The Tai muang of the Yom and the Nan

Who rules

Title

Chiefs (chao) of Phrae (Wiang Kosai) on the Yom and of the valley of Pua on the upper Nan; the salt-well families of Bo Kluea

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

No ruler is named for either valley on 1 January 1200. The Nan Chronicle (compiled in the Bangkok period) starts its line at Pua with Khun Fong and Phukha (Phukha 1269 to 1337 in the Wikipedia infobox); the Phrae chronicle gives a foundation of 828 in the English Wikipedia article, unsourced.

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia (Nan Kingdom, Phrae).

What the realm holds

• Phrae (Wiang Kosai), a moated town on the middle Yom, with the relic hill of Phra That Cho Hae behind it
• Muang Song and the upper Yom on the road toward the Ing and the Mekong
• The rice plain of the upper Nan round Pua; the narrows of the Nan at Wiang Sa below
• The brine wells of Bo Kluea (the sources reach them only from the fourteenth century)
• The lac and forest-produce villages of the Nan uplands, which the Chinese trade lists name without naming where it was gathered

How it was acquired

Not known; both valleys are old rice country and the chronicle lines are later than the facts.

Allies and rivals

Phayao over the ridge to the north-west (its chronicle takes Pua in 1263); Haripunjaya and Khelang Nakhon beyond the Phi Pan Nam; the Chaliang and Sukhothai plain to the south; the Lao muang across the hills to the east (Muang Sua, which the Nan Chronicle ties to Khun Nun, a son of Phukha). None of these dealings is dated before 1263.

The realm that morning

Two valley principalities and a salt district with no recorded lord or event on 1 January 1200. Phrae is a moated town with a relic hill; the upper Nan is settled rice country with no attested muang seat (the chronicle's Pua line starts in the 1260s to 1280s); the Bo Kluea wells are worked by the fourteenth century at least and probably earlier.

Wealth

Salt boiled down from the brine of Bo Kluea and sold by pack and boat to the Yom, the Mekong and the Lao muang; rice of the two valleys; stick lac, wax and forest produce from the hills; teak is cut for local use only.

Military

Nothing recorded. The moated town of Phrae and the hill refuges.

Threats

• Phayao's rise: Ngammueang takes Pua in 1263 in the chronicle
• The Sukhothai rulers' push north up the Yom (after 1238 or about 1243)

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. 1263Ngammueang of Phayao seizes Pua, the Nan capital, and places his son there (Nan Chronicle and Phayao tradition).Depends on: A strong Phayao under Ngammueang (1258 to about 1318). Stopped by: A Nan-Phrae alliance.
2. 1269 to 1337 (Wikipedia infobox)Phukha, the Nan Chronicle's founder of the line; his son Khun Fong founds Pua for the Kao people and another son, Khun Nun, rules Luang Prabang.Depends on: The Nan Chronicle being right on the order. Stopped by: The chronicle's late compilation making the story a later invention.
3. 1292 (disputed)The Ram Khamhaeng stele, whose authenticity has been disputed since 1987, is said (as we recall it, not re-read) to name Phrae and Nan among the places in a Sukhothai ruler's reach.Depends on: The stele's text being genuine of 1292. Stopped by: The stele being a later work.

Places of note

• Phrae (Wiang Kosai): moated town on the Yom
• Pua: rice plain of the upper Nan
• Bo Kluea: the salt wells

Where the sources disagree

• Board (nan-valley-pua): "the Nan chronicle begins its ruling line at Pua under Phu Kha in the 1280s". English Wikipedia: Phukha 1269 to 1337, Pua founded 1282 (infobox), Pua taken 1263. The dates inside the chronicle tradition do not agree.
• Board (bo-kluea-salt): "the workings are old". The only dating we found puts the wells in use by the fourteenth century (Nan Kingdom article); earlier use is probable but not shown.

Evidence: Chronicles only, compiled in the Bangkok period (the Nan Chronicle) or of unstated date (Phrae); no inscription, Chinese notice or excavation we could reach dates the valleys' lords in 1200. The valleys and the salt are certain; the states over them are not.

On the map: Drawn on the valley floors and the salt district; the hills between are shown as the Kha peoples' country.

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.
• 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 Customs of Cambodia, Zhou Daguan (after 1297, from a stay at Angkor in 1296 to 1297). A Chinese envoy's account of Angkor a century after Jayavarman VII, and the only description of the city and its court by an eyewitness. Read online