Po-ni, the trading kingdom of Brunei bay

Who rules

Title

King (wang in the Chinese texts; his local title is not known)

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

The Song shi names a king Xiangda (Hsiang-ta) for the embassy of 977 (Taiping Xingguo 2) and records another embassy in 1082 (Yuanfeng 5). No source names the king of 1 January 1200, and we could not read the name the Song shi gives for 1082. Brunei's own lists of rulers (the Salasilah) belong to the fourteenth century and later and are not used.

Overlord

None known. Java's court listed Brunei (Barune) among its dependencies only in 1365 (Nagarakretagama), which is later.

What the realm holds

• The Brunei river and the shore of the bay (the conventional core)
• The harbour: pilotage, anchorage and the ceremonial dues on foreign ships (inferred from a harbour ceremony that we recall the Zhufan zhi describing; unchecked)
• The camphor, hornbill casque, tortoise shell and wax that upriver peoples bring down (traded, not taxed, as far as anyone can tell)
• The Labuan roadstead and the sago coast of the Klias and Padas, by the campaign board's reading only

How it was acquired

Not known. The first Chinese notice is the embassy of 977. Nothing says how the ruling house came to the bay.

Allies and rivals

Trades with Chinese junks (Quanzhou and Canton) and with Javanese, Malay and Cham shipping. Upriver peoples (Murut, Bisaya and Dusun ancestors, in later names) supply the forest goods. Santubong, some 600 km down the coast to the south-west, is another iron and trade town but no source links the two. A claim that Brunei once administered Butuan, Sulu and Ma-i comes from the Yuan-period Nanhai zhi (reported on Wikipedia) and belongs to the fourteenth century.

The realm that morning

The morning of 1 January 1200 falls inside the north-east monsoon, the season when Chinese junks run south, so the bay is at its busiest: early junks are in, the rest are expected through February, and they go home with the south-west wind from about May. Nothing is dated for the winter of 1199 to 1200. The king's name, his court and his hold on the coast are not known. If the 1225 description holds for 1200, the royal town is a settlement within timber defences on the banks of the river, and the ruler oversees the trade in person (inference).

Wealth

Trade in forest produce and sea goods against Chinese ceramics, silk and iron; sago and rice are the staples. No figures are given for 1200.

Military

The English page 'Brunei Empire' speaks of warships; we recall the Zhufan zhi (about 1225) speaking of warships kept to protect the traders and of armoured soldiers (unchecked). All of it is hearsay of twenty-five years after the date and gives no figure that counts for 1200.

Threats

• Sea raiding in the Sulu and Brunei seas (no raid is dated)
• A poor monsoon that keeps the junks away for a season
• Rival ports on the Sarawak and Sabah coasts taking the upriver trade

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. Feb to March 1200The main run of Chinese junks reaches the bay on the north-east monsoon and trades through the spring.Depends on: A normal monsoon and an open sea road from Fujian and Guangdong Stopped by: Storm losses, a closed Chinese port or a raiding season
2. May to June 1200The junks that wintered sail north again on the south-west wind; the royal court sees the departing captains off (a harbour ceremony of this kind is what we recall the Zhufan zhi describing; unchecked).Depends on: The usual wind change Stopped by: A late monsoon, which holds a fleet over a second year

Places of note

• Kota Batu (candidate royal town): Excavated trade town with Song porcelain; the campaign board's centre of Po-ni, not proved.
• Sungai Limau Manis: Riverside site with over fifty thousand sherds of the tenth to fourteenth centuries (Wikipedia, 'Brunei-China relations'); the campaign board's coordinates are approximate.
• Muara roads: The deep-water anchorage at the bay mouth where junks wait out the monsoon.
• Labuan roadstead: Island with water and a lee in either monsoon; no settlement is attested.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry id po-ni-kota-batu marks the centre at Kota Batu as 'contested'. Agreed that it is only a candidate: the excavated town is mostly of later centuries (the sultans' capital from 1368 to 1660 by tradition) though Song porcelain is present (Wikipedia, 'Kota Batu, Brunei'). The royal town of 1200 may lie elsewhere on the Brunei river.
• Where Po-ni lay is open. Wikipedia ('Brunei Empire') reports that Boni in the Chinese sources most likely means western Borneo (Kurz 2013, 2014), and the Tanjungpura chronicle, as Wikipedia gives it, lists a king 'Hyang-Ta' for 900 to 977, which is the same name as Xiangda. That chronicle is a late tradition and is not evidence. The Brunei bay reading is conventional (Hirth and Rockhill 1911), not proved.
• The English page 'Brunei Empire' gives the 977 delegation as led by Abu Ali (Pu Ya Li) with Syeikh Noh (Shih-Nu) and Qadi Kasim (Koh-shin); we recall the Song shi form of the leader's name as P'u-lu-hsieh (a different transliteration; unchecked). Arab-named envoys show Muslim traders at the court, not a Muslim court: a Muslim court at Po-ni is not shown for 1200, and the sultanate (1368 by tradition), the conversion and the Majapahit tribute (1365) are later.
• The Zhufan zhi's figures (about a hundred warships, a capital of ten thousand, fourteen dependent districts) are 1225 hearsay as summarised on Wikipedia and are not given as figures for 1200.
• Dates: 977 is Taiping Xingguo 2 and 1082 is Yuanfeng 5 by the era tables; no month was converted.

Evidence: Two Song-era notices and a heavy excavated trade record establish a polity on this coast; the Chinese texts were not read in the original (only Wikipedia summaries and the Hirth and Rockhill table of contents were reachable). Everything about 1200 itself is inference.

"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 follows the modern Brunei-Muara, Temburong, Tutong and Limbang units around the bay; the real reach of Po-ni's authority is unknown and the second part is only a guess.

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.

• 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
• A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
• Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online
• The Description of the Country, called the Nagarakretagama, Mpu Prapanca (1365 at the Majapahit court). A Majapahit court poem of 1365 listed here only for its retrospect. Read online