Ayutthaya Kingdom
In 1351, King Uthong established the Ayutthaya Kingdom on an island in the Chao Phraya River. This new state emerged from a merger of three maritime city-states: Lopburi, Suphanburi, and Ayutthaya itself. Archaeological surveys near Wat Khun Mueang Chai have found traces of buildings dating back to before 1100. Pottery shards discovered in the area date as far back as the 1270s. The earliest written records mention a Chinese official fleeing to Xian in 1282 or 1283. By 1431, a Ryukyu ship reported that the King of Xian had punished the previous chief of Palembang. The early polity functioned as a maritime confederation oriented toward post-Srivijaya Maritime Southeast Asia. It conducted raids and collected tribute from these maritime states. The integrity of this patchwork of cities was maintained largely through familial connections under the mandala system. King Uthong appointed his son Prince Ramesuan as ruler of Lopburi. He placed his brother as the ruler of Praek Sriracha. His brother-in-law Khun Luang Pa-ngua ruled Suphanburi. Each city ruler swore allegiance to the King of Ayutthaya while retaining certain privileges. Politics were characterized by rivalries between two dynasties. The Uthong dynasty based its power on Lopburi. The Suphannabhum dynasty held sway over Suphanburi. Ma Huan described the culture of early Ayutthaya as a rowdy port town where men practiced fighting on water. Women arranged the affairs of everyday life. Cities on the peninsula regularly complained to the Chinese court about constant Siamese attacks down the peninsula around this time.
King Borommatrailokkanat shifted the kingdom from a maritime state to a hinterland state during the 15th and 16th centuries. His reforms promulgated in the Palatine Law of 1455 became the constitution of Ayutthaya for the rest of its existence. This law continued to be the constitution of Siam until 1892, albeit in altered forms. The central government was dominated by the Chatusadom system or Four Pillars. Two Prime Ministers led the court: Samuha Nayok the Civil Prime Minister and Samuha Kalahom the Grand Commander of Forces. In the regions, the king sent governors rather than rulers to govern cities. These governors were nobility without privileges as it had previously been. The Hierarchy of Cities was established with four levels. Large top-level cities held authority over secondary or low-level cities. Borommatrailokkanat moved his capital to Phitsanulok to be closer to the war against Lan Na. He sued for peace in 1475 after Lan Na suffered setbacks. The reign of King Borommatrailokkanat symbolized the merger between North and South. It marked the peak of this merger between the basin and the Northern Cities. Even though he preferred the Northern Cities, the necessity to have a capital closer to the war drove the move. By the early 16th century, Ayutthaya had rivalled its regional competitors in city grandeur. It built magnificent wats and palaces for kings with a number of tributary states. A coronation ceremony performed in the 1460s became the first in Ayutthaya history. Prior to that period, Ayutthaya's palaces and temples were inferior in grandeur to cities such as Sukhothai.
Starting in the middle of the 16th century, the kingdom came under repeated attacks by the Taungoo dynasty of Burma. The Burmese-Siamese War from 1547 to 1549 resulted in a failed Burmese siege of Ayutthaya. A second siege led by King Bayinnaung forced King Maha Chakkraphat to surrender in 1564. The royal family was taken to Pegu. In May 1584, Uparaja Naresuan proclaimed Ayutthaya's independence less than three years after Bayinnaung's death. This proclamation resulted in repeated invasions which the Siamese fought off. The conflict culminated in an elephant duel between King Naresuan and Burmese heir-apparent Mingyi Swa in 1593. Naresuan famously slew Mingyi Swa during the fourth siege of Ayutthaya. Today this victory is observed annually on the 18th of January as Royal Thai Armed Forces day. Warfare erupted again later that same year when the Siamese invaded Burma. They occupied Tanintharyi province in southeast Burma in 1593. Later they took cities like Moulmein and Martaban in 1594. In 1599, the Siamese attacked Pegu but were driven out by Burmese rebels who had assassinated King Nanda Bayin. Fighting continued until 1618 when a treaty ended the conflict. At that time, Burma gained control of Lan Na while Ayutthaya retained control of southern Tanintharyi.
The cessation of warfare around 1600 gave way to a prolonged period of peace and commerce beginning with the reign of Ekathotsorot. Kings and nobles turned to hunting, trade, and competition for the throne. This era was characterized by the emergence of mercantile absolutism where the king held a virtual monopoly on all incomes into the kingdom. Foreigners often became prominent officials within the Ayutthaya court due to their lack of connections. Japanese traders and mercenaries led by Yamada Nagamasa had considerable influence with the king. Songtham maintained the service of Yamada Nagamasa whose mercenaries served as the king's own royal guard. When Songtham died in 1628, Prasat Thong used his alliance with Yamada Nagamasa's mercenaries to purge opposition. He orchestrated the final dethronement and execution of the child king in 1629. Thus Prasat Thong usurped the kingdom and extinguished the Sukhothai dynasty. In 1630 he assassinated his former ally Yamada Nagamasa and banished all remaining Japanese from Siam. King Narai assumed a stable position in 1656 with support from foreign court factions including Persian Dutch and Japanese mercenaries. During his reign Ayutthaya became very prosperous. He leased ports of Bangkok and Mergui to the French. Many French generals were incorporated into his army to train it in Western strategy. Narai abandoned the traditional capital for a new Jesuit-designed palace in Lopburi. A faction of native Siamese courtiers began to resent the favorable treatment French interests received under his reign. This hostility was especially directed at Constantine Phaulkon who climbed to the rank of Prime Minister. Phetracha led a coup when the king became seriously ill in May 1688. They arrested Narai along with Phaulkon and many members of the royal family. All were put to death besides Narai who died in captivity in July of that year.
Despite the departure of most Europeans from Ayutthaya, their economic presence was negligible compared to trade with Qing China. The growth of China's population in the late 17th and 18th centuries meant China was eager to import rice from other nations. The Chinese population in Ayutthaya possibly tripled in size to 30,000 from 1680 to 1767. The mass arrival of Chinese farming settlers introduced capitalism to Siam. People fled the government phrai system to become peasant farmers in the countryside to earn wealth. A new category appeared in late Ayutthaya records called phrai mangmi or rich serf. From 1688 onwards the period was characterized by increasing severity of commoner revolts. The 1688 mass commoner revolt against French Catholicism was unprecedented in Ayutthaya history prior to 1688. These revolts marked the beginning of proto-nationalism where a concept of proto-Siamese Buddhist nationality was formed. The past 150 years of growth encouraged phrai to flee bonds of government control. Repeated laws on improving controls of labor highlighted the increasing failures of the elite to control people. The turmoil which resulted from increasing wealth led the nobility toward reformation of Buddhism as a new source of societal order. This was symbolized with the reign of King Borommakot who built and restored new temples.
Between 1600 and 1767 all but two royal successions were contested with a mini civil war in the capital. The throne became such a powerful and lucrative source of wealth that many royals harbored ambitions to seize it. An Ayutthaya noble lamented that a large portion of court officials and able generals were killed in multiple succession struggles over the previous 90 years. Corruption was rampant due to economic prosperity. Position buying and bribery for political offices became commonplace. Prince Thammathibet was executed after being exposed for his affair with two of his father's consorts. Ekkathat and Uthumphon undermined him by instigating or exposing these crimes. The last monarch Ekkathat alongside his brother Uthumphon undermined Prince Thammathibet. The method of royal succession at Ayutthaya throughout the seventeenth century was battle. Any male member of the royal clan could claim the throne for himself and win by defeating rivals. Groupings of nobles foreign merchants and foreign mercenaries actively rallied behind their preferred candidates. 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 aimed at the throne plagued the court.
In mid-1759 Alaungpaya marched his war-hardened Burmese armies to attack Ayutthaya conquering Tenasserim. He came through the Singkhon Pass and attacked on the way to northwestern outskirts of Ayutthaya city itself in early 1760. Ayutthaya was not prepared for war as long absence of external threats rendered traditional conscription system useless. Manpower shortage undermined Siamese defense system. Panicked people beseeched the more-capable temple king Uthumphon to leave monkhood to lead defenses. Fortunately treacherous wet rainy season arrived obliging the Burmese to retreat. Alaungpaya died on his way back to Burma in 1760. After the retreat Siam did little to improve its military. Ekkathat pressured Uthumphon to return to monkhood permanently in mid-1760. The new Burmese king Hsinbyushin ordered a grand invasion of Ayutthaya through two routes. Maha Nawrahta led 20,000 Burmese-Mon men from Tavoy-Tenasserim. Nemyo Thihapate led 20,000 Burmese-Lanna men from Lanna. These two routes converged on Ayutthaya. In November 1765 Maha Nawrahta marched his main column to attack Ayutthaya. Two Burmese invading regiments eventually converged on Ayutthaya in January 1766 and laid siege. They constructed twenty-seven fort towers surrounding Ayutthaya to escalate the siege in January 1767. The situation for defenders became dire as more Siamese people surrendered to escape anarchy and starvation. Phraya Tak gathered men and broke through Burmese siege in January 1767. French-Portuguese Christians and Chinese immigrants provided the last defense line south of Ayutthaya. In April 1767 Nemyo Thihapate ordered digging of underground tunnel into Ayutthaya setting fire on foundations causing walls to collapse. After enduring fourteen months of siege the four-century-old capital fell to invaders on the 7th of April 1767.
Unlike previous falls the destruction of Ayutthaya in April 1767 was permanent profound and extensive. Palaces and temples were burned to ground and inhabitants were indiscriminately slaughtered. An estimated 200,000 Siamese died during the war. Between 30,000 and 100,000 people including temple king Uthumphon were deported en masse to Ava. The Burmese conquest left Siam depopulated for about a century until mid-nineteenth century. One general Phraya Taksin began the reunification effort. He gathered forces and retook ruined capital from Burmese garrison at Pho Sam Thon in June 1767 using connections to Chinese community. He finally established a capital at Thonburi across Chao Phraya River from present Bangkok. By 1771 he had defeated all local warlords and reunited Siam except Mergui and Tenasserim. Conflict between Burma and Siam would last another 50 years leaving some areas deserted as late as 1880s. A Danish visitor described the city in 1779 as being buried in undergrowth and inhabited by elephants and tigers. Post-Ayutthaya monarchs took apart most ruins that survived sack for construction of new capital at Bangkok. Bangkok was successor of Ayutthaya in eyes of new elite and therefore transferred spiritual power through reuse of bricks.
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Common questions
When was the Ayutthaya Kingdom established and by whom?
King Uthong established the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351 on an island in the Chao Phraya River. This new state emerged from a merger of three maritime city-states: Lopburi, Suphanburi, and Ayutthaya itself.
What happened to the Ayutthaya capital during the fall of 1767?
The four-century-old capital fell to invaders on the 7th of April 1767 after enduring fourteen months of siege. Palaces and temples were burned to ground and inhabitants were indiscriminately slaughtered with an estimated 200,000 Siamese dying during the war.
Who founded the Ayutthaya Kingdom and what cities did it merge from?
King Uthong founded the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1351 through a merger of three maritime city-states including Lopburi, Suphanburi, and Ayutthaya itself. Archaeological surveys near Wat Khun Mueang Chai have found traces of buildings dating back to before 1100.
When did King Borommatrailokkanat shift the kingdom from a maritime state to a hinterland state?
King Borommattrailokkanat shifted the kingdom from a maritime state to a hinterland state during the 15th and 16th centuries. His reforms promulgated in the Palatine Law of 1455 became the constitution of Ayutthaya for the rest of its existence.
What date marks the fall of the Ayutthaya capital to Burmese invaders?
The four-century-old capital fell to invaders on the 7th of April 1767 after enduring fourteen months of siege. The destruction was permanent and extensive with palaces and temples burned to ground and inhabitants slaughtered.