Diogo's Chronicle

Siam in crisis, from Ayutthaya to Thonburi to Bangkok

Description

Every so often a long-lost manuscript is retrieved from the dusty shelves of some obscure archive to challenge our entrenched vision of former times, far-off places, exotic peoples. Such a lucky find by a pair of Bangkok-based expats forms the subject of this book.

The newly discovered manuscript presents an apocryphal account penned by Diogo d’Almeida, a Portuguese scribe at the Court of Siam over two centuries ago, during a pivotal moment in Thailand’s storied history. His chronicle of the fall of Ayutthaya and the rise of Thonburi brings to life the dynastic turmoil, factional strife, imperial struggles that animated feudal Southeast Asia during pre-colonial times. 

Accompanying his chronicle, Diogo provides a brief account of his own adventurous life as an eyewitness to the events that roiled the court of Thonburi amid conquest, coup, and countercoup. It was a time that spliced the majesty of ancient Siam with the rise of modern Thailand. Binding the tattered tapestry of fact with filaments of fiction, the narrative traces in dramatic detail the events of a near forgotten place and time of battles, subterfuge, and broken alliances in a manner that rivals classic histories of the past.