Ngoenyang, the Tai muang of the Mekong bend

Who rules

Title

Phaya (chief) of Ngoenyang, in a stockaded seat near Doi Tung and the mouth of the Ruak

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

Chronicle names only, and the chronicles disagree. The Chiang Mai Chronicle list as printed on English Wikipedia has Lao Ngoen Rueang 1172 to 1198, then Lao Chuen 1198 to 1219; that article's own reconstruction has Lao Ngoen Rueang 1180 to 1206; the brief's list has Lao Ming 1213 to 1234; Wyatt has Lao Meng 1219 to 1259. Every list gives Lao Meng as Mangrai's father. The holder on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia (Ngoenyang, Mangrai, Phayao Kingdom); chronicle dates are back-calculated from reign lengths.

What the realm holds

• The stockaded seat of Ngoenyang near Doi Tung and the Ruak mouth (its exact site is disputed: the Chiang Saen plain, or Wiang Phang Kham near Mae Sai)
• The river crossings: Sop Ruak, the Sai ford at Mae Sai, and Chiang Khong on the Mekong, where the road from the Ing valley meets the river
• The rice of the lower Kok valley, with the site of the later Chiang Rai (villages, paddy and a knoll in 1200)
• Claims on the Fang valley and on Phayao and the Ing, which the chronicles make cadet lines or allies of the Ngoenyang house
• River tolls, and raids on neighbours for people rather than for ground

How it was acquired

Not known. The chronicles give a long line from a Lawa-descended hero (Lao Chong, 1111 to 1127 in the printed list) down to Mangrai; the early part is legend.

Allies and rivals

Phayao: the Phayao Chronicle makes its first king a younger son of Lao Ngoen Rueang, so a cadet or ally; it is "its own place". Fang: a cadet seat in the chronicles (Mangrai himself will sit there 1275 to 1286). Chiang Rung: Mangrai's mother is a Lue princess of Chiang Hung in the Chiang Mai Chronicle, but that marriage belongs to the 1230s (Mangrai is born 1238 or 1239), so no marriage tie is known to be in force in 1200.

Haripunjaya lies south-west over the Chiang Dao and Wiang Pa Pao passes; no dealing before Mangrai is recorded. Dali: a table note in English Wikipedia says "under the influence of the Dali Kingdom in the early 13th century", with no source given; not used. Kengtung and the Shan valleys across the Sai are Lawa and Shan ground (Burma).

The realm that morning

A Tai chiefdom of rice valleys and river crossings, at peace so far as any source shows. Its lord is not known. The chronicle wars of the 1170s to 1190s (the annexation of Muang Phuan, Muang Sua and Nan in 1172; the death of the hero Phaya Chueang in 1192) belong to the legend cycle and are not used as events. Phayao is a neighbour with its own line of chiefs; Fang is a cadet seat; the Kok valley is villages and paddy.

Wealth

Wet rice of the Kok, Fang and Ing valleys; tolls on the Mekong and the Sai crossings and on the roads between the Shan valleys, Chiang Rung and the Ping country; forest produce from the hills; captives taken in raids. No coin or mint is known.

Military

No numbers survive. Defence is the stockade and ditch of the seat and the hill refuges; the moat and earth wall of the later city of Chiang Saen are of 1329 or after.

Threats

• Quarrels among the Ngoenyang cadet lines (Phayao, Fang) are told in the chronicles but not dated
• Lawa and Shan hill chiefs across the Sai
• The great changes are all later: Mangrai's unification (from 1261) and the Mongols in Dali (1253)

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. 1238 or 1239Mangrai is born (the Chiang Mai Chronicle; 10 October 1238 in one reading), son of Lao Meng and a Lue princess of Chiang Hung.Depends on: The chronicle's genealogy being right. Stopped by: A different line of succession.
2. 1259 or 1261Mangrai succeeds his father at Ngoenyang (1259 in one reading of the Mangrai article, 1261 in the infobox and the Ngoenyang article).Depends on: Lao Meng's death. Stopped by: A rival cadet line taking the seat.
3. 1262Mangrai founds Chiang Rai on the Kok bend and begins to bring the muang together into Lan Na.Depends on: Mangrai's succession and the loyalty of the Kok valley. Stopped by: Revolt of the satellite valleys.
4. 1263 and about 1287Ngammueang of Phayao takes Pua (1263); later Mangrai, Ngammueang and Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai swear friendship on the Ing (undated, about 1287 in one reading).Depends on: A strong Phayao under Ngammueang. Stopped by: A Phayao-Ngoenyang war.
5. 1281, 1291 or 1292; 1296Mangrai takes Lamphun; he founds Chiang Mai in 1296; Saenphu founds the walled city of Chiang Saen in 1329 (English Wikipedia; the campaign board has brick walls in 1328).Depends on: The chronicle sequence being right. Stopped by: Any of the shocks above.

Places of note

• Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen): the stockaded seat above the Mekong
• Sop Ruak: the mouth of the Ruak
• Mae Sai crossing: the Sai ford on the road north
• Chiang Khong: Mekong crossing
• The Kok bend (site of Chiang Rai): villages and paddy; no city
• Wiang Fang: cadet seat on the Fang
• Phayao: lake town at the head of the Ing

Where the sources disagree

• Board (ngoenyang-chiang-saen): "a stockaded seat above the river", "the senior Tai muang of the Kok valley". Kept, but the identification of Ngoenyang with the Chiang Saen site is disputed (English Wikipedia: Ngoenyang is most likely near Doi Tung; Wiang Phang Kham is argued to be the same city).
• English Wikipedia (Chiang Saen): the city was founded in 1329 by Saenphu; its defences are a moat on three sides and an earth wall; it says Ngoenyang "was probably the first major city in the area" and that the name Ngoenyang is still used interchangeably with Chiang Saen. The campaign board's "brick walls go up in 1328" is not in that article.
• Brief: "Lao Ming 1213 to 1234". Not found on the English Wikipedia lists we could read; it gives Lao Chuen 1198 to 1219 (Chiang Mai Chronicle list) or Lao Ngoen Rueang 1180 to 1206 (its reconstruction). Left as not pinned.
• The "Phaya Coeng" of the brief and the Phaya Chueang of the Phayao and Chiang Saen chronicles are the same hero of the Tai epic cycle; his death in 1192 at 79 is in the Chronicle of Chiang Saen (as quoted in the English Phayao article), and the Chinese Wikipedia puts the Dai Phaya Chen's death in 1192 too. See the Chiang Rung record.

Evidence: Chronicles only, all later than 1200: the Chiang Mai Chronicle (begun in the late fifteenth century, text of 1828), the Chronicle of Chiang Saen (cited as 1834), the Yonok Chronicle (edited by Phraya Prachakitkorachak in 1899) and the Phayao Chronicle. No inscription of Ngoenyang is known to me. The muang is known by its valleys; the rulers are not.

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

On the map: The core is drawn on the Chiang Saen basin and the lower Kok; the chronicle claims on Phayao and Fang are shown as claimed. No wall or boundary line is implied.

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 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.