Somdet Phra Naresuan Maharaj () or
Somdet Phra Sanpet II () (1555, 25 April - 1605) was the King of
Ayutthaya kingdom from 1590 until his death in 1605. Naresuan was one of Siam's most revered monarchs as he was known for his campaigns to free Siam from Burmese tributary. Numerous wars against Burma were fought in his reign and Siam reached greatest territorial extent and influence.
Early life
Prince Naret was born in the city of
Phitsanulok on 25 April 1555. He was the son of King
Maha Thammarachathirat of Pitsanulok and his queen Wisutkasat. His mother Wisukasat was a daughter of
Maha Chakkrapat and Queen
Sri Suriyothai. His father Maha Thammarachathirat was a Sukhothai noble who had defeated
Vorawongsathirat in 1548 and put Maha Chakkrapat on the throne - therefore wielding much power.
Prince Naret was also known as the
Black Prince () to distinguish him from his siblings. The Black Prince had a younger brother
Ekathotsarot who was known as the White Prince and an elder sister Supankanlaya or the Golden Princess.
In 1563,
Bayinnaung the King of
Pegu marched massive Burmese armies to invade Siam. Bayinnuang laid siege on Pitsanulok. Maha Thammarachathirat was then convinced that he would be unable to hold the city for long. So he surrendered. Bayinnuang took Pitsanulok and made
Kingdom of Sukhothai a Burmese tributary. Maha Thammarachathirat have to send his sons - the Black Prince and White Prince - to
Pegu as captives to ensure fidelity of Maha Thammarchathirat.
At Pegu
Naret, along with other captive princes from other kingdoms, were educated in martial arts and war strategy of Burmese and Portuguese style. He was later noted for his new tactics that enabled him to gain victory over the Burmese. Naret then found himself under competition with Bayinnuang's grandson (
Nanda Bayin's son)
Minchit Sra.
In 1569, Bayinnuang was able to take Ayutthaya and installed Maha Thammarachathirat as the King of Ayutthaya. After seven years of captivity, Prince Naret, along with his brother the White Prince, was released to Ayutthaya in exchange for his sister Supankanlaya as Bayinnuang's concubine.
King of Sukhothai
Maha Thammarachathirat made Naret the
Uparaja and King of Pitsanulok as
Naresuan in 1569, aged 14. In 1574, Naresuan joined his father in the expedition to conquer Vientiane but he suffered
smallpox.
In 1581, Bayinnuang died, to be succeeded by his son Nanda Bayin. In 1583, Nanda Bayin's uncle who was the Lord of
Innwa rebelled against his newphew at Pegu. Nanda Bayin then requested for Siamese troops and supports against Innwa. Naresuan marched the Siamese armies to Innwa but slowly to leave the rebellion defeated before he would reach Innwa or else the Lord of Innwa would get Nanda Bayin.
However, this raised Nanda Bayin's suspicions about Naresuan's loyalty. Nanda Bayin then secretly ordered his son Minchit Sra to defeat Naresuan's army and kill him upon reaching Pegu and ordered Kiet and Ram - the two Mons of the city of Kraeng on the
Sittoung River - to attack Naresuan on the rear after he had passed Kraeng while Minchit Sra would attack the front.
Naresuan reached Kraeng in 1584. However, Ram and Kiet were Naresuan's childhood acquintances, so they informed Naresuan about Nanda Bayin's plans. Naresuan, upon realising the intentions of Nanda Bayin, performed a ceremony to denounce Burmese tributary, saying;
All the holy deities with universal knowledge, the King of Hanthawaddi doesn't embrace the fidelity as the kings should do but is indeed intended to hurt me. From now on, the alliance of Ayutthaya and Hanthawaddi breaks, forever.Naresuan then levied the Mons to join his campaigns under the leadership of Kiet and Ram and then marched to Pegu. However, Nanda Bayin had already defeated the Lord of Innwa and was marching back to Pegu. Naresuan decided to retreat but Minchit Sra himself led the Peguan army to follow Naresuan. The Burmese caught the Siamese at Sittoung River, culminating the
Battle of Sittoung River. The legend says that Naresuan shot a fire at a Burmese general accurately across the Sittoung River - called the
Royal Shot Across the Sittoung River (). After the death of his general, Minchit Sra retreated.
In 1583, Naresuan ordered all northern cities including Pitsanulok to be evacuated as it would became the warfronts between Ayutthaya and Pegu. So, Pitsanulok ceased to be the seat of
Sukhothai kingdom and Naresuan became, therefore, the last king of Sukhothai.
In the same year Nanda Bayin ordered his uncle the Lord of
Pathein and
Noratra Mangsosri the Burmese King of
Lanna to lead the Burmese armies into Siam but was defeated by the Siamese. In 1586, Nanda Bayin himself led the Burmese armies to Ayutthaya and laid siege on the city for 13 months and failed. In 1590, Maha Thammarachathirat died. Naresuan was crowned as the King of Ayutthaya as
Sanpet II.
Reign as King of Ayutthaya
King Naresuan made his brother the White Prince the
Uparaja with equal honor as Naresuan himself. In 1590, Minchit Sra marched into Siam through Chedi Sam Ong. Instead of taking defensives at Ayutthaya, Naresuan chose to march to Chedi Sam Ong. Minchit Sra, thinking that the Siamese would stay at Ayutthaya for defensive, marched unprepared. The Burmese were persuaded into a field and ambushed by Naresuan's armies. With his armies scatttered, Minchit Sra retreated back to Pegu.
Yuttahadhi
thumb|250px|Battle of King Naresuan and Minchit Sra at Nong Sarai, Suphan Buri (mural painting by Phraya Anusatchitrakon, Wat Suwandararam, Ayutthaya).In 1592, Nanda Bayin ordered his son to attack Ayutthaya again. Minchit Sra, along with the Lord of Pyay,
Nat Shin Naung the son of the Lord of Toungoo, and the Burmese King of Lanna, led the Burmese into Siam. Minchit Sra himself went through Chedi Sam Ong peacefully and reached
Suphanburi, while other came from the north. Naresuan was planning to conquer Cambodia, but then he had to change his intentions. Naresuan encamped his armies at Nong Sarai. The Burmese then arrived, leading to the
Battle of Nong Sarai.
During the battle, the elephants of Naresuan and Ekathotsarot went mad and ran into the midst of the Burmese. Siamese Chronicles stated that there were fake Minchit Sras but Naresuan pointed out the real one from the honorary decorations. Naresuan then urged Minchit Sra to fight with him:
My brother, why do you hide yourself in the canopy shadows? Let us fight the elephant battle for our own honors. No future kings will do what we are going to do.The personal battle between Naresuan and Minchit Sra was a highly-romanticized historical scene known as
Yuttahadhi, the
Elephant battle. Minchit Sra was slashed to death on the back of his elephant. This was on Monday, the 2
nd waning day of the 2
nd month of the
Buddhist calendar Chulasakarat Era year 954. Calculated to correspond to Monday, 18 January,
AD 1593 of the
Gregorian calendar, this date is now observed as
Royal Thai Armed Forces day. Naresuan then built a pagoda on the site of Yutthahadhi as a victory monument. However, modern historians are still unable to locate the pagoda.
Naresuan intended to execute all the soldiers in the battle of Nong Sarai who had provided no support to him and his brother. Somdet Phra Wannarat - a
bhikkhu - calmed Naresuan to get him to lift the punishment. Naresuan then instead ordered them to take
Tavoy and
Tenasserim.
Tavoy and Tenasserim
In 1593, Naresuan sent Siamese forces to lay siege on Tavoy - a
Mon city - by the Minister of
Kromma Tha and Tenasserim and
Mergui by the
Samuha Kalahom , all quickly fell. Nanda Bayin lauched Burmese fleets to recapture the cities. The
Samuha Kalahom then seized the galleons at Mergui to construct a fleet and sailed and marched his armies on land to counter Burmese attack from
Martaban. The Siamese were then able to repel the Burmese.
Capture of Lovek
After Yuttahadhi, Naresuan then launched his campaigns to subjugate
Cambodia. He sent four armies to capture
Champasak, Banteymas (modern
Ha Tien in
Vietnam),
Siem Reap, and Naresuan himself
Battambang - all to be joined at
Lovek. In 1594, they all reached Lovek and looted Lovek to the grounds. King Chetta of Lovek was executed by the
Prathomkarm ceremony (breaking one's head). The Siamese then captured the Cambodian royal family as captives.
Naresuan later installed a new king of Cambodia, now centered on
Srei Sonthor, as a Siamese tributary
Capture of Martaban
As Burmese control over the tributaries had weakened, the Mons took this opportunity to free themselves. The Mon governor of
Moulmein rebelled against Pegu and requested Siamese support. Naresuan sent troops to take the Mon city of Martaban that sided with Pegu. Nanda Bayin sent the Lord of Toungoo to Martaban but was repelled and retreated. Capture of Martaban exerted Siamese control over the
Mon state.
Invasion of Pegu
Naresuan eventually marched his troops to
Pegu in 1595. He laid siege on the city for three months but was unable to enter. The huge forces of the Lords of Pyay, Toungoo, and Ava then arrived to free Pegu. Naresuan decided to retreat.
The Lord of Pyay staged a rebellion against Nanda Bayin in 1595, followed by Toungoo,
Rakhine, Lanna, and Lan Xang. King
Nokeo of Lan Xang prepared to march through Lanna to Pegu to rescue the Laotian captives. Noratra Mangsosri of Lanna (Nanda Bayin's brother) then put his kingdom under Siamese tributary to get Ayutthayan supports. Naresuan sent Siamese forces to prevent Laotian forces from entering Lanna.
After the series of upheavals in the Burmese Empire, Naresuan decided to invade Pegu again in 1599. Naresuan allied himself with Rakhine. However, the Lord of Toungoo feared that if Naresuan had taken Pegu the Siamese power would have been too large and might engulf Toungoo itself. So, the Lord of Toungoo encouraged the Mons to rebel against Siam. Naresuan then had to subjugate the Mon rebellions.
Toungoo finally took Pegu the same year with the help of Rakhine. Toungoo took Nanda Bayin and left for Toungoo. When Naresuan reached Pegu, what he found was only the city ruins. He requested Toungoo to sent Nanda Bayin back to him but Toungoo refused.
Invasion of Toungoo and Lanna
Naresuan laid the siege on Toungoo but readily failed. Naresuan then went back. He sent his brother Ekathotsarot to calm Lanna inner conflicts.
As in 1600, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya reached the greatest extend.
Death
Anaukpetlun crowned himself as the King of Ava to counter Toungoo and went on his campaigns to subjugate the Shans. However, the Shan King of
Hsenwi was Naresuan's childhood friend. So, he marched armies to rescue Hsenwi. During his journey, however, Naresuan died in 1605.
According to Prince
Damrong's
Our Wars with the Burmese, King Naresuan died in 1605 during another battle with the Burmese, speared by Burmese soldiers as he attempted to climb over a garrison's wall in Tambon Thung Kaew,
Mueang Hang.
However, recent studies of Burmese records by historians of
Silpakorn University showed that he actually returned to
Wiang Haeng, where he died of disease, probably
smallpox.
His brother King
Ekathotsarot became his successor as king.
According to the
Shan, King Naresuan helped them win independence for the
Shan State in 1600 with his ally, the Prince of Hsenwi. Both had been hostages at the Burmese court, and King Naresuan died while rushing to the aid of a friend of his youth, they say.
Many Shan believe King Naresuan was cremated and his ashes interred in a stupa in Mongton, in the southern part of the Shan State.
Legacy
thumb|150px|The film [[King Naresuan (film)|King Naresuan]]
- King Naresuan has been incorrectly attributed to winning his freedom through kickboxing matches with Burmese fighters, a feat actually accredited to Nai Khanom Tom.
