Melaka and Ayutthaya in the Long 15th Century Feudal Relations, Tribute, and Magical Realism
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Over the 15th century, Melaka rose to become the premier trading centre in Southeast Asia. During this rise, Melaka had to deal with Ayutthaya. At the time of Melaka’s foundation, the Siamese port-city of Ayutthaya was deeply involved with political centres on the lower peninsula, and well established as a favoured trading partner of China. Over the following century, the relationship of Melaka and Ayutthaya changed through sporadic armed clashes and diplomatic exchanges, and by the end, the two cities had developed a complementary trading relationship. The diplomacy of this rivalry is described and explained very differently in the European and Asian sources respectively. European observers drew on the vocabulary and political concepts of European feudalism. Malay sources emphasised the human exchanges and the experimental nature of diplomatic relations in a context where the distribution of people, power and resources was in flux.
Article Details
References
Andaya, Barbara Watson and Leonard Y. Andaya, A History of Malaysia, 2nd ed. (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001).
Baker, Chris and Pasuk Phongpaichit, A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Barbosa, Duarte, The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants, ed. Mansel Longworth Dames, 2 vols. (London: Hakluyt Society, 1918 [1518]).
Brown, C.C., “The Malay Annals Translated from Raffles MS 18”, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 25, 2–3 (1952): 1–275.
Charnvit Kasetsiri, “Ayudhya: Capital-port of Siam and its Chinese Connection in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries”, Journal of the Siam Society, 80, 1 (1992): 75–79.
Coedès, George, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, trans. S.B. Cowling (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1968).
Cushman, Richard D. trans., The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya (Bangkok: Siam Society, 2000).
Fei Hsin, Hsing-ch’a Sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Star Raft, trans. J.V.G. Mills, revised, annotated and edited by Roderich Ptak (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996).
Flood, Thadeus, “Sukhothai-Mongol Relations: A Note on Relevant Chinese and Thai Sources (with Translations)”, Journal of the Siam Society, 57, 2 (1969): 201–257.
Hill, A.H., “Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai. A Romanised Version with an English Translation, an Introduction and Notes”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 33, 2 (1990): 1–215.
Ishii Yoneo, “The Rekidai Hōan and Some Aspects of the Ayuthayan Port Polity in the Fifteenth Century”, Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko, 50 (1992): 81–92.
Kobata Atsushi and Mitsuyu Matsuda, Ryukyuan Relations with Korea and South Sea Countries: An Annotated Translation of Documents in the Rekidai Hōan (Kyoto: Atsushi Kobata, 1969).
Luce, G.H., 1959. “The Early Syam in Burma’s History: A Supplement”, Journal of the Siam Society, 47, 1 (1959): 59–101.
Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan. ‘The Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores’, trans. J.V.G. Mills (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1997 [1443]).
Marrison, G.E., “The Siamese Wars with Malacca during the Reign of Muzaffar Shah”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society’, 22, 1 (1949): 51–66.
Matos, Luis de, “The First Portuguese Documents on Siam”, in Thailand and Portugal: 470 Years of Friendship (Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1982), pp. 28–40.
Phraratcha phongsawadan krung kao chabap luang prasoet [Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya, Luang Prasoet Edition] (Bangkok: Saengdao, 2001).
Pires, Tomé, The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires, trans. and ed. A. Cortesão (London: Hakluyt Society, 1944).
Piyada Chonlaworn, “Relations between Ayutthaya and Ryukyu”, Journal of the Siam Society, 92 (2004): 43–63.
Reid, Anthony S., “Documenting the Rise and Fall of Ayudhya as a Regional Trade Centre”, ed. Kajit Jittasevi, Ayudhya and Asia: Proceedings for the International Workshop (Bangkok: Thammasat University, 1995), pp. 5–14.
Rockhill, W.W., “Notes on the Relations and Trade of China with the Eastern Archipelago and the Coasts of the Indian Ocean during the Fourteenth Century”, T’oung Pao, 16 (1915): 61–159.
Sejarah Melayu or Malay Annals, trans. C.C. Brown (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1970).
Shellabear, W.G., ed. Sejarah Melayu (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1967).
Teeuw, A. and D.K. Wyatt, Hikayat Patani: The Story of Patani, 2 vols (The Hague: Martinus Nijhof, 1970).
Tibbetts, G.E., A Study of the Arabic Texts Containing Material on South-East Asia (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979).
Wade, Geoff, Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/. [Wade, Southeast Asia online]
Wade, Geoff,. “Melaka in Ming Dynasty Texts”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 70, 1 (1997): 31–69.
Wang Gungwu, “The Opening of Relations between China and Malacca, 1403–5”, ed. John Bastin and R. Roolvink, Malayan and Indonesian Studies: Essays Presented to Sir Richard Winstedt on his Eighty-fifth Birthday (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964), pp. 87–104.
Wicks, Robert S., Money, Markets, and Trade in Early Southeast Asia: The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems to AD 1400 (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1992).
Wolters, O.W., The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1970).
Zhou Daguan, A Record of Cambodia: The Land and its People, trans. Peter Harris (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2007).