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Constantine Phaulkon
Greek
national and adviser to
King
Narai
during the
Ayutthaya
period whose
merit
availed him
the title of
Chao Phraya
Wichayen,
the highest
noble title
ever given to a foreign national. This happened only twice in Thai
history, the second time to
the Belgian diplomat
Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns
(fig.),
an adviser to King
Chulalongkorn, i.e.
Rama
V, during the
Rattanakosin
period. Constantine Phaulkon
was born in
1647 on the Greek island of Kefallonia
from
Greek and Venetian parents, and was originally
named
Constantinos Gerakes. At the age of
13 he became a cabin boy on an English ship,
allowing him to travel and see the world. Dedicated and intelligent,
the young adventurer learnt to speak English and Portuguese, and
later on when he worked for the English East India Company in Bantam
(Java), he also learnt Malay. In
1675
he
traveled to
Siam
to work in the East India Company's office in Ayutthaya, whilst in the mean time also conducting private trade on the side. He soon became fluent in Thai and began to work as a translator at the Court of King Narai. Due to his Western origin and experience with the
East India Company, he before long rose to the position of
adviser to
the King, on matters related to the West. He was assigned to welcome
foreign delegations and represent Siam in political
negotiations. In 1687, he received the highest of civil titles and
became a minister in the position of
Samuha Nayok, i.e. High Chancellor.
Whilst King Narai had welcomed Catholic missionaries and allowed
them to built churches, Phaulkon felt he had been called by God to
achieve the conversion of the King and all the people of Siam. His high position, however, had earned him the envy of some Thai members of the Royal Court and when King Narai became fatally ill
Phra Phetracha, the foster-brother of King Narai, and Kosa Pan, the son of King Narai's wet nurse, staged a coup d'état and arrested
Phra Pui,
the royal heir, as well as Phaulkon.
Constantine Phaulkon
was
executed in
Lopburi
on 5 June 1688, for high treason. Some sources, e.g. the Paston
Papers from 1688 by Sydney Paston, suggest that the King's overthrow
might even have been plotted by the
Sangha,
the Buddhist clergy, to prevent the Catholic Phaulkon to try and convert the terminally ill King Narai to
Christianity.
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