Khmer-orbit town; not a Tai kingdom.
A town on the Yom with Khmer shrines inside it: Wat Phra Phai Luang (built in the late 12th century in the reign of Jayavarman VII, with a Jayabuddhamahanatha-type image perhaps enshrined by 1191), Wat Si Sawai (a Vishnu shrine of the late 12th or early 13th century) and the Ta Pha Daeng shrine (English Wikipedia). English Wikipedia says a Khmer-style town 'appeared probably around 1200' and the larger walled town was made later in the century. The campaign board's 'Khmer governor' is a later story: the stele of 1292 names a Khmer-titled lord, Khom Sabat Khlon Lamphong, driven out by the Tai brothers Bang Klang Hao and Pha Mueang in 1238 or 1239 (Wyatt: about 1243), and Baker and Pasuk reject the 'liberation' framing; no Angkorian administration of the plain is shown.
Siam is a people, not a state, and Ram Khamhaeng is two reigns later still. The gazetteer's Sukhothai (17.008, 99.823) is the modern town 12 km east of the old city.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known; a Khmer-titled lord named in the stele of 1292 (see the Sukhothai record)
- Title
- Lord of Sukhothai (Khom Sabat Khlon Lamphong in the later story; not pinned)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Sukhothai Historical Park; Sukhothai Kingdom), Wyatt, Baker and Pasuk.
Lord in 1200
Not known; a Khmer-titled lord named in the stele of 1292 (see the Sukhothai record)
How things stand that morning
A Khmer-orbit town with Khmer shrines; no attested governor; Tai chiefs already live in the plain.
Communities
Mon, Lawa and Tai villagers; Khmer-speaking elite on one reading.
Trade and crafts
Forest goods, lac, iron, hides; stoneware (Sawankhalok kilns, 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.
- 1238 to 1243 (1238 conventional; Wyatt about 1243)The Tai brothers Bang Klang Hao and Pha Mueang take Sukhothai and Chaliang; Bang Klang Hao becomes Si Inthrathit.Depends on: A Tai chiefly house in the plain and a Khmer-orbit lord too weak to answer. Stopped by: A Khmer court able to hold the Yom.
Places of note
- Wat Phra Phai Luang: Khmer-style shrine of the late 12th century.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry sukhothai-sukhodaya: 'a Khmer governor over it'. Not shown; Baker and Pasuk reject it. The Tai revolt is conventionally 1238 to 1240, not secure.
Evidence: Monuments firm; every name is from the 1292 stele or later.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Seeds round the old city.
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
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Sukhothai Historical Park
- English Wikipedia, Sukhothai Kingdom
- Wyatt, Thailand: A Short History (Yale, 1984; 2nd ed. 2003)
- Baker and Pasuk, A History of Thailand
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.