The Lanna Kingdom, also spelled Lan Na, was a kingdom centered in present-day Northern Thailand which existed from the 13th to 18th centuries.
The cultural development of the Northern Thai people began earlier, in the kingdoms that preceded it. Lanna grew out of Ngoenyang and by the 15th century was strong enough to fight the Ayutthaya Kingdom on equal terms. It weakened thereafter and became a vassal state of the Toungoo dynasty in 1558. A succession of vassal kings followed, some of them with considerable autonomy. Burmese control slackened and then tightened again as the Konbaung dynasty extended its reach. In 1775 the Lanna chiefs left Burmese allegiance for Siam, which brought on the Burmese–Siamese War (1775–76).
Burmese control ended with the retreat of that force, and Siam under Taksin of the Thonburi Kingdom took Lanna in 1776. From then on, Lanna became a vassal state of Siam under the succeeding Chakri dynasty.
Throughout the latter half of the 1800s, the Siamese state dismantled Lanna independence, absorbing it into the emerging Siamese nation-state. Beginning in 1874, the Siamese state reorganized Lanna Kingdom as Monthon Phayap, brought under the direct control of Siam. The thesaphiban system introduced in 1899 brought it under central administration. By 1909, when Siam settled its borders with the British and the French, Lanna had ceased to exist as a separate polity.
Names
The Lanna kingdom is known by a number of exonyms in neighboring languages. In Burmese chronicles and sources, it is called Zinme Pyi (Burmese: ဇင်းမယ်ပြည်, pronounced [zɪ́ɰ̃mɛ̀ pjì]), Zinme being a Burmese language transcription of Chiang Mai; or Yun Pyi (ယွန်းပြည်, [jʊ́ɰ̃ pjì]), Yun being the Burmese term for the ethnic Tai Yuan from northern Thailand. In the Laotian language, it is known as Anachak Lanna (Lao: ອານາຈັກລ້ານນາ).
The Pali chronicles refer to the kingdom as Yonaraṭṭha (Kingdom of the Yun) or Bingaraṭṭha (Kingdom of the Mae Ping). In the Chinese History of the Yuan, it is called Babai Xifu (Pa-pai-si-fu) (Chinese: 八百媳妇; pinyin: Bābǎi Xífù; lit. 'Eight Hundred Wives'), first attested in 1292.
In the Chiang Mai Chronicle, the name of the kingdom is attested as Mueang Lanna (Lanna: ᨾᩮᩬᩥᨦᩃ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨶᨶᩣ, pronounced [mɯa̯ŋ˧.laːn˦˥.naː˧], "Country of a Million Rice Fields"), or Mueang Lanna Tai (Lanna: ᨾᩮᩬᩥᨦᩃ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨶᨶᩣᨴᩱ᩠ᨿ, pronounced [mɯa̯ŋ˧.laːn˦˥.naː˧.taj˧]).
History
Early establishment
Mangrai, the 25th king of Ngoenyang (modern Chiang Saen) of the Lavachangkaraj dynasty, whose mother was a princess of a kingdom in Sipsongpanna ("the twelve nations"), centralized the mueangs of Ngoenyang into a unified kingdom or mandala and allied with the neighboring Phayao Kingdom. In 1262, Mangrai moved the capital from Ngoenyang to the newly founded Chiang Rai, naming the city after himself. Mangrai then expanded to the south and subjugated the Mon kingdom of Hariphunchai (centered on modern Lamphun) in 1281. Mangrai moved his capital several times. Flooding drove him from Lamphun, and he built Wiang Kum Kam in 1286 or 1287 and stayed there until 1292. He founded Chiang Mai in 1296 and made it the capital. Claimed territories of Mangrai's Lanna include the modern northern Thai provinces (with the exception of Phrae, which was under the vassalage of Sukhothai, and Phayao and Nan), Kengtung, Mong Nai, and Chiang Hung (now Jinghong in Yunnan). He also reduced to vassalage and received tribute from areas of modern Northern Vietnam, principally in the Black and Red river valleys, and most of Northern Laos, plus the Sipsongpanna of Yunnan where his mother originated.
Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit place Lanna among three loose confederations of towns that formed in the interior between the end of the 13th century and the middle of the 14th, the others being Lan Xang on the middle Mekong and an unnamed group at the edge of the hills that Ayutthaya called the mueang nuea or Northern Cities. On their account, a lingering warrior ethic and a landscape of river valleys divided by hill ridges kept such confederations loose and fractious, drawn together at intervals by a strong leader through conquest, alliance, and marriage, and soon after pulled apart by feuds.
The laws of Mangrai give some shape to the society beneath those chiefs. People were organised under officials holding titles on a decimal scale, a system Baker and Pasuk take to have been inherited from the Han Chinese or the Mongols. The nobility fell into at least three groups, the ruler's own family, other nobles who took part in his coronation, and the sub-rulers of outlying settlements with their families. The same laws hold up the Mara lords as the type of bad rulership. Baker and Pasuk also note that when Mangrai moved his capital to Chiang Mai he began building the market at the same time as the palace.
The basin was not empty before him. Excavation in the Lamphun basin has dated three burial grounds with grave goods, Yang Thong Tai to 500 BCE–100 CE, San Pa Kha to 138–618 CE and Wang Hai to 478–578 CE, and an iron-tool production site at Ban Hong to 554–595 CE. Saiklang Jindasu, reporting them, states that the people who left this material are not definitely identified, and only that they were likely a group holding the lowland before the arrival of the Dvaravati population from Lavapura that founded Hariphunchai. The Lanna chronicles give that population the name Lua, a term the Tai used for any group speaking a non-Tai language, and credit it with iron working. They place a Lua chief named Phraya Wiwo at a town called Chetthaburi, and record a Lua leader, Wilangkha, attacking Hariphunchai and withdrawing to the hills after his defeat. Ai Fa, described as a Lua, is said to have acted for Mangrai inside Hariphunchai before its fall, which the same account dates to 1283, and to have been made its ruler in 1296. A party of Lua leading a black dog before the king is recorded in the foundation procession of Chiang Mai. Jindasu adds that Lawachangkarat, the progenitor of Mangrai's line, is conjectured to have been of Lua descent.
Disunity and prosperity
Mangrai died around 1311 and was succeeded by his second son Grama, or Chaiyasongkhram (Khun Khram), who soon retired to Chiang Rai and appointed his son Saenphu Uparaja of Chiang Mai. Mangrai's youngest son, ruler of Mong Nai, returned to claim the throne and occupied Haripunjaya. Saenphu and his brother Nam Thuem fled to their father at Chiang Rai, and Nam Thuem drove their uncle out and restored Saenphu in 1322 or 1324. Saenphu founded the city of Chiang Saen in 1325 or 1328, before he died in 1334. His son Khamfu reigned only a few years and was succeeded by his own son Phayu, who returned the capital to Chiang Mai, fortified the city and built Wat Phra Singh.
Theravada Buddhism prospered under Kue Na, who founded the stupa on Doi Suthep in 1386. Kue Na promoted the Lankawongse sect and invited monks from Sukhothai to replace the existing Mon Theravada that Lanna inherited from Haripunchai.
Lanna was at peace under Saenmueangma, whose name means that ten thousand cities come to pay tribute. The one disturbance was a failed rebellion by his uncle Prince Mahaprom, who appealed to Ayutthaya; Borommaracha I sent troops and they were repelled. That was the first armed conflict between the two kingdoms. Lanna faced invasions from the newly established Ming Dynasty in the reign of Samfangkaen.
Expansions under Tilokaraj
The Lanna kingdom was strongest under Tilokaraj (1441–1487). Tilokaraj seized the throne from his father Samfangkaen in 1441. Tilokaraj's brother, Thau Choi, rebelled to reclaim the throne for his father and sought Ayutthayan support. Borommaracha II sent his troops to Lanna in 1442 but was repelled and the rebellion was suppressed. Tilokaraj conquered the neighbouring kingdom of Phayao in 1456.
To the south, the emerging Kingdom of Ayutthaya was also growing powerful. Relations between the two kingdoms had worsened since the Ayutthayan support of Thau Choi's rebellion. In 1451, Yutthitthira, a Sukhothai royal who had conflicts with Trailokanat of Ayutthaya, gave himself to Tilokaraj. Yuttitthira urged Tilokaraj to invade Pitsanulok which he had claims on, igniting the Ayutthaya-Lanna War over the Upper Chao Phraya valley (i.e. the Kingdom of Sukhothai). In 1460, the governor of Chaliang surrendered to Tilokaraj. Lanna called the town Chiang Chuen while it held it. Tilokaraj removed the governor after two years and set Muen Dang Nakhon over it in 1462, who held it for twelve years until Ayutthaya recovered the town in 1474. Trailokanat then used a new strategy and concentrated on the wars with Lanna by moving the capital to Pitsanulok. Lanna suffered setbacks and Tilokaraj eventually sued for peace in 1475.
Tilokaraj was also a strong patron of Theravada Buddhism. In 1477, the Buddhist Council to recompile the Tripitaka was held near Chiang Mai. Tilokaraj also built and rehabilitated many notable temples. Tilokaraj then expanded west to the Shan States of Laihka, Hsipaw, Mong Nai, and Yawnghwe.
Decline
After Tilokaraj the kingdom fell into princely struggles that left it unable to defend itself against its growing neighbours, and the Shan states broke free of the control he had established. The last strong ruler was King Kaew who was the great-grandson of Tilokaraj. In 1507, Kaew invaded Ayutthaya but was repelled, and was invaded in turn in 1513 by Ramathibodi II and Lampang was sacked. In 1523, a dynastic struggle occurred in Kengtung State. One faction sought Lanna support while another faction went for Hsipaw. Kaew then sent Lanna armies to re-exert control there but was readily defeated by Hsipaw armies. The defeat was heavy enough that Lanna never recovered that dominance.
In 1538, King Ket, son of Kaew, was overthrown by his own son Thao Saikham. Saikham was murdered by the nobility after five years, Ket was restored in 1543 but suffered mental illness and was assassinated in 1545. Ket's wife, Chiraprapha, then succeeded her husband as the queen regnant. With Lanna weakened by these struggles, both Ayutthaya and the Burmese saw an opening. Chairacha of Ayutthaya invaded Lanna in 1545, but Chiraprapha negotiated for peace. He returned the next year, sacked Lampang and Lamphun and threatened Chiang Mai itself, and Chiraprapha was forced to accept tributary status under Ayutthaya.
Under that pressure Chiraprapha abdicated in 1546, and the nobility gave the throne to her grandson Prince Xaysettha of Lan Xang, so that Lanna came under a Lao king. In 1547, Prince Xaysettha returned to Lan Xang to claim the throne and ascended as Setthathirath. Setthathirath also brought the Emerald Buddha from Chiangmai to Luang Prabang (the one that would be later taken to Bangkok by Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke). The nobles then chose Mekuti, the Shan saopha of Mong Nai whose family was related to Mangrai, to be the new king of Lanna. Forbes and Henley report that Mekuti, as a Shan king, violated several Lanna norms and beliefs.
Burmese rule
The kingdom then fell into conflict with the expansionist Burmese king Bayinnaung over the Shan states. Bayinnaung's forces invaded Lanna from the north, and Mekuti surrendered on 2 April 1558. Encouraged by Setthathirath, Mekuti revolted during the Burmese–Siamese War (1563–64). Burmese forces captured him in November 1564 and sent him to the Burmese capital at Pegu. Bayinnaung then made Wisutthithewi, a Lanna royal, the queen regnant of Lanna. After her death, Bayinnaung appointed one of his sons Nawrahta Minsaw (Noratra Minsosi), viceroy of Lanna in January 1579. Burma allowed a substantial degree of autonomy for Lanna but strictly controlled the corvée and taxation.
Bayinnaung's empire unravelled quickly after his death. Siam revolted successfully between 1584 and 1593, and by 1596 or 1597 the vassals of Pegu had all gone their own way. Lanna's Nawrahta Minsaw declared independence in 1596. In 1602, Nawrahta Minsaw became a vassal of King Naresuan of Siam. Siamese control was short-lived. It ended in practice with Naresuan's death in 1605, and by 1614 it was nominal at most. When the Burmese returned, the ruler of Lanna, Thado Kyaw (Phra Choi), sought and received help from Lan Xang rather than from Siam, his nominal overlord, which sent none. After 1614, vassal kings of Burmese descent ruled Lanna for over one hundred years. Siam did try to take over Lanna in 1662–1664 but failed.
By the 1720s the Toungoo dynasty was near its end. In 1727, Chiang Mai revolted because of high taxation. The resistance forces drove back the Burmese army in 1727–1728 and 1731–1732, after which Chiang Mai and Ping valley became independent. Chiang Mai became a vassal again in 1757 to the new Burmese dynasty. It revolted again in 1761 with Siamese encouragement but the rebellion was suppressed by January 1763. In 1765 the Burmese used Lanna as the base for invasions of the Lao states and of Siam itself.