Somdet Phra Naresuan Maharaj or Somdet Phra Sanpet II (1555, 25 April - 1605)was the King of Ayutthaya kingdom from 1590 until his death in 1605.
Early lifePrince Naret was born in the city of Phitsanulok on 25 April 1555. He was the son of King Maha Thammarachathirat of Pitsanulok and his queen Wisutkasat. Prince Naret was also known as the Black Prince to distinguish him from his siblings. The Black Prince had a younger brother Ekathotsarot who was known as the White Prince and an elder sister Supankanlaya or the Golden Princess.
In 1563, Bayinnaung the King of Pegu marched massive Burmese armies to invade Siam. Bayinnuang laid siege on Pitsanulok. Maha Thammarachathirat was then convinced that he would be unable to hold the city for long. So he surrendered. Bayinnuang took Pitsanulok made a Burmese tributary. Maha Thammarachathirat have to send his sons - the Black Prince and White Prince - to Pegu as captives to ensure fidelity of Maha Thammarchathirat.
At BurmeseNaret, along with other captive princes from other kingdoms, were educated in martial arts and war strategy of Burmese and Portuguese style. He was later noted for his new tactics that enabled him to gain victory over the Burmese. Naret then found himself under competition with Bayinnuang's grandson (Nanda Bayin's son) Minchit Sra.
In 1569, Bayinnuang was able to take Ayutthaya and installed Maha Thammarachathirat as the King of Ayutthaya. After seven years of captivity, Prince Naret, along with his brother the White Prince, was released to Ayutthaya in exchange for his sister Supankanlaya as Bayinnuang's concubine.
King of SukhothaiMaha Thammarachathirat made Naret the Uparaja and King of Pitsanulok as Naresuan in 1569, aged 14. In 1574, Naresuan joined his father in the expedition to conquer Vientiane but he suffered smallpox.
In 1581, Bayinnuang died, to be succeeded by his son Nanda Bayin. In 1583, Nanda Bayin's uncle who was the Lord of Innwa rebelled against his newphew at Pegu. Nanda Bayin then requested for Siamese troops and supports against Innwa. Naresuan marched the Siamese armies to Innwa but slowly to leave the rebellion defeated before he would reach Innwa or else the Lord of Innwa would get Nanda Bayin.
However, this raised Nanda Bayin's suspicions about Naresuan's loyalty. Nanda Bayin then secretly ordered his son Minchit Sra to defeat Naresuan's army and kill him upon reaching Pegu and ordered Kiet and Ram - the two Mons of the city of Kraeng on the Sittoung River - to attack Naresuan on the rear after he had passed Kraeng while Minchit Sra would attack the front.
Naresuan reached Kraeng in 1584. However, Ram and Kiet were Naresuan's childhood acquintances, so they informed Naresuan about Nanda Bayin's plans. Naresuan, upon realising the intentions of Nanda Bayin, performed a ceremony to denounce Burmese tributary, saying;
"All the holy deities with universal knowledge, the King of Hanthawaddi doesn't embrace the fidelity as the kings should do but is indeed intended to hurt me. From now on, the alliance of Ayutthaya and Hanthawaddi breaks, forever."
Naresuan then levied the Mons to join his campaigns under the leadership of Kiet and Ram and then marched to Pegu. However, Nanda Bayin had already defeated the Lord of Innwa and was marching back to Pegu. Naresuan decided to retreat but Minchit Sra himself led the Peguan army to follow Naresuan. The Burmese caught the Siamese at Sittoung River, culminating the Battle of Sittoung River. The legend says that Naresuan shot a fire at a Burmese general accurately across the Sittoung River - called the "Royal Shot Across the Sittoung River" After the death of his general, Minchit Sra retreated.
In 1583, Naresuan ordered all northern cities including Pitsanulok to be evacuated as it would became the warfronts between Ayutthaya and Pegu. So, Pitsanulok ceased to be the seat of Sukhothai kingdom and Naresuan became, therefore, the last king of Sukhothai.
In the same year Nanda Bayin ordered his uncle the Lord of Pathein and Noratra Mangsosri the Burmese King of Lanna to lead the Burmese armies into Siam but was defeated by the Siamese. In 1586, Nanda Bayin himself led the Burmese armies to Ayutthaya and laid siege on the city for 13 months and failed. In 1590, Maha Thammarachathirat died. Naresuan was crowned as the King of Ayutthaya as Sanpet II.
Reign as King of AyutthayaYuttahadhi
In 1592, Nanda Bayin ordered his son to attack Ayutthaya again. Minchit Sra, along with the Lord of Pyay, Nat Shin Naung the son of the Lord of Toungoo, and the Burmese King of Lanna, led the Burmese into Siam. Minchit Sra himself went through Chedi Sam Ong peacefully and reached Suphanburi, while other came from the north. Naresuan was planning to conquer Cambodia, but then he had to change his intentions. Naresuan encamped his armies at Nong Sarai. The Burmese then arrived, leading to the Battle of Nong Sarai.
During the battle, the elephants of Naresuan and Ekathotsarot went mad and ran into the midst of the Burmese. Siamese Chronicles stated that there were fake Minchit Sras but Naresuan pointed out the real one from the honorary decorations. Naresuan then urged Minchit Sra to fight with him: My brother, why do you hide yourself in the canopy shadows? Let us fight the elephant battle for our own honors. No future kings will do what we are going to do.
The personal battle between Naresuan and Minchit Sra was a highly-romanticized historical scene known as Yuttahadhi, the Elephant battle. Minchit Sra was slashed to death on the back of his elephant. This was on Monday, the 2nd waning day of the 2nd month of the Buddhis calendar Chulasakarat Era year 954. Calculated to correspond to Monday, 18 January, AD 1593 of the Gregorian calendar, this date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day. Naresuan then built a pagoda on the site of Yutthahadhi as a victory monument. However, modern historians are still unable to locate the pagoda.
Naresuan intended to execute all the soldiers in the battle of Nong Sarai who had provided no support to him and his brother. Somdet Phra Wannarat - a bhikkhu - calmed Naresuan to get him to lift the punishment. Naresuan then instead ordered them to take Tavoy and Tenasserim.
Tavoy and TenasserimIn 1593, Naresuan sent Siamese forces to lay siege on Tavoy - a Mon city - by the Minister of Kromma Tha and Tenasserim and Mergui by the Samuha Kalahom , all quickly fell. Nanda Bayin lauched Burmese fleets to recapture the cities. The Samuha Kalahom then seized the galleons at Mergui to construct a fleet and sailed and marched his armies on land to counter Burmese attack from Martaban. The Siamese were then able to repel the Burmese.
Capture of LovekAfter Yuttahadhi, Naresuan then launched his campaigns to subjugate Cambodia. He sent four armies to capture Champasak, Banteymas (modern Ha Tien in Vietnam), Siem Reap, and Naresuan himself Battambang - all to be joined at Lovek. In 1594, they all reached Lovek and looted Lovek to the grounds. King Chetta of Lovek was executed by the Prathomkarm ceremony (breaking one's head). The Siamese then captured the Cambodian royal family as captives.
Naresuan later installed a new king of Cambodia, now centered on Srei Sonthor, as a Siamese tributary
DeathAnaukpetlun crowned himself as the King of Ava to counter Toungoo and went on his campaigns to subjugate the Shans. However, the Shan King of Hsenwi was Naresuan's childhood friend. So, he marched armies to rescue Hsenwi. During his journey, however, Naresuan died in 1605.
According to Prince Damrong's Our Wars with the Burmese, King Naresuan died in 1605 during another battle with the Burmese, speared by Burmese soldiers as he attempted to climb over a garrison's wall in Tambon Thung Kaew, Mueang Hang.
However, recent studies of Burmese records by historians of Silpakorn University showed that he actually returned to Wiang Haeng, where he died of disease, probably smallpox.
His brother King Ekathotsarot became his successor as king.
According to the Shan, King Naresuan helped them win independence for the Shan State in 1600 with his ally, the Prince of Hsenwi. Both had been hostages at the Burmese court, and King Naresuan died while rushing to the aid of a friend of his youth, they say.
Many Shan believe King Naresuan was cremated and his ashes interred in a stupa in Mongton, in the southern part of the Shan State.
