Episodes
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The Tale of Khun Chang and Khun Phaen is the seminal work in Thai classical literature. The romance between Khuns Chang and Phaen and the female love interest Wanthong are our window into Ayutthayan gender and social class. While what we find may be disagreeable to modern sensibilities, we are nonetheless compelled to bear witness and learn more - to better understand the era in question.
Visit this episode's webpage for the Dramatis Personae
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In which we reveal the identity of Series 4 - along with an announcement of the schedule.
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Missing episodes?
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Ayutthaya is gone, but Siam lives. A new kingdom, forged by two capable generals, restored Thai authority over their country. That New Siam would survive, stronger than ever, to the present day, becoming modern Thailand.
Series Website
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Ayutthaya would fall in much the same way it did in 1569: at the hands of an ambitious Burmese King. But this time, there would be no comign back. Ayutthaya was no more, and the future of Thai history would be entirely new.
Series website
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The reigns of Thai Sa and Borommakot were peaceful and prosperous. The half-century before the city's fall thus became a golden age for art, literature and religion. This "Age of Culture" would last just until the collapse, but would forge Thai culture as it exists today.
Series website
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No, not that one.
The Ban Phlu Luang, founded by the usurper Phetracha, would be Ayutthaya's last. They oversaw an era of social upheaval which fundaentally altered Thai society. Their first two kings, if the chronicles are to be believed, were cruel and violent men, though, and the bane of decency.
Series website
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Half a world away, four months before the famous "Glorious Revolution" another revolution had taken place in Siam. King Narai, bereft of an heir, had perhaps bequeathed too much power to his Greek minister, Constantine Phaulkon. Soon, irate court ministers would rally against the minister - and his French allies.
Series Website
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Throughout the middle of Narai's reign, court intrigue plagued the Palace in Lopburi. Ministers vied for power over the King, with their factions waxing and waning in turn. Amidst the King's failure to produce an heir, and increasing harshness and paranoia, this feuding paved the way for a new advisor to enter the fray - Constantine Phaulkon.
Series Website
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Narai "the Great" is Ayutthaya's most famous King outside of Thailand. But he cuts an unusual figure, breaking with the pattern of his predecessors. Warlike to a degree not seen since Naresuan, and unconcerned with tradition, he followed his own desires and interests. Foreign visitors and communities in Ayutthaya never found a firmer friend than King Narai. Indeed, it was by their aid that he came to the throne at all. Persians, Japanese, Malays, Dutch and Chinese were rewarded for service or simply for their friendship to the King. In time, this would bring about momentous chaos. But for now, it created a strange era of rich cultural exchange - not to be seen again in Siam for two centuries.
Series Website
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You arrive in Ayutthaya, April 1685, along with the French embassy to King Narai. While in the city, you are treated to a tour of the capital by an Englishman in the service of the European Mahatthai. What do you see there? And what are your impressions?
Series Website
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A quick appendix to 3.12 + schedule announcements for 2021/22
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The early 17th century was an age of contradictions - peace abroad and prosperity at home contrasted with political intrigue and civil wars upon the death of kings. Illustrative of this was the coup of King Prasat Thong - "Golden Tower" - a distant relative who utilized wealth and influence to steal the throne for himself.
Series Website
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Naresuan's death spells the death of the Age of Warfare. In its place: the Age of Commerce. Trade, diplomacy, and urbanization are the defining order of the day. Merchants from all across Asia congregated in Ayutthaya to exchange goods - with the King of Siam reaping the profit.
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The Age of Warfare dies with King Naresuan. The final years of his reign were marked by the reestablishment of Ayutthayan supremacy across the region. Old vassals were restored to subservience, trade routes were brought back under central control, and rebels were snuffed out in an instant.
But King Naresuan garnered a reputation for being quick to anger, cruel and merciless. His epithet "The Black Prince" reveals much of his perception then and now. Indeed, the Age of Warfare was as much a rejection of his brand of kingship as it was a natural phenomenon.
Series Website
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Ayutthaya was a husk of its former self. A burnt out shell, ruled by a puppet king installed by their conquerors in Burma. But that puppet would not sit dormant. He rebuilt the city, drove off attackers from Cambodia, and prepared the way for an Ayutthayan resurgence.
But this is not, really, his story. The liberation of Ayutthaya would not have happened without the capable leadership of Prince - then King - Naresuan, the "Black Prince" of Ayutthayan history. Though cruel, abrasive, and obsessed with war, Naresuan would free his country from the Burmese once and for all.
Series Website
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Southeast Asia in the 16th century was a playground for ambitious kings hoping to build their empires. The kings of Ayutthaya, Burma, Lan Xang and Cambodia vied for dominance - to become a Chakkavatti - a "Wheel Turning King" from Buddhist philosophy.
From the many, only one would stand victorious. The question is: Who would it be? And what would become of the losers?
Series Website
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A brief lull in the fighting presents an opportunity to discuss the Ayutthayan military in the so-called Age of Warfare.
The reforms of Trailokanat and his successors enabled the kingdom to muster larger armies than ever before. The result was greater bloodshed, longer wars and widespread suffering. Little more than a half century after Trailok's death, tragedy would befall Ayutthaya as a direct result of this Age of Warfare.
Series Website
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In 1448 King Trailokanat ascended to the Ayutthayan throne. His 40 year reign would see Ayutthaya transformed from just-another-Muang city state to a centralized, autocratic kingdom. Bolstered by intensifying commerce, his armies would fan out across the Northern Cities in a great war with Lan Na, expanding Ayutthaya's borders and forcing the city to expand its bureaucracy to meet the needs of administration.
Series Website
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The foundation of Ayutthaya - parsing history from legend, and surveying the city's first 100 years.
A curious blend of maritime commerce, with Tai martial culture, Ayutthaya would go on to become the greatest kingdom of the Southeast Asian mainland in the Early Modern period.
Series website
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The Tai migrated into Southeast Asia over the course of centuries. During that time, they became transformed as a people through their encounters with the hostile Chinese and the indigenous peoples they found in Southeast Asia.
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