Country, circuit or people · The Tai muang of the Yom and the Nan · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Nan valley

The upper Nan: settled rice country round Pua, with the salt wells of Bo Kluea in the hills above it and the narrows of the Nan at Wiang Sa below.

There is no attested muang seat on 1 January 1200: the Nan Chronicle starts its line at Pua in the thirteenth century. A Tai valley is a muang: one rice plain, a stockade or moated town at its head, and a chao (lord) with his kin and officers over the villages. The weirs and ditches (muang fai) are kept by the village communities in later Tai custom; nothing dated for 1200 describes this valley's assemblies, so none is claimed.

Who holds it

Title
Headmen of the upper Nan valley
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
See the lord record.
Confidence
low

What it holds

  • Pua and the rice plain of the upper Nan
  • The narrows at Wiang Sa
  • The road to the salt wells

Allies and rivals

Phayao north-west (it takes Pua in 1263, later); Phrae west; the Lao muang east.

How things stand that morning

Valley headmen; no muang seat attested.

Wealth

Rice and the salt trade.

Threats

  • Phayao (1263, later)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1263Ngammueang of Phayao seizes Pua.Depends on: A strong Phayao. Stopped by: A Nan-Phrae alliance.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Nan Chronicle (Bangkok-period compilation).

On the map: A polygon along the valley.

Primary sources for Yom and Nan

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma, The Royal Historical Commission of King Bagyidaw (Monywe Sayadaw and others), drawing on U Kala's Maha Yazawin (about 1724) and earlier chronicles (1829 to 1832). The standard Burmese court chronicle, compiled six centuries after 1200 from older chronicles now lost. Read online
  • The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
  • The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
  • The Customs of Cambodia, Zhou Daguan (after 1297, from a stay at Angkor in 1296 to 1297). A Chinese envoy's account of Angkor a century after Jayavarman VII, and the only description of the city and its court by an eyewitness. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia, Nan Kingdom (Nan Chronicle, Phukha, the salt wells)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.