Strange Events in Cambodia and Laos: C16th Dutch Explorers Report - Page: 2

In the C17th, Dutch and Portuguese merchants, soldiers, diplomats and priests contended with each other and with contingents from Japan, Vietnam, Persia, India and China to gain influence over the monarchs and mandarins of the courts of mainland Southeast Asia. Their aims were both financial, especially the trade with the Chinese Emperor and, in the case of the Catholic Portuguese, religious, through the desire to convert the people and save their souls. The reports they sent back home, together with their journals and business correspondence, provide not only numerous colourful details about the life and times of the people with which they met but also help us to understand a period of history in which few consistent details from indigenous sources exist.

The customs of the Cambodian court - this was in the years after the collapse of the Khmer Empire and the abandonment of the great achievements of the past - involved recognising as potential king the sons of important concubines as well as wives and the unwillingness of existing kings to eliminate all their descendants who might one day claim the throne, meant that revolution, coup and bloodshed were common occurrences. Here, the Dutch observer describes one such palace coup:

"The present king of Cambodia is of royal stock. His father and two of his brothers had been kings themselves. Young, bold and audacious - and being renowned for this - the kings had always treated him with circumspection, fearing that one day he might live up to his reputation. Unfortunately this did indeed happen, causing him to take the life of the elder king (his uncle) and the latter's oldest son."

A plot was soon hatched with the help of a "black slave with a quick and subtle mind." The plan was bloody indeed. The chamberlain of the king was enlisted to help and, while the king was playing cards with his nobles, as was the custom of the evenings, he sneaked up to him was a kris under his clothes:

"[He] ... would then approach the elder king from behind as if, like he was wont to do, to present something to the king. Pretending to do so, he stabbed the king from behind with a kris or assassin's dagger. Subsequently, the plotter jumped up and, extinguishing all candles, started to hack around him in the hope of [killing all] those present. The royal court was immediately set ablaze and this fire was the signal that the houses of all the dignitaries and rulers went up in flames as well, set on fire by people who had been posted there earlier. All around these great flames lighted up the dark night, causing a tremendous panic (pp.10-11)."

The whole of the city was thrown into tumult and no one could be assured of safety. When the new regime took control, they needed to make a demonstration of power and ruthlessness so that all knew who was in control and that no dissent would be tolerated. This was how that was effected:

"In the meantime all the councilors and other qualified statesmen of the elder and younger king were being pursued and tracked down. They were all imprisoned and subsequently tortured to death, which was a horrible spectacle. They were crucified in the following manner: lying on the cross they were cut through the skin, to be flayed all the way to the neck with a sharp sabre, pierced between skin and spine. Then they were nailed to a pole with their hands tied to the cross, their feet standing on a small footrest. Subsequently they were hoisted upright and put on display along the public road. Thus exposed to the heat of the sun some of them managed to survive for three days before expiring (p.12)."

Fortunately, not all of life was so gory and dangerous. There were the pleasant interludes of picnics, river voyages and elephant hunting to enjoy too. Still, these were times in which it seemed that death and misery could descend on anyone at a moment's notice.

References and Further Reading

Casteleyn, Pieter, ed., Strange Events in the Kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos (1635-1644), translated, annotated and with an introduction by Carool Kersten (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2003).

John Walsh, Shinawatra University, August 2005. Blog: http://jcwalsh.bravejournal.com