Somdet Phra Ekatotsarot

Ekathosarot succeeds his brother Naresuan, who has died during his campaigns to subjugate the Shans in 1605.

Coincident with Ekathosarot’s accession, the Ayutthaya kingdom has reached the maximum extent.

However, immediately after the coronation, the Burmese principality of Lanna, an Ayuttayan tributary for the past several years, breaks away from Siamese control.

Ekatotsarot, whose reign has seen the influx of foreigners into Siam as traders and mercenaries, has established Krom Asas (i.e., volunteer regiments) of foreign soldiers, for example; Krom Asa Mon, Krom Asa Cham, Krom Asa Yipun (Japanese mercenaries), and Krom Asa Maen Puen (Arquebusiers - the Portuguese and Dutch).

Ekatotsarot had a close relations with the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Ieyasu who has commissioned Red Seal Ships—armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed paten—to trade with Siam.

Around this time, the Siamese metallurgists learn the arts of forging mortars from the Westerners and combine these principles with traditional methods, giving rise to the Siamese mortars praised for their high quality of manufacture and design.

Ekatotsarot has two legitimate sons: Prince Sutat and Prince Sri Saowabhak.

Prince Sutat is invested with the title of Uparaja in 1607.

Only four months later, Prince Sutat asks his father to release a prisoner; but instead angers his father, who accused Sutat of rebelling.

The prince commits suicide by poison the same night—much to the grief of Ekatotsarot.

This is one of the most mysterious events of Siamese history, as no one knows who was the prisoner Prince Sutat tried to free, nor why Ekatotsarot was so angry.

Some historians have hypothesized that the prisoner was one of the powerful nobles whose power was a challenge to the monarchy.

The nature of Prince Sutat's death is also disputed, as he may have been poisoned by someone else.

Whatever the facts, the incident lays the ground for future princely struggles that are to plague Ayutthaya throughout the seventeenth century.

Ekatotsarot defies expectatrions by not appointing as Uparaja his second son, Prince Sri Saowabhak.

A Thai diplomatic mission of sixteen ambassadors under the protection of Admiral Matelief aboard L'Orange embarks on the seven-month sea voyage to Holland, leaving Bantam on January 12, 1608.

German-Dutch lensmaker Hans Lippershey is credited with creating and disseminating designs for the first practical telescope.

Some telescopes and spyglasses may have been created much earlier, but Lippershey is believed to be the first to apply for a patent for his design, a few weeks before Jacob Metius, and making it available for general use in 1608.

He fails to receive a patent but is handsomely rewarded by the Dutch government for copies of his design.

The "Dutch perspective glass", the telescope that Lippershey has invented, can only magnify thrice.

Lippershey's application for a patent is mentioned at the end of a diplomatic report on an embassy to Holland from the Kingdom of Siam sent by the Siamese king Ekathotsarot: Ambassades du Roy de Siam envoyé à l'Excellence du Prince Maurice, arrivé à La Haye le 10 Septemb. 1608 (Embassy of the King of Siam sent to his Excellency Prince Maurice, arrived on September 10, 1608).

This report is issued in October 1608 and distributed across Europe, leading to experiments by other scientists.

One story behind the creation of the telescope states that two children were playing with lenses in the Lippershey's shop.

The children discovered that images were clearer when seen through two lenses, one in front of the other.

Lippershey was inspired by this and created a device very similar to today's telescope.

Ekatotsarot, mourning the suicide of his eldest son, reportedly had died of depression in 1610, and his second son Prince Sri Saowabhak succeeds to the throne.

His incompetent rule provides opportunities for the nobility to usurp the throne.

The Royal Chronicles relate that Chameun Sri Sorarak, the adoptive son of Songtham, a minor prince born to Ekatotsarot with one of his concubines, foments a rebellion, marches to the palace in 1611 and oversees the execution of the king at Wat Kok Phraya.

However, other chronicles state that it was Songtham’s younger brother Si Sin who did this.

In any case, the popular and religious Songtham is given the Ayutthayan throne.

Songtham had appointed Sri Soralak the Uparaja but he had died after only a week.

Certain Siamese noblemen had cheated the Japanese merchants in trade agreements and Ekatotsarot had executed their master Ok Krom Nai Wai (a title for Japanese mercenary commander) in 1610.

Not long after Songtham’s coronation, the king had been attending a Buddhist ceremony when the disgruntled Japanese stormed the palace, taking Songtham captive and calling for the life of the Siamese merchants who they hold responsible for the injustice.

Songtham manages to calm the attackers and sends them off the Menam valley but the Japanese rebels capture the town of Phetchaburi, at the northern end of the Thai Peninsula.

Songtham responds by sending an army to pursue and suppress them.