Page 230 - A History of Siam

CHAPTER XIV

REIGNS OF KING P*ETRAJA, KING P*RACHAO SUA AND KING
T'AI SRA

P'RA P'ETRAJA, on becoming King, assumed the title
of Ramesuen, 1 but he is usually known as King P'etraja.
rid of all the male heirs to the he
Having got throne,
proceeded to marry both the surviving female relatives
of King Narai, namely his sister, Princess Yot'a T'ip,
and his Princess Yot'a 1
daughter, T'ep.
The new King's son, Luang Sarasak, was made Maha
and all his kinsmen received
Uparat, high rank and titles.
The of Christians was continued with
persecution
Most of the French were
great rigour. Jesuits imprisoned
and many native Christians were either killed or severely
It must be borne in that
punished. mind, however,
this was more than
persecution political religious.
Catholicism was proscribed as being identified with the
French. The Portuguese and Dutch do not appear to
have been molested. As for the most of them
English,
were in as a of the war with the East
gaol, consequence
India Company.
The French at still held but the
garrison Bangkok out,
King entered into negotiations with them, as a result
of which it was on that
agreed, September 3Oth, 1688,
all the French should leave Siam in three vessels
troops
1
He is also known by the posthumous title of Maha Burut (the Great Man).
*
According to Turpin, King Narai, on his death-bed, nominated this Princess
as his successor.
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