Suriyenthrathibodi

Thai chronicle traditions disagree on King Suea's parentage. The Phan Chantanumat (Choem) Chronicle states that he was a somdet phra chao luk ya thoe ("royal son") of Phetracha. By contrast, the Somdet Phra Phonnarat, Wat Phra Chetuphon manuscript chronicle claims that he was a secret son of Narai and a royal consort who was the daughter of Phraya Saen Luang, ruler of Chiang Mai. Related testimony literature also preserves varying details about the mother. The Testimony of Khun Luang Ha Wat gives her name as Phra Ratchachaya Devi or Chao Chom Sombun, while the Testimony of the Inhabitants of the Old Capital calls her Nang Kusawadi. These accounts broadly agree that she had been Narai's secret consort and was later given to Phetracha when he held office as chao krom chang (head of the Elephant Department), differing mainly in her name and in the explanation for why the child was raised under Phetracha's household. Names and birth traditions The Somdet Phra Phonnarat Chronicle records his original name as Maduea (). In Pathomwong by K.S.R. Kulap, he is instead called Dok Duea (), explained as a reference to his birth beneath a fig tree in the Phichit area while his mother was accompanying Ok Phra Phetracha on a royal journey with Narai to worship the Phra Phuttha Chinnarat and Phra Phuttha Chinnasi at Phitsanulok. Birth year A key clue for his birth year appears in the writings of the German physician Engelbert Kaempfer, attached to a Dutch East India Company mission to Siam in 1690. Kaempfer states that Phra Sorasak (Peja Surusak), the uparat (viceroy), was 20 years old in 1690. This would place his birth around 1670. ==The "Revolution" of 1688==

When King Narai was seriously ill with no hope of recovery, Phetracha arrested the King, his adopted son Phra Pi, and Constantine Phaulkon and the French officers on 18 May 1688. Phetracha and Sorasak were part of a xenophobic clique within the Siamese nobility and thus, rallied many disgruntled Siamese nobles who felt eclipsed by the influence of foreigners at court. Phra Pi was executed on 20 May. Phaulkon too was executed by Luang Sorasak on 5 June. Narai, on his deathbed, was unable to do anything, except cursing Luang Sorasak and his adoptive father Phetracha. Luang Sorasak then had Narai's two half-brothers, Prince Aphaithot and Prince Noi, executed. Following the death of King Narai, Phetracha had proclaimed himself King, he appointed Luang Sorasak as the Prince Viceroy. == Becoming the "Tiger King" ==

After the death of his adoptive father Phetracha in 1703, Sorasak triumphed over his younger half-brother Prince Khwan, another son of Phetracha with Princess Sisuphan, and was proclaimed as the new king. Despite the promise of giving up his throne to Prince Khwan when he reached a certain age, Sorasak secretly had him executed. As king, he constructed Wat Pho Prathap Chang at the alleged site of his birthplace in Phichit Province. The Siamese commoners in his time gave him the name Phra Chao Suea, "Stories abound of his appalling private life and his acts of cruelty." ''The Chronicle of Ayutthaya, Phan Chanthanumat (Choem)'s Edition'', described his behaviour as follows: "At that time, the king was of vulgar mind, uncivil behaviour, savage conduct, cruel habit. He was never interested in charitable activities, but only in the activities which breached the royal traditions. Also, he lacked inhibition, but was consumed by unholy sin. Eternal were anger and ignorance in his mind. And the king habitually drank liquor and pleased himself by having intercourse with female children not yet attaining the age of menstruation. In this respect, if any female was able to endure him, that female would be granted a great amount of rewards, money, gold, silks and other cloth. Should any female be incapable of bearing with him, he would be enraged and strike a sword at her heart, putting her to death. The caskets were every day seen to be called into the palace to contain the female dead bodies and to be brought out of the palace through a royal gate at the end of the royal confinement mansion. That gate thereby gained the name the 'Gate of Ghosts' until now." == Suriyenthrathibodi and Phan Thai Norasing ==

There was a folktale that Suriyenthrathibodi's desire to save the life of his wheelsman Phan Thai Norasing showed his compassionate side. There is no historical proof for this story. == Death ==

The Chronicle of Ayutthaya, Phra Chakraphatdiphong (Chat) Version described Suriyenthrathibodi to have died in 1708, after contracting an incapacitating and fatal illness during his pilgrimage to Phra Phutthabat Temple at Saraburi. It should be considered that the wilderness surrounding the temple complex was infamous for causing steep fatality rates amongst its local officials, as a result of malaria which is referred traditionally by Thais as “Forest disease” (ไข้ป่า). == Issue ==