Page 135 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OP SIAM
129,
Naresuen to accompany him, Prince Ekat'otsarot being
left behind as Regent at Ayut'ia. Prince Naresuen fell
ill with on the The Burmese therefore
smallpox Way.
proceeded to Wiengchan without their Siamese auxiliaries. 1
In and Siam was disturbed further
1575 1578 by
Cambodian invasions. 1 The Cambodians were
repulsed
on both occasions, but they succeeded in capturing a
number of in her
large prisoners. Siam, depopulated
condition, could ill afford this constant drain upon
her manhood. these Cambodian raids the
During
young Black Prince had several opportunities of
his and his
displaying military capacity personal
courage.
After the Cambodian invasion of 1578 P'ya Chin
Chantu, a Cambodian nobleman who had been visiting
as a but in
Ayut'ia, ostensibly political refugee, reality
as a The Black Prince and his
spy, escaped away.
young brother pursued the fugitive. An action ensued,
in which Prince Naresuen astonished all beholders his
by
reckless disregard of danger. From that time onwards
he to be looked both in Siam and in
began upon, Burma,
as the one man to undertake the difficult task of
likely
his from Burmese dominion.
freeing country
In Princess the of
1578 MahaT'ewi, Regent Chiengmai,
died. set one of his own
Bhureng Noung thereupon up
*This was the second Burmese invasion of Wiengchan Luang P'rabang
territory since the fall of Ayut'ia. The first was in 1569-70. King Jai Jett'a,
as usual, fled to the jungle with the greater part of the population of Wiengchan,
and the Burmese retired, after suffering great hardships from famine and disease.
In 1571 King Jai Jett'a, while engaged in a war in Cambodia, lost himself in the
jungle, and was never seen again a judgment on him, perhaps, for stealing all
the best images of Buddha from Chieng nai. After some disturbances, an infant
son of Jai Jett'a was set up as King, with one P'ya Sn Suren K'wang
Regent. The King of Burma insisted on the abdication of the Regeg
of a brother of King Jai Jett'a, who had been a prisoner in
this demand. Henc
invasion of 1565. The Regent ignored
1574, which resulted in the capture of Pnnce Noh Keo and tlj
brother of King Jai Jett'a to the throne of Wiengchan as
This marks the extreme limit attained by Bhureng Noung's i
threw off the Burmese yoke in 1595.
1
King Boromoraja of Cambodia died in 1576, and was
who assumed the title of P'ra Satt'a
Is