The Lao muang of the middle Mekong

Who rules

Title

Chao muang of each valley (no ruler of the whole is attested)

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

The Lao chronicles (Nithan Khun Borom; Khun Lo, Khun Chuang, Chet Chuang of Muang Phuan) are legend, written down centuries later; the English Wikipedia articles on Muang Sua and Muang Phuan repeat them with dates (Khun Lo 698, Khun Chuang 1128-1169) that no inscription supports.

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia (Muang Sua; Muang Phuan; Vientiane; Plain of Jars) and the brief; no Lao, Khmer or Chinese source we could read names a chief of the middle Mekong for 1200.

Overlord

None attested. Angkor's claim is shown only at the Vientiane plain (hospital stele of Sai Fong, 1186); Dali's Duan kings are the other great neighbour; Chiang Rung (Tai north) lies up the river.

What the realm holds

• Muang Sua (Luang Prabang) at the Nam Khan mouth, the river landing, the benzoin, lac and cardamom of the hills
• The Nam Ou road and Pak Ou, the turning north to Yunnan
• Wiang Chan (Vientiane) and the great bend of the Mekong with its plain
• Muang Phuan (Xieng Khouang), the Plain of Jars plateau, with iron and the passes to Nghe An
• The narrows of Pak Beng and the Nam Beng road from the north
• Tolls and landing dues on the river boats, the right to levy labour and rice from the valley villages

How it was acquired

Not known. The muang grew from older Mon-Khmer and Tai settlements; the Plain of Jars has secondary burials of the 8th to 13th centuries (English Wikipedia).

Allies and rivals

Angkor to the south (Khmer hospital at Sai Fong, 1186; Khmer-style stonework under Wat Si Muang, Vientiane); Dali and its Tai muang to the north (Chiang Rung is twenty years old on the Dai chronicle, the Tai north researcher's); Dai Viet over the passes (the Vietnamese notice of 1135 has 'Van Dan', read as Vientiane, a vassal of Zhenla raiding Nghe An); the hill peoples, Kha (Khmu) above all, who gather the forest goods.

The realm that morning

Quiet and unrecorded. No Lao, Khmer, Chinese or Vietnamese source names a chief, a war or a tribute for 1200. The river is the road: boats go up to Muang Sua and down to the Khone falls. The Khmer hospital at Sai Fong shows an Angkorian hand on the Vientiane plain; Muang Sua and Muang Phuan are not shown to owe anything to Angkor.

Wealth

Benzoin, stick lac and cardamom from the Nam Ou hills; iron and ponies from the Xieng Khouang plateau; river tolls and transhipment; rice from narrow flats; people taken in raids on the Kha.

Military

Stockaded valley seats, levies of the muang villages, river boats. No numbers.

Threats

• Angkor claiming the river
• Raids from the Kha and the hill peoples
• Dali's pressure from the north (Mongols in Dali are 1253)
• Dai Viet across the passes

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. 1253The Mongols destroy Dali; Tai movement south into the Mekong valleys speeds up.Depends on: Mongol armies reaching Yunnan (the brief: not before 1253). Stopped by: No Mongol conquest of Dali.
2. 1271 to 1316 (English Wikipedia: Panya Lang, then Panya Khamphong; doubtful)A Tai dynasty rules Muang Sua as a sovereign state in the Mongol age.Depends on: Weak Khmer and Dali control. Stopped by: Not corroborated by any inscription.
3. 1353 (1354 in some accounts)Fa Ngum, raised at Angkor, takes Muang Sua and founds Lan Xang.Depends on: Khmer backing and the older Lao chronicle tradition. Stopped by: No Fa Ngum.

Places of note

• Muang Sua: River landing at the Nam Khan mouth.
• Wiang Chan: The great bend of the Mekong.
• Muang Phuan: The Plain of Jars plateau (Xieng Khouang).

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry muang-sua-luang-prabang says a ruling line existed for centuries: agreed that this is the chronicle's claim, written long after; we name no ruler.
• English Wikipedia (Muang Sua) says Nanzhao occupied the town in 709; Nanzhao was founded about 738, so the date is legend.
• English Wikipedia (Muang Sua) gives Khmer suzerainty 1185 to 1191 (Ray 2009, a travel guide); not corroborated by any inscription; we do not use it.
• The campaign board entry wiang-chan-vientiane: placed as a crossing and landing, not as anyone's seat. Agreed; the Khmer hospital stele of Sai Fong (1186) is the only dated sign of a ruler's hand.

Evidence: Chronicles written centuries later, Wikipedia summaries of them, one Khmer hospital stele, and archaeology of the Plain of Jars. No ruler can be named.

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

On the map: Four loose blocks; the muang had centres and no frontiers. The tool's Luang Prabang name is Louangphabang.

Primary sources for this realm

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