Page 173 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM 16$

Siam. In 1607 the old Prince died, after a reign of
His eldest who suc-
nearly twenty-eight years. son,
ceeded him, died in 1609. The second son, after a brief
was forced the
reign, by Chiengmai nobles to abdicate,
and the youngest son, Thadogyaw, became Prince of
Chiengmai in 1611.
The King of Burma now determined to re-annex
Chiengmai. It may easily be supposed that the spectacle
of a so related to himself
family nearly ruling Chiengmai
as vassals of the King of Siam was extremely galling. He
first tried to split up the Chiengmai dominions by in-
one Chaban as Prince of under
stalling P'ya Chiengsen,
Burmese in he invaded
tutelage ; later, 1614, Chiengmai,
in order to the Prince The
depose young Thadogyaw.
for some abandoned the of
latter, reason, city Chiengmai,
choosing rather to protect his throne by fortifying and
The was and
defending Lamp'ang. siege long arduous,
and would have resulted in a Burmese defeat had not the
Chief of Nan lent his aid at the critical moment, supplying
of which the were in need.
provisions besiegers urgent
The Prince died the or to
young during siege, according
some accounts, was executed by the King of Burma when
1 and the Chief of Nan was installed to
Lamp'ang fell,
rule Chiengmai as a vassal of Burma.
Among the prisoners taken by the Burmese on this
occasion was an Englishman named Thomas Samuel,
who had been at for a few as
living Chiengmai years
Agent of the East India Company. He was taken to
Pegu, where he died not long afterwards.
Siamese records no to assist the Prince
history attempt
of Chiengmai. From foreign sources, however, we
gather that a Siamese army was sent to the north. It

1 The trouble in those days was that you were certain to be regarded as a
traitor by one King or another.