The Discourses at Versailles of the First Siamese Ambassadors to France 1686-7 [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONThe story of the relations established between Siam andFrance at the end of the seventeenth century and of their ignominiousconclusion after the death of King Narai in 1688 is now well known,though it remains nonetheless one of the more extraordinary episodesin the history of east-west contacts. It spawned a huge literature ofmemoirs and contemporary accounts, and has exercised continuingfascination.As with most diplomatic ventures, both sides were seekingdifferent ends. The French, egged on by the Jesuits, with Tachard inthe foreground, were seeking not just to extend their influence throughtrade in the exotic east but also to convert King Narai, whose curiosityregarding another religion was foolishly considered to indicate awillingness to abandon his own (an error made also by a concurrentPersian embassy to Siam). The Siamese, through the extraordinaryGreek arriviste Constantine Phaulkonl9 were seeking a counterbalanceto the growing power of the Dutch in the region and a desire to playoff another power, other than the poorly represented English, againstthem; and their king, whose interests in physical sciences were whettedby the machines and knowledge of the Jesuits, was apparently desiousof extending his own and his country's intellectual horizons.The strange tale began in 1662 with the arrival on the order ofthe Vatican of M. Pallu, Bishop of Heliopolis, and M. de la