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97-512: The Code was the basic law of the Mon-speaking kingdom until the mid-16th century when it was adopted by the conquering First Toungoo Empire . Translated into Burmese, Pali and Siamese, it became the basic law of the empire. The Code was adapted into the later dhammathats of the successor states of the empire. In Siam, the Code coexisted alongside other Siamese legal codes, and became the core portion of

194-764: A 5-volume edition, based on the Thammasat University edition with corrections, entitled Kotmai tra sam duang (Three Seals Code). A third edition appeared in 1994. To mark the 200th anniversary of the compilation of the Three Seals Law, the Royal Institute (now the Royal Society of Thailand ) published a two-volume edition in 2007 with facsimiles of the manuscripts and transcription, entitled Kotmai tra sam duang: chabap ratchabandittayasathan (Three Seals Code, Royal Institute edition). Robert Lingat , editor of

291-878: A Chiang Rai rebellion against Lan Na (Chiang Mai) in 1599. By 1601, Lan Na was divided into three spheres: Chiang Mai, Siam-backed Chiang Rai, Lan Xang-backed Nan. Chiang Mai defeated the Siam-backed rebellion in Chiang Rai in 1602 only to submit to Ayutthaya later that year. Chiang Mai retook Nan from Lan Xang in 1603. In the western mainland, Siam invaded Lower Burma in 1600, and went on to attack Toungoo only to be driven back by Toungoo's ally Arakan. The Portuguese garrison at Syriam switched allegiance from Arakan to Goa in 1603. Siamese vassal Martaban then entered into an alliance with Portuguese Syriam. Ava had seized cis-Salween Shan states by 1604. Siam planned to invade Ava's vassal southern Shan states in 1605 before cancelling it because of

388-562: A branch of the fallen house (known retrospectively as the Restored Toungoo Dynasty or Nyaungyan Dynasty) had succeeded in reconstituting a major portion of the First Toungoo Empire, except for Siam, Lan Xang and Manipur. The new dynasty did not overextend itself by trying to take over Siam or Lan Xang. This was a more “realistic and organic” polity that would last until the mid-18th century. The new dynasty proceeded to create

485-431: A key administrative reform, which turned out to be his most important and most enduring of his legacies. The king permitted the sawbwas to retain their feudal rights over their subjects. The office of the sawbwa remained hereditary. But the incumbent sawbwa could now be removed by the king for gross misconduct although the king's choice of successor was limited to members of the sawbwa's own family. The key innovation

582-446: A large sphere of influence in westerly lands—trans-Manipur states, Arakan and Ceylon . The empire, held together by patron-client relationships , declined soon after his death in 1581. His successor Nanda never gained the full support of the vassal rulers, and presided over the empire's precipitous collapse in the next 18 years. The First Toungoo Empire marked the end of the period of petty kingdoms in mainland Southeast Asia. Although

679-538: A modern edition was prepared by the French legal scholar Robert Lingat and published in three volumes by Thammasat University under the title Pramuan kotmai ratchakan thi 1 C.S. 1166 phim tam chabap luang tra sam duang (Law code of King Rama I, 1805, printed following the Three Seals edition). All modern editions stem from this work. In 1962-3, Ongkankha Khong Khurusapha (government printers for textbooks, etc.) published

776-453: A new settlement of 370 households, about 40 km farther south. It was named Toungoo (Taungoo) ( တောင်ငူ , "Hill's Spur") because of its location by the hills in the narrow Sittaung river valley between the Bago Yoma range and southern Shan Hills . The narrow valley at the southern edge of the dry zone was not easily accessible from Central or Upper Burma; the best access to the region

873-636: A political and legal system whose basic features would continue under the Konbaung dynasty (1752–1885) well into the 19th century. The Toungoo Empire was “in theory and fact, a poly-ethnic political formation.” The Toungoo kings largely employed then prevailing Southeast Asian administrative model of solar polities in which the high king ruled the core while semi-independent tributaries, autonomous viceroys, and governors actually controlled day-to-day administration and manpower. The system did not work well even for mid-size kingdoms like Ava and Siam. Now, because of

970-603: A project at Kyoto University to produce a computer concordance of the complete text. Access to this database is available through the Center of Integrated Study at Kyoto University, and through the Ayutthaya Digital Archive Project of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy (see External Links below). Michael Vickery published two articles querying the accuracy of the dates appearing in

1067-592: A result, the High King heavily depended on the vassal king to be both loyal and able. Ineffective vassal rulers, who did not command respect from their local sub-vassal rulers, such as those in Lan Xang and in Upper Burma after 1584, only brought constant trouble for the crown. On the other hand, able kings such as Maha Thammarachathirat (r. 1569–90) of Siam and Thado Minsaw of Ava (r. 1555–84) kept their kingdoms peaceful for

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1164-554: A revision of all existing law texts: Hence the king graciously commanded that subjects with knowledge be assigned to cleanse ( chamra ) the royal decrees and laws in the palace library from the Thammasat onwards; ensure they are correct in every detail according to the Pali with no inconsistencies in their content; arrange them into chapters and groups; and take pains to cleanse and adjust any aberrations to accord with justice, in keeping with

1261-562: A revision of the Tipiṭaka , the Buddhist canonical scriptures, in 1804, he turned his attention to the laws. After a court awarded a divorce to a woman, Amdaeng Pom, even though she had committed adultery, her husband, Bunsi, sent a petition, claiming the judge had been biased. On examination, all copies of the marriage law showed the woman had the legal right to this divorce. Suspecting that this and others laws had been “modified,” King Rama I ordered

1358-670: A search located 80 volumes from the three original copies and 17 volumes from the backup. Parts of the Three Seals Law were replaced by modern laws drafted with the help of foreign advisers in a Penal Code promulgated in 1908 and a Civil and Commercial Code promulgated in parts between 1923 and 1935. In 1978, the Supreme Court of Justice of Thailand ruled that the parts of the Three Seals Law not having been replaced or overruled by any other subsequent laws remain in force still. Those parts include Lak Inthaphat (Tenets of Indra). In

1455-458: A series of elaborate reclamation and irrigation projects to compensate for the Sittaung valley's modest agriculture. By the 1490s, Toungoo had grown, and a more confident Nyo began to test the limits of his authority. He built a new “palace”, replete with royal pretensions, in 1491. He then, without Ava's permission, raided Hanthawaddy territory, during the southern kingdom's succession crisis. It

1552-582: A single campaign was about 70,000. A major weakness of the system was that the vast majority of the potential levy hailed from outside the capital region. In 1581, only 21% of residents within a 200-km radius of Pegu were ahmudans (whereas in 1650 in the Restored Toungoo period, over 40% of the ahmudans were within 200 km of the capital Ava). It meant that the High King of the First Toungoo period needed to rely far more on his vassal rulers to raise

1649-470: A small but strong regional power. History shows that the former vassal was about to "overawe the metropole". The period between 1526 and 1533 saw power change hands in all of the major states of Burma. Three of the states were succeeded by weak rulers: Taka Yut Pi (r. 1526–39) at Hanthawaddy; Bayin Htwe (r. 1527–32) and Narapati (r. 1532–39) at Prome; and Thohanbwa (r. 1533–42) at Ava (Confederation). Two of

1746-409: A society unconcerned with caste and uninterested in pollution". The borrowed parts hail from the section called vyavahāra while the discarded parts include Hindu rites and sacraments, purifications and penances as well as marriage, animal sacrifice and "ideas of a sacerdotal nature". Nonetheless the Code is not completely free of Hindu influences; for example, it reiterates "to a certain extent" about

1843-543: A stroke, over two centuries of Shan raids into Upper Burma, and "extended lowland control much farther than Pagan had dreamed possible:" Pegu now “exercised suzerainty from Manipur to the Cambodian marches and from the borders of Arakan to Yunnan.” Bayinnaung's authority would be vigorously contested in the following decade. His forces never quite vanquished the Lan Xang resistance in the Laotian hills and jungles, and in 1568, Siam,

1940-553: A western mainland polity "to conquer the central mainland rather than vice versa". Even at the peak of its might, the Toungoo military had the most difficult time controlling remote hill states. They never solved the sheer logistical issues of transporting and feeding large numbers of troops for sustained periods of time. Bayinnaung's persistence in sending troops year after year cost an untold number of lives, which at one point caused his senior advisers to murmur loudly. The conqueror king

2037-456: Is in part based on the 12th century Pagan period law treatise Dhammavisala Dhammathat . It is mainly Burmese customary law, tempered with Buddhist justifications, and organized in the mold of the ancient Hindu Manusmriti treatise. Like the Manusmriti , it is organized in 18 chapters, and justifies the law as given by Manu , "a sort of Moses-cum-Noah figure who was the first law-giver". But

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2134-645: Is the list of chapters as reported in Forchhammer's 1892 English translation. First Toungoo Empire The Toungoo Empire ( Burmese : တောင်ငူခေတ် , [tàʊɴŋù kʰɪʔ] , lit. "Toungoo Period"; also known as the Second Myanmar Empire in traditional historiography, or simply the Taungoo Dynasty ) was the dominant power in mainland Southeast Asia in the second half of the 16th century. At its peak, Toungoo "exercised suzerainty from Manipur to

2231-519: The Cambodian marches and from the borders of Arakan to Yunnan " and was the largest empire and the only great power country in the history of Southeast Asia." The "most adventurous and militarily successful" dynasty in Burmese history was also the "shortest-lived." The empire grew out of the principality of Toungoo, a minor vassal state of Ava until 1510. The landlocked petty state began its rise in

2328-581: The Toungoo armed forces , the upstart kingdom seized up to Pagan (Bagan) from the Confederation by 1545. The campaigns against Arakan (1545–47) and Siam (1547–49) , however, fell short. In both campaigns, Toungoo forces won all major open battles but could not overcome the heavily fortified defences of Mrauk-U and Ayutthaya . Despite the setbacks, Tabinshwehti had founded the most powerful polity in Burma since

2425-458: The eleventh ruler of Toungoo to be assassinated in office. The assassin was none other than his nephew Mingyi Nyo (r. 1510–30). It would be yet another rebellion except that Nyo won Minkhaung's acquiescence by offering his full support to the embattled king. Nyo turned out to be an able leader. He quickly brought law and order to the region, which attracted refugees from other parts of Central and Upper Burma. Using increased manpower, he sponsored

2522-459: The "First Toungoo Empire"; and/or the "Second Burmese Empire". In traditional Burmese historiography, however, the period is known as either the "Toungoo–Hanthawaddy Period" ( တောင်ငူ–ဟံသာဝတီ ခေတ် ), or simply the "Toungoo Period" ( တောင်ငူ ခေတ် ). Furthermore, in international usage, the terms "Toungoo Dynasty/Empire" cover both "First Toungoo Dynasty/Empire" and "Restored Toungoo Dynasty/Empire". Traditional Burmese historiography treats

2619-544: The "privileges of the higher castes, of Brahmans " in particular. (These parts would later be viewed as problematic, and be written out in the 17th century.) The Code remained the basic law of the Mon-speaking Hanthawaddy Kingdom until the kingdom's fall in 1538/39. It was then adopted by the ascendant First Toungoo Empire . It was translated into Burmese and Pali by Shin Buddhaghosa , a monk. The Code

2716-560: The 1530s under Tabinshwehti who went on to found the largest polity in Myanmar since the Pagan Empire by 1550. His more celebrated successor Bayinnaung then greatly expanded the empire, conquering much of mainland Southeast Asia by 1565. He spent the next decade keeping the empire intact, putting down rebellions in Siam , Lan Xang and the northernmost Shan states . From 1576 onwards, he declared

2813-532: The 16th-century Burmese legalism was "quite different from those of its neighbors in East and South Asia", and some aspects "are reminiscent of Western European approaches to law and kingship." Bayinnaung promoted the new law throughout the empire so far as it was compatible with customs and practices of local society. The adoption of Burmese customary law and the Burmese calendar in Siam began in his reign. He also standardised

2910-473: The 1938-9 edition of the Three Seals Law, published several articles and books on the historical antecedents of the law, and on the law on slavery. In 1957, MR Seni Pramoj , a lawyer and former prime minister, gave a lecture in Thai summarizing the Three Seals Law, subsequently published as a book. In 1986, Yoneo Ishii published an English-language summary and analysis of the Three Seals Law. Ishii also headed

3007-820: The Ava rebellion in 1584, the king never did establish firm control over Upper Burma and the surrounding Shan states. He could not get the most populous region in Burma to contribute much to his war effort in Siam. (His best troop levels were never more than a third of his father's.) He should have focused on reestablishing his authority in Upper Burma, and let Siam go—but he could not see it. He feared that acknowledging Ayutthaya's independence would invite yet more Tai rebellions, some perhaps closer to home. Nanda launched five major punitive campaigns against Siam between 1584 and 1593, all of which failed disastrously. With each Siamese victory, other vassals grew more inclined to throw off allegiance and more reluctant to contribute military forces. By

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3104-507: The Code lived on—albeit in adapted forms—in the main successor states. In Siam, it coexisted with other legal codes until King Rama I compiled a new legal code in 1805. The new Siamese law's core 18 chapters share "substantial similarities to King Wareru's code", and the new code adds 21 more chapters. In Burma, the Code morphed into a more Buddhist-centric version by 1640. The new treatise often supports Burmese customary law "with explicitly Buddhist scriptural justifications". The dhammathat

3201-676: The First Toungoo's formula of greater military experience, modern firearms and (comparatively greater) manpower to partially restore the empire in the following two decades. Likewise, Siam's military service system, phrai luang , was reorganised, modelled after the ahmudan system in the 1570s—indeed to fulfill Bayinnaung's demands for conscripts. Likewise, the First Toungoo dynasty's military strategy and tactics were likely adopted by Siam's new generation of leadership, Naresuan and Ekathotsarot , who grew up in Pegu, and were most probably exposed to Toungoo military strategy. By 1600, Siam had not only regained

3298-516: The High King they were loyal to: Bayinnaung. The downside was that the able rulers were also the most likely to revolt when the High King was not Bayinnaung; and they did. A rank below the vassal kingdoms were the princely states, ruled by sawbwas (chiefs, princes). Except for Manipur , they were all Shan states that ringed the upper Irrawaddy valley (i.e. the Kingdom of Ava) from the Kalay State in

3395-454: The Pegu court—e.g., Saw Lagun Ein , Smim Payu , Binnya Dala , Binnya Law, Daw Binnya, Binnya Kyan Htaw—were most probably ethnic Mons . The word used by European visitors to describe a court official was semini, Italian translation of smim , Mon for lord. Surrounding the core region were the tributary kingdoms. The vassal rulers were still styled as kings, and were allowed to retain full royal regalia. They were required to send tributes to

3492-582: The Restored Toungoo Dynasty/Empire period as a separate era called the Nyaungyan period ( ညောင်ရမ်း ခေတ် ). This article, for the most part, uses prevailing academic names for place names, not the current official English transliterations in use in Myanmar since 1989. For example, the official English spelling of the city after which the dynasty is named since 1989 has been "Taungoo", replacing

3589-461: The Shan states and Manipur towards Pegu's war effort in Siam. Bayinnaung considered control of the Shan states of utmost strategic importance for his hold of the upcountry. Raids by nearby highland Shan states had been an overhanging concern for successive lowland regimes since the 14th century. The most feared were Mohnyin and Mogaung, the twin Shan states, which led most of the raids. Bayinnaung introduced

3686-425: The Shan states. However, the advantage of firearms was neutralised against Siam, a prosperous coastal power with its own well-equipped military. Another key factor was Toungoo's "more martial culture" and "more aggressive leadership". Toungoo was a product of Upper Burma's ceaseless wars of the prior centuries. In the age of rampant gubernatorial revolts, any rulers hoping to rule a kingdom needed to take command of

3783-581: The Siamese Legal Code of 1805. In Burma, the Code was revised "to support Burmese customary law with explicitly Buddhist scriptural justifications" by 1640. The dhammathat was compiled at the behest of King Wareru (Wagaru) of Martaban , c. 1290/91. Wareru, who had proclaimed king of what used to be the Martaban province of the Pagan Empire only since 1287, set out to compile a customary law book in Mon ,

3880-580: The Tai-Shan world finally became quiet, the king turned his attention to Portuguese Goa and the advancing Mughal Empire in the west. In response to competing requests by the Ceylonese kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy for military aid, he finally sent an elite army in 1576 to Kotte, which he considered a protectorate, ostensibly to protect Theravada Buddhism on the island from the Portuguese threat. Goa considered it

3977-454: The Tenasserim coast from Burma but also expanded deeper into Cambodia. After 1614, an equilibrium of sorts prevailed between the two successor states. Neither state extended in any direction to a point her supply lines were more extended than those of her nearest rival. Estimates of the population of the empire point to over 6 million. In 1600, the most populous region of the erstwhile empire

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4074-493: The all-important Kyaukse granary . In 1503, Nyo's forces began surreptitiously aiding ongoing rebellions in the south. In 1504, he openly entered into an alliance with Prome with the intention of taking over all of Central Burma. But Ava was not yet a spent force. It decisively defeated the alliance's raids in 1504–05 and in 1507–08. The setbacks forced Mingyi Nyo to recalibrate his ambitions. He formally declared independence from Ava in 1510 but also withdrew from participating in

4171-514: The army. All senior princes of the House of Toungoo received a military style education since childhood, and were expected to take the field in person. Several Toungoo leaders of the era, including Tabinshwehti, Bayinnaung, Nanda, Thado Minsaw , Minye Thihathu , Thado Dhamma Yaza III and Natshinnaung , first took the field in their teenage years. This kind of martial tradition simply did not exist in "far larger, more secure" kingdoms like Siam. (Indeed,

4268-494: The books destroyed. One copy of the first volume survived (now in the National Library of Thailand ), and the planned second volume may never have been printed. In 1862–3, Dan Beach Bradley, with the permission of King Rama IV (Mongkut) , printed the edition planned in 1849 in two volumes under the title Nangsue rueang kotmai mueang thai (Book on laws of Siam). The edition was printed ten times and widely used. In 1938-9,

4365-429: The breakaway states of the empire had been engaged in a series of “confused, many-sided wars” since the mid-1590s. Prome attacked Toungoo in 1595. Prome and Ava fought for central Burma in 1596–97. Prome and Toungoo later agreed to attack Ava in 1597 but Toungoo broke off the alliance and attacked Prome in 1597. In the central mainland, Lan Xang and Lan Na went to war in 1595–96 and again in 1598–1603. Siam supported

4462-406: The confused, multi-party wars of 1590s and 1600s. The Pegu court did not possess a centrally run bureaucracy, as Restored Toungoo and Konbaung dynasties would attempt, to administer the vassal states. Unlike in later periods, Pegu even at the height of the empire maintained no permanent military garrisons, or representatives in the vassal states to keep an eye on the local ruler in the peacetime. As

4559-514: The country's history”, ceased to exist; it was also the "shortest-lived" major dynasty. The First Toungoo Empire was "a victim of its own success." Its "stunning military conquests were not matched by stable administrative controls in the Tai world or outlying areas of the Irrawaddy basin," and the "overheated" empire "disintegrated no less rapidly than it had been constructed". Even before the fall of Pegu,

4656-479: The crown but they generally had a freehand in the rest of the administration. Pegu generally did not get involved in local administration; its remit was national. The court launched standardisation drives to unify laws, weights and measurements, calendars, and Buddhist reforms throughout the empire. The court also drew the borders between the vassal states. But the centuries-old disputes never went away. They resurfaced as soon as Pegu's authority waned, and resulted in

4753-763: The crown. The quotas were fixed until the 17th century, when Restored Toungoo kings instituted variable quotas to take advantage of demographic fluctuations. The earliest extant record of organisation of the Royal Burmese Army dates only from 1605 but the organizational structure of the earlier First Toungoo era is likely to be similar, if not essentially the same. A 1605 royal order decreed that each regiment shall consist of 1000 foot soldiers under 100 company leaders called akyat ( အကြပ် ), 10 battalion commanders called ahsaw ( အဆော် ) and 1 commander called ake ( အကဲ ), and all must be equipped with weapons including guns and cannon. A typical 17th-century regiment

4850-563: The early 20th century. The texts are an important source for the history of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and legal history in Asia . Parts of the Three Seals Law are still in force, according to a ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of Thailand in 1978. King Rama I paid attention to the preservation of Thai texts that had survived the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767, including the royal chronicles and religious texts. Shortly after completing

4947-487: The entire Tai-Shan world to tributary status: cis- Salween Shan states (1557), Lan Na (1558), Manipur (1560), Keng Tung (1562), the Chinese Shan States (1563), Siam (1564) and Lan Xang (1565). The victories were enabled by a more martial culture and greater military experience of Toungoo armies, Portuguese firearms, and the greater manpower that came with each successive victory. The conquests ended at

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5044-426: The entire Tenasserim coast in 1595, and the rest of the vassals had broken away—de jure or de facto—by 1597. The breakaway state of Toungoo and the western kingdom of Arakan jointly invaded Lower Burma in 1598, and captured Pegu in 1599. The allies thoroughly looted, and burned down the imperial capital, “one of the wonders of Asia”, in 1600. The First Toungoo Dynasty, “the most adventurous and militarily successful in

5141-454: The fall of Pagan in 1287. The king attempted to forge a "Mon–Burman synthesis" by actively courting the support of ethnic Mons of Lower Burma, many of whom were appointed to the highest positions in his government and armed forces. But the nascent empire fell apart right after Tabinshwehti was assassinated in 1550. Several vassal rulers immediately declared independence, forcing Tabinshwehti's chosen successor Bayinnaung (r. 1550–81) to reunify

5238-512: The first millennium Irrawaddy valley Pyu and Mon civilizations. According to Huxley's analysis of the four early Burmese dhammathats including the Wareru , the parts borrowed directly from the Manusmriti quantitatively amounted to "between 4% and 5%". Per Huxley, the non-Hindu parts eligible for borrowing amount only to about 10% in any case since "90% of the Manusmriti concerns matters of caste, pollution, ritual, penance that are meaningless in

5335-495: The general who put down the latest Toungoo rebellion, viceroy-general of the restive province. A distant member of the Ava royalty, Sithu Kyawhtin remained loyal to Thihathura's successor Minkhaung II (r. 1480–1501), who was greeted with a wave of rebellions by lords of Yamethin (1480), Salin (1481) and Prome (1482). Sithu Kyawhtin died in action at Yamethin in 1481, and was succeeded by his son Min Sithu . In 1485, Min Sithu became

5432-449: The intermediary between Pegu and the hill states. But in Nanda's reign, the court became concerned by the overly close relationship between Thado Minsaw and the sawbwas . From 1584 onwards except for 1587–93, Nanda pursued a policy of devolution in the upcountry in which Ava's role was essentially eliminated. The direct rule did not work as evidenced by the near total absence of contribution from

5529-511: The internecine warfare. Ava could not and did not take any action. It was facing an existential threat in the ongoing war with the Confederation of Shan States , and would ultimately fall in 1527. In the meantime, Nyo focused on strengthening the economy and the stability of his kingdom. His policy of non-interference attracted refugees to the only region in Upper Burma at peace. By his death in 1530, Mingyi Nyo had successfully turned Toungoo into

5626-406: The kingdom in the next two years. Bayinnaung then pushed up the Irrawaddy in an effort to join Upper Burma and Lower Burma for the first time since Pagan. Victory in the north "promised to strengthen control over interior gems and bullion, and to supply additional levies." In 1555, Upper Burma fell to the southern forces. Over the next decade, a series of “breathtaking campaigns” reduced Manipur and

5723-531: The king’s gracious intent to be of benefit to kings who reign over the realm in future. (Royal preface to the Three Seals Law) The royally appointed commission, consisting of three judges, four royal scribes , and four officials from the Department of Royal Teachers, completed the task in 11 months, producing 27 laws in a total of 41 volumes of the accordion-style book known as samut thai khao . Each law

5820-403: The land. But he introduced administrative reforms only at the margins. The "absurdly overextended" empire was largely held together by his personal relationships with the vassal rulers, who were loyal to him and not to Toungoo Burma. In the tradition of the prevailing Southeast Asian administrative model , every new high king had to establish his authority with the vassals all over again. This

5917-720: The larger and wealthier but disunited kingdom to the south. In 1534, Toungoo forces began annual raids into Hanthawaddy territory. They finally broke through in 1538, capturing Pegu (Bago) and the Irrawaddy delta. In 1539, Tabinshwehti moved the capital to Pegu where it would remain until the end of the century. Toungoo went on to conquer all of Lower Burma by 1541, gaining complete control of Lower Burma's manpower, access to Portuguese firearms and maritime wealth to pay for them. And Tabinshwehti would quickly exploit these newfound assets for further expansions. By incorporating Portuguese mercenaries, firearms and military tactics as well as experienced former Hanthawaddy military commanders to

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6014-593: The late 1530s. The Burmese later learned to integrate matchlocks into both infantry and elephanteer units. In some late 16th-century campaigns, as high as 20–33 percent of the troops were equipped with muskets. But artillery units continued to be manned by foreign mercenaries throughout the 16th century. Toungoo artillery corps never acquired massive siege guns of Europe but they "used Portuguese cannon to good effect by mounting them on high mounds or towers, and then shooting down into besieged towns". Portuguese firearms proved particularly effective against interior states like

6111-472: The late 1580s and early 1590s, Pegu had to lean ever more heavily on the already modest population of Lower Burma for the debilitating war effort. Able men all over Lower Burma fled military service to become monks, debt slaves, private retainers, or refugees in nearby kingdoms. As more cultivators fled, rice prices in Lower Burma reached unheard of levels. The empire's precipitous collapse ensued. Siam seized

6208-414: The main language of his nascent kingdom. He appointed a royal commission, which returned with the legal treatise that came to be known as Wareru Dhammathat and Wagaru Dhammathat ("Code of Wareru/Wagaru"). The compilation was part of a wider regional pattern in which the former lands of the empire as well as its neighboring states produced legal texts modeled after Pagan's, between 1275 and 1317. The Code

6305-662: The most powerful vassal state, revolted. Leveraging the manpower of much of the western and central mainland, he managed to defeat the Siamese rebellion with great difficulty in 1569. Yet defeating the guerrilla resistance at the remote hill states— Mohnyin and Mogaung in the extreme north also revolted in 1571—proved far more difficult. Toungoo armies suffered heavy casualties from disease and starvation in their fruitless annual campaigns in search of elusive bands of rebels. Pegu reestablished some semblance of control over Lan Xang only in 1575 and Mohnyin and Mogaung in 1576. No sooner than

6402-538: The northwest to the Mong Pai State in the southeast. Manipur was not a Shan state, and its ruler styled himself raja (king). Nevertheless, Pegu classified the raja a " sawbwa ", and treated Manipur as another princely state, albeit a major one. Two other major states were Kengtung and Mogaung, whose rulers retained the full royal regalia. For administrative purposes, the court grouped the states into provinces ( taing (တိုင်း)). During Bayinnaung's reign, Ava served as

6499-585: The number of pages of each law in the Khurusapha edition, as a gauge of relative length. The dates shown are as given in the prefaces of the laws. The era used for the dating of each text is in Chula Sakarat , many of these dates have clearly been corrupted during copying. In 1849, Mot Amatyakun and the American missionary Dan Beach Bradley printed an edition of the Three Seals Law. King Rama III objected and had

6596-469: The old Hanthawaddy Kingdom; Bayinnaung later annexed the Siamese Province of Mergui into the core administration for its maritime revenues. The provinces and their constituent divisions were ruled by vassal rulers, who lived off apanage grants and local taxes. The core region's bureaucracy was a continuation of the old Hanthawaddy court. Most local governors as well as most officials and ministers at

6693-499: The older spelling of Toungoo; likewise, the older spellings such as Ava, Pegu, Martaban are now Innwa, Bago and Mottama; and so on. However, the changes have not been adopted in international publications on Burmese history. The earliest known record of administration of the region dates to the late Pagan period . In 1191, King Sithu II (r. 1174–1211) appointed Ananda Thuriya governor of Kanba Myint . In 1279, two great-grandsons of Ananda Thuriya— Thawun Gyi and Thawun Nge —founded

6790-405: The overextended empire proved ephemeral, the forces that underpinned its rise were not. Its two main successor states— Restored Toungoo Burma and Ayutthaya Siam—went on to dominate western and central mainland Southeast Asia, respectively, down to the mid-18th century. The polity is known by a number of names. The prevailing terms used by most international scholars are the "First Toungoo Dynasty";

6887-437: The princely states as tributaries or protectorates. Scholarship does not accept the claims of control; the states were at least what Pegu considered within its sphere of influence. The claims include: The expansive spheres of influence shrank greatly after Bayinnaung's death. Nanda, according to a 1593 inscription, continued to claim his father's realm even after his latest defeat in Siam. In reality, he never had full control of

6984-400: The same kind of complacency afflicted later Restored Toungoo kings, who from 1650 onwards stopped taking the field as the country became largely stable.) Their more martial culture and battlefield successes gave the Toungoo command an increasingly greater field experience, which their rival commands in the region simply could not match. According to Lieberman , this was a key factor that enabled

7081-462: The sheer size of the empire, the system was even more decentralised and stretched thinner still. At any rate, it was the only system the Toungoo kings knew, and they "had no choice but to retain it." The kings attempted administrative reforms only at the margins, which proved insufficient to hold the empire after Bayinnaung. Indeed, "Bayinnaung's goal of controlling virtually the entire mainland from Pegu proved utterly mad." The dynasty's original home

7178-501: The similarities are superficial. The Code's 18 chapters are not identical to those of the Manusmriti ; and its Manu is not the first man of Hindu tradition but a yathei , "who saw the law-book written in large letters on the boundary wall of the world, and recited it to King Maha Sammata ," the first king of the world in Buddhist mythology. Most of the Code is Burmese customary law of the Pagan era. The Pagan customary law itself grew out of

7275-500: The states were succeeded by ambitious and able rulers: Tabinshwehti (r. 1530–50) at Toungoo, and Min Bin (r. 1531–54) at Mrauk-U (Arakan) . Though Arakan would become a power in its own right, its geographic isolation meant it would remain a marginal player in mainland affairs. This left the tiny Toungoo, which would bring war to much of mainland Southeast Asia till the end of the century. The initial impetus for Toungoo's military campaigns

7372-753: The successive Shan raids in the second half of the 14th century, and both southern vassal states had emerged as new centres of economic activity as well as of Burman (Bamar) culture. Toungoo's growth continued especially after the Forty Years' War (1385–1424) left Ava exhausted. From 1425 onwards, Ava regularly faced rebellions whenever a new king came to power, who then had to restore order, often by war. Toungoo's “relentlessly ambitious leaders” repeatedly tested Ava's resolve by staging assassinations (in 1440, 1452, and 1459) and rebellions (in 1426–40, 1452–59 and 1468–70) at times with Pegu's help. In 1470, King Thihathura of Ava (r. 1468–80) appointed Sithu Kyawhtin ,

7469-435: The sudden death of its warrior king Naresuan (r. 1590–1605). Ava conquered Prome (1608), Toungoo (1610), Portuguese Syriam (1613), Siamese Martaban and Tavoy (1613), and Lan Na (1614). Still, in contrast to 250 years of political fragmentation that followed Pagan's collapse, this interregnum proved brief. As ephemeral as the overextended Toungoo Empire was, the underlying forces that underpinned its rise were not. By 1622,

7566-412: The table below, the laws are listed in the order they were approved in 1805 with the original titles and original Thai spelling, taken from facsimile texts published by the Royal Institute (now the Royal Society of Thailand ). Some of the 27 listed texts contained multiple laws, giving a total of 41 laws. In subsequent publications, some titles were changed, and some laws amalgamated. The ‘pp’ column shows

7663-614: The troops. The weakness was brutally exposed when the High King was not Bayinnaung. Nanda's troops most probably never totalled more than 25,000. One crucial factor in Toungoo's success was the army's early adoption of Portuguese firearms (arquebus matchlocks and cast-metal muzzleloader cannon ), and formation of musket and artillery units. Portuguese weaponry proved superior in accuracy, safety, ballistic weight, and rapidity of fire than Asian-made counterparts. The first special musket and artillery units, made up mostly of Portuguese and Indian Ocean (mostly Muslim) mercenaries, were formed in

7760-530: The upcountry, let alone the peripheral states. In Bayinnaung's reign, the king introduced a measure of legal uniformity by summoning learned monks and officials from all over dominions to prescribe an official collection of law books. The scholars compiled Dhammathat Kyaw and Kosaungchok , based on King Wareru 's dhammathat . The decisions given in his court were collected in Hanthawaddy Hsinbyumyashin Hpyat-hton . According to Huxley,

7857-486: The vaunted Toungoo military had trouble dealing with guerrilla warfare, and faced severe logistic issues in suppressing rebellions in remote hill states. The Toungoo military organisation drew on its Upper Burma precedent. The military was organised into a small standing army of a few thousand, which defended the capital and the palace, and a much larger conscript-based wartime army. The wartime army consisted of infantry, cavalry, elephantry, artillery and naval units. The navy

7954-526: The weights and measurements such as the cubit, tical , basket throughout the realm. The First Toungoo Dynasty was "the most adventurous and militarily successful in the country’s history." It founded the largest empire in Southeast Asia on the back of “breathtaking” military conquests. The success has been attributed to a "more martial culture" of Toungoo, incorporation of Portuguese firearms and foreign mercenaries, and larger forces. But even at its peak,

8051-403: Was Siam (2.5 million), followed by Upper Burma (1.5 million), the Shan high lands (1 million) and Lower Burma (0.5 million) —for a total of at least 5.5 million. Estimates for Lan Na, Lan Xang and Manipur are not known. The size of the population of the empire before the devastating wars of 1584–99 was probably over 6 million. The population of the Pegu capital region, according to a 1581 census,

8148-497: Was a disaster: Toungoo barely survived the 1495–96 counterattack by King Binnya Ran II (r. 1492–1526). At Ava, Minkhaung ignored Nyo's transgressions for he needed Nyo's support against Yamethin. Toungoo's inevitable break with Ava came soon after the death of Minkhaung II in 1501. The new king Narapati II (r. 1501–27) was greeted with a new round of rebellions. By 1502, Mingyi Nyo had already decided to break away despite Narapati's desperate attempt to retain his loyalty by granting

8245-401: Was already a difficult task when vassals were situated in the same geographic region but nearly impossible with faraway lands, given inherent difficulties in bringing serious warfare to those lands. King Nanda (r. 1581–99) never gained the full support of his father's chosen vassal rulers. Within the first three years of his reign, both Ava and Ayutthaya revolted. Though he managed to defeat

8342-402: Was armed with 10 cannon, 100 guns and 300 bows. The ability to raise more conscripts depended greatly on the High King's grip over his vassals. Bayinnaung required newly conquered states to provide their quota of manpower for the next campaign. According to scholarship, at the peak of the empire, the imperial army could perhaps raise about 100,000 troops, and the largest initial troop level for

8439-448: Was defensive. The landlocked state was being encircled by the powerful Confederation, which by 1533 had defeated its erstwhile ally Prome. Fortunately for Toungoo, the Confederation's paramount leader Saw Lon was assassinated a few months later, and the coalition suddenly ceased to be a coherent force. Tabinshwehti and his court decided to take advantage of the lull, and break out of their increasingly narrow realm by attacking Hanthawaddy,

8536-466: Was first translated into English in 1892 by Emanuel Forchhammer as "King Wagaru's Manu Dhammasattham". He used a Burmese language manuscript dated 23 September 1707. The British colonial period scholars call the Wareru Dhammathat "the earliest law-book in Burma still extant". But the 12th century Dhammavilasa Dhammathat has been identified as "the oldest extant Burmese law text". The following

8633-543: Was fortunate that a charismatic guerrilla leader like King Setthathirath of Lan Xang (r. 1548–72) was assassinated by a local rival. After Bayinnaung, Lower Burma lost the manpower advantage over a far more populous Siam. Ayutthaya's larger, well-equipped armies not only repulsed Nanda's undermanned invasions but also ended up seizing the Tenasserim coast in the process. The First Toungoo dynasty's military organisation and strategy were adapted by its two main successor states: Restored Toungoo and Siam. Restored Toungoo kings used

8730-826: Was from the south, via the Sittaung. Its hard-to-reach location would shape much of its early history. In the 14th century, the settlement grew to be the principal city of the frontier region, which remained a lawless place. Toungoo's first rebellion of 1317–18 failed but its nominal overlord Pinya had little control over it. Usurpers routinely seized office by assassinating the governor—in 1325, 1344 and 1347—without incurring any reprisals by Pinya. In 1358, Toungoo outright revolted. Pinya's successor Ava (Inwa) regained Toungoo in 1367 but gubernatorial assassinations continued: 1375, 1376 and 1383, at times with Ava's own permission. Only in 1399 could Ava impose tighter control. By then, Toungoo, along with Prome (Pyay), had received waves of Burmese-speaking migrants, driven out of Upper Burma by

8827-427: Was mainly river-borne, and used mostly for transportation of troops and cargo. Conscription was based on the ahmudan ( အမှုထမ်း , "crown service") system, which required local chiefs to supply their predetermined quota of men from their jurisdiction on the basis of population in times of war. The ahmudan were a class of people, who were exempt from most personal taxes in exchange for regular or military service of

8924-519: Was only about 200,000. Three Seals Law The Three Seals Law or Three Seals Code ( Thai : กฎหมายตราสามดวง ; RTGS :  Kotmai Tra Sam Duang ) is a collection of law texts compiled in 1805 on the orders of King Rama I of Siam . Most of the texts were laws from the Ayutthaya era which had survived the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767. The compilation remained the working law of Siam until partially replaced by modern law codes in

9021-520: Was stamped with the seals of the ministries of Mahatthai (north), Kalahom (south), and Phrakhlang (treasury), hence the name of the compilation. Three working copies were made, kept in the Royal Bedchamber, court of justice, and the Palace Library, respectively. A fourth copy was made shortly after and stored as a backup. As a result of neglect, the volumes were lost and scattered. In 1980,

9118-731: Was technically at war with Pegu although no war ever broke out. Closer to home, he responded to the Mughals' 1576 annexation of Bengal by claiming the entire swath of lands in present-day northeast India, as far west as the Ganges and by sending an invasion force to Abakan in 1580. Bayinnaung 's empire was "probably the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia," and what the Portuguese regarded as "the most powerful monarchy in Asia except that of China". The king standardized laws, calendars, weights and measurements, and Buddhist religious practices throughout

9215-508: Was that he required sons of his vassal rulers to reside in the palace as pages, who served a dual purpose: they were hostages for good conduct of their fathers and they received valuable training in Burmese court life. His Shan policy was followed by all Burmese kings right up to the final fall of the kingdom to the British in 1885. According to contemporary sources, Pegu also claimed lands far beyond

9312-489: Was the Toungoo region, with the capital at Toungoo. But from 1539 onward, the High King, styled as “King of Kings”, moved the capital to Pegu (Bago), and governed only what used to be the Hanthawaddy Kingdom. This was the first time in Burmese history that a capital, which had the authority over the entire Irrawaddy basin, was located near the coast. The Toungoo kings retained the traditional three-province structure of

9409-456: Was updated in Burmese as Dhammathat Kyaw . It became the basic law of the empire, which grew to be the largest empire in Southeast Asia during the reign of King Bayinnaung (r. 1550–1581). The Code's adoption in the Tai states in the empire may not have been a stretch. The states had already been using Pagan-derived legal texts since the 14th century. Even after the empire's fall in 1599,

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