateau. 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 Boromma Trailokanat, 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 in Southern Thailand. Ligor Kingdom was then incorporated into Ayutthaya.

Starting in the middle of the 16th century, the kingdom came under repeated attacks by the Taungoo Dynasty of Burma. The Burmese–Siamese War (1547–49) resulted in a failed Burmese siege of Ayutthaya. A second siege (1563–64) led by King Bayinnaung forced King Maha Chakkraphat to surrender in 1564. The royal family was taken to Pegu (Bago), with the king's second son Mahinthrathirat 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 his vassal king.

In May 1584, less than three years after Bayinnaung's death, Uparaja Naresuan 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 and Burmese heir-apparent Mingyi Swa in 1593 during the fourth siege of Ayutthaya in which Naresuan famously slew Mingyi Swa. Today, this Siamese victory is observed annually on 18 January as Royal Thai Armed Forces 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 in 1594. In 1599, the Siamese attacked the city of Pegu but were ultimately driven out by Burmese rebels who had assassinated Burmese King Nanda Bayin and taken power.

In 1613, after King Anaukpetlun 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).

In 1662 war between Burma and Ayutthaya (the Burmese-Siamese War (1662-64)) erupted again when King Narai of Ayutthaya attempted to take advantage of unrest in Burma and take 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.

Foreign trade brought Ayutthaya not only luxury items but also new arms and weapons. In the mid-17th century, during King Narai's reign, Ayutthaya became very prosperous. In the 18th century, Ayutthaya gradually lost control over its provinces. Provincial governors exerted their power independently, and rebellions against the capital began.

After a bloody period of dynastic struggle, Ayutthaya entered into what has been called the golden age, a relatively peaceful episode in the second quarter of the 18th century when art, literature, and learning flourished. There were foreign wars. Ayutthaya fought with the Nguyễn Lords (Vietnamese rulers of south Vietnam) for control of Cambodia starting around 1715. But a greater threat came from Burma, where the new Konbaung dynasty had subdued the Shan states.

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, Ekathat, originally known as Prince Anurakmontree, forced the king, who was his younger brother, to step down and took the throne himself.

According to a French source, Ayutthaya in the 18th century included these principal cities: Martaban, Ligor or Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Tenasserim, Junk Ceylon or Phuket Island, Singora or Songkhla. Her tributaries were Patani, Pahang, Perak, Kedah and Malacca.

In 1765, a combined 40,000-strong force of Burmese armies 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.