Ratsadathirat

Ratsadathirat (, ) was the twelfth king of Ayutthaya, an ancient kingdom in Thailand. He was a son of Borommarachathirat IV and succeeded his father to the throne of Ayutthaya at the age of five in 895 LE (2076 BE, 1533/34 CE). Chairachathirat, who then assumed the kingship. which is a Sanskrit variant of the Pali name Ratthathirat.

In the Van Vliet Chronicle, written in 1640 CE by Dutch Merchant Jeremias Van Vliet, his name is written as Woo-Rhae Rassa Thae Thieraya.

Life

Birth

All Thai and foreign chronicles say that Ratsadathirat was a son of Borommarachathirat IV, the eleventh king of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, and that Ratsadathirat was only five years old when he ascended the throne in 895 LE (2076 BE, 1533/34 CE). Ratsadathirat was possibly born in 890 LE (2071 BE, 1528/29 CE). Modern scholars have suggested that his mother was a daughter of a powerful noble who wanted to be related with the royal household through marriage, because the enthronement of Ratsadathirat appears to have been supported by a group of nobles, despite his minority.

Accession to the throne and death

In 895 LE (2076 BE, 1533/34 CE), Borommarachathirat IV died of smallpox and his son, Ratsadathirat, succeeded him as king of Ayutthaya. The Van Vliet Chronicle says Chairachathirat was a distant relative of Ratsadathirat and served as the regent during the latter's reign. Modern scholars have suggested that another reason why Chairachathirat had to wait for five months before launching the coup is his need to check the attitude of each political faction and to await "a good opportunity", because Ratsadathirat was still supported by a group of nobles led by a powerful noble who seemed to be Ratsadathirat's grandfather (father of Ratsadathirat's mother).

Moreover, the enthronement of Ratsadathirat was against tradition, because the viceroy had always been the first in line to succeed to the throne. For that reason, modern scholars are of an opinion that Ratsadathirat's ascension to the throne enraged Chairachathirat and the coup therefore resulted in "unnecessary violence", that is, the execution of the deposed five-year-old king. The coup also made Ratsadathirat the second king from the House of Suphannaphum to be executed.

Ancestry