An Ancient Cross-Roads
The town of Luang Prabang lies on an ancient cross-roads for trade between India, China and mainland South-East Asia, with three rivers, the Nam Ou, Nam Suong and Nam Kham all meeting the Mekong Rover near the town. The town perhaps first appears in the historical record as Muang Swa, The Prosperous City, established in 698 by the Lao Prince Khun Lo. At this time the Chinese kingdom of Nanzhao (Modern day Yunnan) dominated the region and during the seventh century Nanzhao re-established control over Muang Swa. By the tenth century the Khmer empire was the ascendant power in the region and took control of the town. During this period the city became known as Xieng Dong Xieng Thong - actually two adjacent towns, Xieng Thong The City of the Flame Tree, being on the peninsula and the outer side of Phousi, whilst Xieng Dong, The City by the River Dong, was further out to the south-west (Past Vat Manorom). In the early thirteenth century Genghis Khan's Mongol armies defeated and overthrew the Chinese Jin dynasty and in 1253 his grandson Kublai Khan captured Nanzhao. This turmoil resulted in large scale migration southwards by ethnic Tai/Lao into what is now northern Vietnam, Laos, northern Thailand and the Shan states of Myanmar. This migration led to a flourishing of Tai/Lao culture. King Ramkhamhaeng ruled the ascendant city of Sukhothai in Thailand during the late thirteenth century which at its peak ruled over Xieng Dong Xieng Thong.
The Founding of Lan Xang
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In 1353 Chao Fa Ngum seized Xieng Thong and made himself ruler of a new kingdom Lan Xang, Land of a Million Elephants which he ruled until 1374. According to legend Chao Fa Ngum had been born in Xieng Thong to the wife of the Crown Prince. But his birth was seen as a bad omen and the child was exiled from the city, ending up in the Khmer capital of Angkor where he was taken into the care of King Jayavarman IX. At the age of 33 Chao Fa Ngum, now married to a daughter of the Khmer king, embarked on a quest to seize the throne of Xieng Thong, leading a Khmer army known as "The Ten Thousand". On the way north to Xieng Thong Chao Fa Ngum captured Xieng Khouang and made an important agreement on territorial borders with the King of Annam. Having made himself King of Lan Xang further campaigns extended his territory into Sipsong Chua Thai to the west, the modern day Shan states of Myanmar and Sipsong Phan Na in modern day Yunnan of China. Finally he turned his attention to the Kingdom of Vientiane which he defeated in 1356. The Kingdom of Lan Xang with its capital in Xieng Thong now covered the territory of modern Laos as well as parts of Northern Thailand, Myanmar and Yunnan. Today Lan Xang is seen as the birth of the Lao nation and Chao Fa Ngum its first king.
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Chao Fa Ngum, the founder of Lan Xang, is commemorated by a statue in Vientiane
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Despite all his achievements it appears that as a ruler Chao Fa Ngum created discontent amongst his nobles. Chronicles suggest that after the death of his greatly loved queen in 1368 he removed himself from day to day management of the kingdom's affairs. In 1374 he was deposed and exiled to Mueang Nan in modern day Thailand where he died either two or twenty years later, records disagree. He was succeeded by his eldest son who became Chao Sam Sen Tai (r.1374-1417) at the age of seventeen. For reasons that are not clear his formal coronation was not held until twenty years later, possibly due to disputes between court factions, or possibly because Chao Fa Ngum was still alive in exile. However, Chao Sam Sen Thai's reign marked a peaceful and prosperous period which continued for a further eleven years under his son Chao Lan Kham Daeng, whose remains were interred at Vat Manorom.
The remains of Chao Lan Kham Daeng, grandson of Chao Fa Ngum, were interred at Vat Manorom
Chao Lan Kham Daeng's death in 1428 began a twenty eight year period of chaos caused by factional feuds within the palace. Between 1428 and 1440 six or seven kings, some still children, were anointed and later assassinated. In 1440 a woman known as Maha Thevi, "The Great Goddess", took the throne, the only woman to ever rule over the Lao kingdom. Historians are unclear whether she was the wife, sister or daughter of Chao Sam Sen Tai or possibly the aged second queen of Chao Fa Ngum from Ayutthaya. Whatever her background much of the chaos and bloodshed of this decade was attributed to her scheming. Her reign lasted only two years and was recorded as being bloody and autocratic. After she herself was despatched by the exhausted nobility a council headed by two senior monks assumed control. About three years later they offered the throne to the Governor of Vientiane and in 1456 he was crowned as Chao Chakkaphat Phaen Phaeo.
Chao Chakkaphat went on to rule for twenty three years, bringing peace and prosperity back to Lan Xang. But his reign finally came to an end due to a dispute with Vietnam over a white elephant. The Vietnamese ruler Le Thanh Ton had been aggressively expanding his territories and began amassing troops on the border with Lan Xang. On hearing that King Chakkaphat had been presented with a newly found auspicious white elephant, Le Thanh Ton sent an ambassador to request that this animal to be taken to Annam. King Chakkaphat rebuffed the request which Le Thanh Ton took as a pretext for war. After bloody fighting on The Plain of Jars with great losses on both sides, the Vietnamese advanced on Xieng Thong. Believing that all was lost King Chakkaphat fled down river to Vientiane and Xieng Thong was occupied by the Vietnamese. However, one of King Chakkaphat's sons saved the day by bringing up a fresh army that decimated the exhausted Vietnamese. Chakkaphat was invited back to his capital, but shamed by his flight in the face of danger he abdicated in favour of his son who became King Souvanna Banlang (r.1479-1486).
Peace returned to Lan Xang and the throne passed between sons and grandsons of King Chakkaphat. In 1501 his third son who had been acting as a regent, took the throne as King Visoun (r.1501-1520). During this long period of peace the rulers thoughts had turned to Buddhist piety and one of his first acts was to send for The PrabangThe Prabang Buddha image that had resided in Vientiane since the reign of Chao Fa Ngum. This revered statue became the palladium of Lan Xang and to house it a huge new temple was built, to this day called simply Vat Visoun.
Vat Visoun built by Chao Visoun in 1513 to house the Prabang Buddha
The next fifty years following King Visoun's reign were the peak of Lan Xang's power and a high point in its cultural attainments. On his death Visoun's pious son ascended to the throne as King Phothisarath. After a strange episode in which King Muang Kaeo of Chiangmai sent agents to steal a highly revered Buddha statue from Xieng Thong, King Phothisarath married one of King Muang Kaeo's daughters, bringing the kingdoms of Lan Xang and Lan Na into close alliance. At the request of Phothisarath, the Lan Na king sent Buddhist monks and texts to Xieng Thong for a great monastic council and Photisarath even entered the monkhood to study and meditate. He sponsored construction of some of Xieng Thong's most famous temples including Vat Sanghalok, Vat Aphay and Vat Aham. However, his piety also lead to intolerance and Phothisarath began a campaign to eradicate the local belief in spirits or phi. The Lao belief in animist spirits pre-dated the introduction of Buddhism and the two belief systems co-exist interwined with each other. But in 1527 King Phothisarath issued an edict banning the worship of phi and ordering the destruction of spirit shrines throughout Lan Xang. In Xieng Thong this included an attempt to eradicate the shrine to the city's ancestral spirits, Phou Ngeu and Ya Ngeu, Vat Aham being built as a Buddhist monastery over the grounds of these guardian spirits.
Vat Aham built by Chao Photisarath on the grounds of the Ho Phi of Luang Prabang's guardian spirits.
Whilst Lan Xang was in this period of stability neighbouring Lan Na was undergoing turmoil with a succession of short lived rulers. Finally in 1545 the Lan Na throne was offered by the nobles to King Phothisarath. HavIng accepted this offer Phothisarath placed his young son on the Chiang Mai throne in a magnificent ceremony in 1547. Thus the kingdoms of Lan Xang and Lan Na were united, albeit for what would be a short period.
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King Phothisarath died in 1550, after being crushed in an accident with his war elephant. His son came to the throne as King Setthathirath, ruler of both Lan Na and Lan Xang. But once Setthathirath returned, with some reluctance, to Xieng Thong, the Lan Na nobility chose to install a new king and the two kingdoms were once again separated. It would appear that King Setthathirat was no fan of Xieng Thong, saying it "was all peaks and mountains" and by the end of the decade he began to move to Vientiane. proclaiming it as his capital in 1560. His motivation may not have been just the mountainous scenery, but also to bring the centre of Lan Xang closer to the Korat plateau where he was competing for power against Ayutthaya, whilst also putting more distance between his capital and the expansionist Burmese. As compensation to the citizens of Xieng Thong he gifted the land on which his palace stood for the building of a great new temple. This temple, built c.1563 was Vat Xieng Thong which still stands today as one of the most magnificent examples of Lao architecture. He also proclaimed a new name for the city, Luang Prabang, honouring it as the seat of the revered Prabang Buddha statue.
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Vat Xieng Thong, King Setthathirath's parting gift to Luang Prabang in 1563
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From his new capital of Vientiane King Setthathirath successfully fought against attacks from Ayutthayan and Burmese armies and held Lan Xang together for another twenty years. But in 1571 Setthathirath disappeared whilst leading an army in the south of Laos. The chronicles are silent on whether he died in battle, by accident or by treachery. But after his disappearance Lan Xang once again fell into chaos for a period of seven decades. In 1574 Vientiane was occupied by the Burmese and for much of the following period was a vassal of Burma. For some periods Luang Prabang refused to accept the authority of Vientiane.
Statue of King Setthathirath in front of That Luang which he had built after moving his capital to Vientiane in 1563.
Peace and order were restored in 1637 when Chao Souliya Vongsa (r1637-1694) came to the throne. It was during this period that the first Europeans made contact with Lan Xang. In 1641 The Dutch East India Company sent Gerritt van Wuysthoff across from Batavia to establish trade with Lan Xang. Van Wusthoff's journey travelling up the Mekong from Phnom Penh to Vientiane took three months. Arriving around October he was granted several audiences with Chao Souliya Vongsa during his three month stay and was successful in his aim of getting permission to trade. A lacquered manuscript cabinet that Van Wusthoff presented to the king is today on display in Luang Prabang's National Museum. Van Wuysthoff was impressed with the wealth of Vientiane but did not travel further north. At about this time Luang Prabang was practically deserted having suffered a severe outbreak of cholera. In July1642 a Jesuit priest Jean-Marie Leria arrived, who preached in Vientiane until December 1647. Whilst lacking any appropriate gifts for the king, Leria appears to have gained access to court by offering his dog training skills. It is only after this period that Laos starts to appear on European maps.
Disintegration of Lan Xang
Chao Souliya Vongsa bought stability and prosperity to Lan Xang for fifty years by ensuring that the law was applied fairly and judiciously. Unfortunately for Lan Xang when his only son transgressed by having an affair with the wife of another noble, Souliya Vongsa insisted that the punishment of death must apply equally to all his subjects and his own son was executed. Once again this left no clear successor to the throne after the king's death with six claimants coming forward. Several years of factional struggles and a quick succession of kings followed. By 1707 Vientiane was ruled by Chao Setthathirath II, a nephew of Souliya Vongsa, whilst Luang Prabang had been seized by Chao Kingkitsarath, a grandson of Souliya Vongsa. When Kingkitsarath moved to attack Vientiane Setthathirath II made the fateful decision to call upon Ayutthaya for assistance. The Siamese resolved the situation by partitioning the Lan Xang kingdom into the Luang Prabang kingdom under Chao Kingkitsarath and the Vientiane kingdom under Chao Setthathirath II. In 1713 the Kingdom of Champassak was founded in the south creating a third kingdom within the former territory of Lan Xang.
By 1713 Lan Xang had split into three kingdoms of Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Champasak
By the middle of the eighteenth century Burma had been re-united as a powerful and expanding kingdom. In 1763 King Hsinbyushin came to the throne and began a campaign to subjugate the Tai/Lao kingdoms. In 1764 the Burmese sent two massive armies to capture Luang Prabang, possibly with the assistance of Vientiane. Chao Sotika Koummane fielded an army of 1,000 elephants, 2,000 horses and 50,000 men to defend the city but still failed to stop the Burmese who claimed to have killed 10,000. The Burmese lay siege to the city, shelling the population and causing considerable death and destruction. After five months of siege Chao Sotika Koummane surrendered, accepting Burmese suzerainty. As victors the Burmese took away princesses and daughters of the nobles as well as some 1,000 slaves, 300kg of silver, 75kg of gold and other riches and weapons. Having militarily secured their rear, the Burmese went on to destroy Ayutthaya in 1767, previously the most powerful kingdom in the region.
Ayutthaya, destroyed in 1767 by the Burmese. The invasion of Ayutthaya was only possible after Burma first subdued Luang Prabang.
The Burmese empire was at the height of its power and appeared invincible but it was over-stretched. Within a decade the Siamese would re-group and re-assert their dominance over the Chao Phraya basin, the Korat plateau and the Lao states. Luang Prabang would spend the next century negotiating its position with Siam.