สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 Volker Grabowsky 103 Panorama of Tai polities in the DSCD The DSCD was never politically united under one single rule, perhaps except a very short period in the middle of the sixteenth century when King Phothisalalat (r. 1520›1548) ruled the kingdoms of Lan Sang and Lan Na as a kind of çpersonal unioné by sending his fourteen-year old son Settha Wangso, a grandson of late Lan Na king Ket Klao, to ascend to the vacant throne in Chiang Mai in July 1546. However, two years later when Settha rushed back to Luang Prabang to quell a rebellion following his fatherûs death, the western and southern sections of Lan Na separated from Lan Sang electing a prince from the Shan principality of Mueang Nai as new king whereas most of the northern and eastern parts of Lan Na remained loyal to the new Lao king who forfeited his claims as ruler of Chiang Mai only as late as 1551 but kept control of the northern and eastern half of Lan Na thereafter. Even after the Burmese conquered Chiang Mai, Sai Setthathilat continued the struggle of resistance against the Burmese in which he received support from Lan Na loyalists in the Chiang Saen-Chiang Rai region. The division of Lan Na into two contending core areas further intensified during the centuries that followed the Burmese conquest in 1558. In 1701, the whole region of Chiang Saen and Chiang Rai was separated from Chiang Mai, and fourteen years later Chiang Saen became the centre of a large Burmese military zone extending far to the north until the borders of Sipsng Panna. In 1727, Chiang Mai revolted against Burmese rule. Following several months of internal strife, Chao Ong Kham, the exiled king of Luang Prabang who was a scion of the ruling dynasty of Chiang Rung, was finally invited to become the new legitimate ruler of Chiang Mai which enjoyed three relatively peaceful decades under a king who was both of Lao and Tai Lue descent. 9 In the early Bangkok period the upper north of present-day Thailand became a dependency of Siam. However, the political and administrative unity which had existed during most of the fifteenth and at least during the first quarter of the sixteenth century was not restored and was probably no longer feasible. In 1802, Kawila, ruler of Chiang Mai, travelled to Bangkok where King Rama I bestowed upon him the title chao prathetsarat accepting him as a high-ranking vassal. The King acknowledged the supremacy of Chiang Mai 9 Sarassawadee 2005: 122›124. 98-112_mac9 4/26/12, 9:10 PM 103