26 – Artus de Lionne and Constantine Phaulkon

A number of diplomats travelled in embassies between Siam and France from 1680 to 1688.   Six different groups of envoys attempted to bring about a rapprochement between the kingdoms of Phra Narai and Louis XIV. These negotiations varied in success and proved inconclusive but the stories of two of the most significant middlemen involved – the missionary Artus de Lionne and the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon give us a window onto seventeenth-century diplomacy. We can get a sense of the importance of court ceremonial, religion, and trade in both places.

S’il persiste à être opiniâtre, nous lui ferons commander par le roi d’accompagner ses ambassadeurs. Il sait leur langue et fera un interprète illustre.¹

This [eclipse] was viewed by the Missionary and Mathematician Jesuits sent by the King to the East Indies in 1687. It was at Louvo [Lopburi] in the King’s palace that it was observed in the presence of this prince who was at a window of a large Hall of His Palace seated in an armchair, and the Jesuits with Mr Constance who acted as interpreter for them were seated with their legs crossed on a large Turkish carpet. One saw on both sides a row of prostrate mandarins with their heads bowed down to the ground.²

Artus de Lionne

Artus de Lionne (1655-1713), the son of the statesman Hugues de Lionne, joined the church after disappointment in love had him turn his back on a military career. He travelled to Siam in 1681 for the Foreign Missions of Paris, settling in the capital, Ayutthaya, and learning Siamese. Since he spoke the language, he was chosen by King Phra Narai to accompany his embassy to France five years later.  The purpose of the mission was to ratify commercial treaties reached in 1685, though the French and Siamese courts had different priorities when it came to trade between the two nations: Louis XIV hoped to extend Frances’s limited influence in Asia, through the Catholic faith and trade, whereas Phra Narai wanted another European power active in his region to counter the influence of the Dutch and the Portuguese.  That was why he had allowed the Foreign Missions of Paris to settle there in the first place, giving them great hopes that he would convert to Catholicism and inspire his subjects to do so too, though that was most unlikely to occur as Buddhism was central to his authority.

The 1686 Siamese embassy to the French court at Versailles – the fourth such meeting between the two kings – generated a huge amount of publicity.  Kosa Pan, Ok-luang Kanlaya Ratchamaitri, and Ok-khun Sisawan Wacha, and their entourage drew crowds and inspired accounts, commemorative illustrations, and artefacts.  This was at least partly due to the commitment of both crowns to its success.  Phra Narai had ensured that his representatives were well-prepared by asking de Lionne to familiarise them with European ways in the course of the six-month voyage to. He wanted them to know what to expect – and how to comport themselves on arrival. ³

Louis XIV, for his part, made sure that his planners heeded earlier briefings on Siamese etiquette as well as the problems that had arisen during the 1684 Siamese embassy to Versailles.  On that occasion, the envoys had been shocked by the apparent lack of reverence for the king shown by his rather boisterous courtiers and offended by their seats on the lower level at the command performance of Lully’s opera Roland as they seemed to show scant regard for their status. To the Siamese, respect was shown through distance and height: their monarch always sat on an elevated throne and those attending court had to remain silent and prostrate.  His representatives did not take kindly to being seated below others in the audience, even though they were close to Louis XIV. ⁴ 

From Brest to Paris

The 1686 envoys had been fully briefed and were aware that respect was expressed in different ways at Versailles, and the French authorities were prepared to match the lavish hospitality extended towards the 1685 French embassy to Siam.  Hence, no sooner had the Siamese ambassadors reached Brest on 18 June than they were welcomed with great ceremony by their hosts. 

That evening they were met aboard ship by a large party of royal officers and Breton noblemen, led by the governor of the port and the local intendant de la marine … The next day, they were saluted by cannon as they went ashore aboard a ship’s launch .. which was rowed by fifty sailors, adorned with cloth of gold and scores of white satin pennants, and provided even with music for the occasion.⁵

The tone was set for their overland trip through the Loire Valley to the Chateau de Berny.  The welcome extended to the Siamese delegation was both unprecedented and diplomatic.  The arrangements made to ensure that Phra Narai’s letter to Louis XIV was always in a more elevated position than the envoys charged with its delivery show the French court’s awareness of their sensitivities.  A special shelf was designed to accommodate it in their carriage and it was suspended overhead everywhere they stayed.⁶

It is perhaps not surprising that the embassy drew widespread attention.  There was much public excitement about these exotic visitors; the Mercure Galant – a society gazette – ran four special editions about the ambassadors, and they stimulated prints, paintings, and medals ⁷.  The illustration above gives a sense of how unusual the Siamese party must have looked: some of them are wearing lomphoks – the ceremonial conical headgear reserved for the monarchy and members of the nobility. Their king’s letter has been placed in a bustabok, an open, throne-like structure used to carry revered objects. The embassy also had many gifts for Louis XIV: gold, porcelain as well as two cannons which were later used in the storming of the Bastille. There was much interest in their audience with Louis XIV in the Versailles Hall of Mirrors.

The 1686 Nicolas de Larmessin II engraving of the audience shows the three ambassadors before the king in their finery and lomphoks. De Lionne is standing next to Kosa Pan, holding his translation of the speech the envoy is to give. One reading of the engraving has it that the missionary has been given a prominent position here because of the strong French investment in bringing Siam into the Catholic Church. His role as a religious intermediary probably does explain his high profile in the engraving but it is interesting to note that what is said about that could also apply to his role as an interpreter:

The position of the letter directly in front of Kosa Pan’s mouth underlines the missionary’s words as an exact replica of the Siamese ambassador’s sentiments.  Lionne’s translation of the speech from Siamese to French likewise mirrors his conversion of souls from infidel to Christian, one of the primary goals of the embassies between France and Siam.  The intermingling words and bodies of Lionne and Kosa Pan visualize the blurred lines between missionary and diplomat, French and Siamese, and Christian and non-Christian and intimate a perceived willingness of the Siamese to establish not only trade relations but also cultural and religious affiliations with France. ⁸

King Phra Narai

Phra Narai had been receptive to the French Missions Society missionaries since their arrival in the Siamese capital Ayutthaya in April 1662.  This multi-lingual trading centre gave them a foothold in Asia as they ministered to Asian Catholics, including exiled converts from Japan. Their generous reception led them to assume that he might be willing to embrace Christianity. Missionaries like de Lionne learned Siamese so they could encourage conversions but they were prepared to serve as interpreters too. The Society was prepared to work with the French East India Company to promote trade if the company backed its proselytising. Its missionaries were well aware that their willingness to interpret for traders at court would mean that they had contact with the king. Phra Nirai’s tolerance and generosity were read as a close interest in the missionaries’ teachings. More likely, however, his interest in Christianity arose from the fact that the mission was French and not Portuguese, English or Dutch: here was another group of Europeans to be used in a bid to increase his wealth and reputation by attracting trade. ⁹

His interest in European science also has to be put into context: he was a Buddhist informed by doctrinal tradition as to the nature of the universe, which astrology served to interpret. At its heart was a scientifically based system
of calculating the rotations of the sun, the moon, and the planets. Phra Narai could follow the Jesuits observations with interest but they were never going to change his worldview.¹⁰

Constantine Phaulkon

One way to understand the compromises this Buddhist monarch was willing to make to protect his kingdom is to consider his relations with another intermediary: Constance Phaulkon, known to the French as Monsieur Constance.

Constance Phaulkon (1647-1688) was born in North Cephalonia, then under Venetian rule.  He set off from home at the age of 13, spent ten years in London, and then sailed to Java where he worked as a clerk for the East India Company (EIC).  His trade skills and his facility for languages appear to have served him well.  He already spoke English, French, Portuguese, and Malay (and perhaps Italian and/or Greek) when he moved to Siam in 1675, at the suggestion of Richard Burnaby of the EIC.  It was Burnaby who recommended him as an interpreter to the Phra Khlang (Minister for Foreign Trade) Kose Lak, who was Kosa Pan’s brother.  Lak then introduced him to Phra Narai’s court and his responsibilities there included interpreting.

Phaulkon’s competence and his mastery of English impressed Phra Narai, who was eager to avoid Dutch domination of Siamese markets and enlisted his interpreter in helping him find new allies.  When he realised the EIC was not going to provide the engineers, gunners, ships, and capital that he needed, the King was receptive to Phaulkon’s advocacy of a rapprochement to the French ¹¹ 

In hindsight – and indeed to some, during his lifetime – Phaulkon was a talented and ambitious chancer.  For some nine years, he played a central role at court.  Having converted to Protestantism in England, he became Catholic in1682, married Maria Guyomar de Pina, who was of Japanese-Portuguese-Bengali descent and lived a life of affluence and influence which led him to focus on a Franco-Siamese alliance.

The 1685 French embassy

Phaulkon was involved with Louis XIV’s 1685 embassy to Siam, led by the chevalier de Chaumont. It was welcomed with extraordinary honours that informed the French reception of the Siamese diplomats the following year. There were six Jesuits with the embassy; Louis XIV wanted to make use of their language skills and strengths in mathematics and astronomy to ensure conversions to Catholicism in the region as well as improving French knowledge of Asian geography. Phaulkon’s prominent role in welcoming the embassy led to the Foreign Missions feeling sidelined. They thought Phaulkon was using the embassy and Chaumont for his own purposes, a view which Chaumont came to share. Doubtless owing to their fluency in the language and mistrust of Phaulkin, the [Foreign Mission] bishops, who attended the first meetings between Chaumont and Phra Narai, were not invited to later ones. ¹²

Monsieur Constance ne reculait devant aucune largesse pour éblouir les Français, entretenant soigneusement leurs doutes quant à une possible conversion de Phra Naraï au catholicisme – qu’il savait impossible –, n’hésitant pas à l’occasion à déformer ou à passer sous silence les propos du monarque lorsqu’il les traduisait aux ambassadeurs.  ¹³

The 1688 Revolt

By 1687 Phaulkon had serious ambitions for both himself and Siam.  He wanted support for his plans to raise the kingdom’s trading profile, make the ports of Mergui and Ayutthaya central to trade with India and the Far East respectively.  It suited him and the French when they took him up on his suggestion that they settle in Bangkok and Mergui to strengthen their position in the region.  That is why the embassy that accompanied Kosa Pan, his colleagues and de Lionne on their return to Siam included French troops, warships, and more Jesuits.  Phra Narai’s willingness to let Phaulkon play foreign powers against each other and involve one of them in strengthening and protecting his kingdom had overspilled into what appeared to be a betrayal of his aristocracy. 

Since the century’s beginning, Siamese monarchs had relied increasingly on Persians, Moslem Indians, Japanese, Portuguese, and other foreign nationals to staff their governments and reinforce their armies.  Thus excluded from power, the native-born nobility grew ever more resentful of these people … As a result, just six months after the embassy had left for France in January 1688, Siam exploded in a bloody revolution that toppled Phra Narai’s dynasty from the throne. ¹⁴ 

Phra Phetracha, the powerful director of the Royal Department of Elephants, led the revolt.  Constantine Phaulkon was summoned to the palace and he and his men were disarmed.  He was executed on 5 June 1688.  The ailing king’s life was spared; he died the following month and Phra Phetrarcha took the throne.  Kosa Pan threw in his lot with the new ruler; de Lionne left Siam for China before returning to France in 1702. The next French embassy to Siam had to wait 150 years.

This short chapter in Franco-Siamese relations has a footnote in the form of a painting by Jacques Vigoureux Duplessis, Three Siamese Ambassadors and Artus de Lionne in the Jacquemart André museum at Chaalis abbey, where it hangs with its pendant, a painting of the Persian ambassadors sent to Paris in 1715.  They are decorative panels, meant to be placed over doors. While the Larmessin engraving was contemporaneous with the embassy, Vigoureux-Duplessis’s painting was painted after 1715. ¹⁵

This is a group portrait, not a history painting commemorating an audience with Louis XIV.  De Lionne is seen waiting with the Siamese delegation, in an architectural environment evocative of the Versailles Ambassadors Staircase.  Vigoureux Duplessis may have been commissioned to paint these two works by de Lionne’s brother, Jules-Paule de Lionne, who was in residence at the Abbaye de Chaalis from 1668 to 1721.  There would have been every reason to privilege portraiture and interiors over ceremony after 1715; after all, relations with Siam were at a standstill, most of the protagonists were dead, and the idea was to produce a colourful painting to hang high up above a door.  It is often used to illustrate pieces about the Siamese embassy, which makes Artus de Lionne an unusually visible early interpreter.

1. Memoirs of the Abbé de Choisy, quoted in the biographical note on de Lionne in http://www.memoires-de-siam.net/ “If he continues to be stubborn we will have the king order him to accompany his ambassadors. He knows their language and will be a superb interpreter.” (My translation).
2. Caption to the illustration of the viewing of the April 1688 solar eclipse, quoted in Smithies, M. Eclipses in Siam, 1685 and 1688, and their Representation in the Journal of the Siam Society 2003 Vol. 91, pp. 189-204, p.190.
3. Love, R. S. Rituals of majesty: France, Siam, and court spectacle in royal image-building at Versailles in 1685 and 1686. Canadian Journal of History, vol. 31, no. 2, 1996, p. 171+, p.177.
4. Ibid. pp.171-2.
5. Ibid. p.177.
6. Ibid.
7. Bruckbauer, A. Ambassadors and Missionaries, Converts and Infidels: Visualizing the 1686 Siamese Embassy to Versailles in the Journal of the Western Society for French History, Volume 43, 2015, pp.21-37, p.22.
8. Bruckbauer, op. cit. p.27.
9. Love, R. S. Monarchs, Merchants and Missionaries in Early Modern Asia: The Missions Etrangères in Siam, 1662-1684 in The International History Review, Mar.1999, Vol. 21, No 1, pp. 1-27, p.9.
10. Hodges, I. Western Science in Siam: A Tale of Two Kings in Osiris, 1998, Vol. 13, Beyond Joseph Needham: Science, Technology, and Medicine in East and Southeast Asia (1998), pp. 80-95. p.85.
11. Collins, M. 2008, Siamese White, Faber and Faber, London p.63.
12. Love, Merchants and Missionaries in Early Modern Asia, op. cit. p.25.
13. Biographical note in http://www.memoires-de-siam.net/ “Monsieur Constance stopped at nothing to impress the French.  He carefully managed their doubts as to Phra Narai’s conversion – which he knew to be out of the question – and did not hesitate to distort the king’s words or leave them unsaid while translating for the ambassadors.” (My translation).
14. Love, Rituals of Majesty Op. cit. p.9.
15. Eidelberg, M. A Chinoiserie by Jacques Vigouroux Duplessis in The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery,1977, Vol. 35 (1977), pp. 62-7, p.65.