Lavo

Who he is

Title

Lord (or Khmer prince) of Lavodayapura

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

English Wikipedia (Lavo Kingdom) reports, without a source we could read, that Jayavarman VII appointed a kinsman, Narapatindravarman (spelt Narupatidnavarman there), to govern Lavapura in 1181, and that Coedes recorded a son of the king as 'prince of Lavo'. Songsiri reads such titles as kinship between ruling houses, not administration. A Mon-Tai clan from Chaliang is said to have held Lopburi (same article).

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia (Lavo Kingdom; Lopburi), after Wyatt, Baker and Pasuk, Songsiri. None of the names is dated to 1 January 1200.

Overlord

Angkor by title, at least from Suryavarman I; the strength of the tie in 1200 is argued (see summary).

What it holds

• Lavodayapura with its moat and the Bayon-style towers going up (Phra Prang Sam Yot, Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat prang, San Phra Kan)
• The Lopburi river plain and the Pa Sak mouth
• The Khao Wong Prachan metal field (copper and iron) and its smelting mounds of Non Pa Wai and Nil Kham Haeng, worked since long before the Khmer
• Boat stages on the Chao Phraya and Pa Sak

How it was acquired

By the Khmer from the early 11th century; the local line is older. Not dated.

Allies and rivals

Angkor; Suvarnapura and Chaliang (kin and neighbours); Haripunjaya to the north (northern chronicles tell of wars through the 12th century, all later and the Tai north researcher's ground); the Mon monasteries of the plain.

How things stand that morning

A seat under Khmer titles with Khmer building in progress; its lord is not known. The nearest dated Lopburi text is of 1213, thirteen years later: it is in Khmer, records a Buddha image of Candasvaratana and counts time in the Khmer manner, so it shows the habit of the place but nothing about the winter of 1199 to 1200.

Wealth

Rice, boat tolls, metal, salt and forest goods in transit.

Military

Moat and levies; no numbers.

Threats

• The Tai chiefs of the upper plain
• A weak Angkor after the old king

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. 1289 to 1299Lavo sends its own embassies to the Yuan court (Baker and Pasuk count four, English Wikipedia's table five); it has broken from Angkor.Depends on: A Khmer court too weak to keep its seats. Stopped by: A strong Angkor after Indravarman II.
2. 1351Ramathibodi (U Thong) founds Ayutthaya on the river island and folds Lavo and Suphan Buri into one kingdom.Depends on: A new house on the lower river. Stopped by: No Ayutthaya.

Places of note

• Lavo (Lopburi): The moated town.
• Phra Prang Sam Yot: Bayon-style towers, begun about 1200 or later.
• Khao Wong Prachan: Copper and iron field.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry lavo-lopburi (secure): 'a governor answering to Angkor'. Wyatt found no sign of Angkorian administration; we write a Khmer seat with weight of its own.
• The campaign board entry phra-prang-sam-yot: 'Bayon manner under Jayavarman VII' is style dating; English Wikipedia gives groundbreaking c. 1200 and the early 13th century, so on 1 January 1200 it is at most begun.
• English Wikipedia (Lavo Kingdom) after Wyatt: sixteen dated inscriptions of 1168-1219 from Lopburi and the western plain show no sign of Angkorian political or administrative power ('not conclusive'); Baker and Pasuk: the plain has none of the temple-endowment inscriptions typical of Angkorian provinces. The Preah Khan stele of 1191 lists six western towns among the 23 that received Jayabuddhamahanatha images.

Evidence: Monuments, inscriptions counted by Wyatt, Chinese embassies; no lord named.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: A block round the town and the Pa Sak mouth; the real reach is by boat and road.

Primary sources for Khmer empire

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 Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
• The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. 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.
• History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
• History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
• Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
• 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 Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online

5 more in the sources library for Mainland Southeast Asia.