Wiang Chan

Who he is

Title

Chao muang of Wiang Chan (Chanthabuli in the later chronicles)

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

The Chiang Saen chronicle (1834) and Chiang Mai local legends, cited by English Wikipedia (Vientiane), say a 'Phraya Chanthaburi' of Vientiane and his brother Tao Gwa attacked Ngoenyang in 1171 and failed, and that the younger Chueang brother later set his youngest son Lao Pao at Vientiane. These are late chronicle tales on the Tai north researcher's ground; we name nobody for 1200.

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia (Vientiane): a Vietnamese inscription of 1159 (Taylor 1995, p. 65) is read as naming Van Dan (Vientiane) a vassal of Zhenla, which invaded Nghe An in 1135; we have not seen the text. Khmer-style stonework has been dug out from under later Lao buildings (board).

Overlord

Angkor on the weak evidence of a hospital stele (Sai Fong, 1186) and a Vietnamese notice read as 'vassal of Zhenla'; otherwise none attested.

What it holds

• The river crossing and landing at the bend
• The plain of Vientiane and the Nam Ngum mouth
• The Khmer hospital of Sai Fong (1186)
• Rice flats on both banks

How things stand that morning

A crossing under a local chief with an Angkorian foundation on his ground; no recorded event.

Wealth

River crossing tolls, rice, the iron and ponies that come from the uplands.

Places of note

• Wiang Chan: The great bend.
• Sai Fong hospital: Find-spot of the 1186 hospital stele (not checked).

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry wiang-chan-vientiane: 'placed as a crossing and a landing rather than as anyone's seat'. Agreed.
• The English Wikipedia 1171 story belongs to the Tai north researcher's Ngoenyang chronicle and is not used for 1200.

Evidence: One hospital stele, one Vietnamese notice read through Wikipedia, later chronicle.

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

On the map: A disc round the bend; the real reach is unknown.

Primary sources for Lao muang of the middle Mekong

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.
• Inscriptions of Pagan, Pinya and Ava; Inscriptions of Burma, Various (the Pagan kings, queens, ministers and donors), edited by Tun Nyein, Taw Sein Ko, G. H. Luce and Pe Maung Tin (inscriptions of the 11th to 14th centuries; editions 1899 and 1933 to 1956). The dedicatory inscriptions of Pagan are the only contemporary texts for the kingdom of Narapatisithu (reigning 1174 to 1211). 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