Constantine Phaulkon
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Constantine Phaulkon was a Greek employee of the English East India Company who became for a time in the late 17th century the chief advisor to the Siamese king.
Phaulkon married a Japanese Christian and, taking up residence in the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya, became chief advisor to King Narai. Once English and Dutch pressures on the king began to become troublesome, however, he called for aid from the French East India Company, resulting in armed conflict between allied French and Siamese forces, and English ones, in the streets of Bangkok; the French occupied the city, and in 1688 Phaulkon was arrested, and Narai was succeeded by Phra Phetracha. The French were convinced to quit their occupation of the city, however, before long.
References
- Warren Cohen, East Asia at the Center, Columbia University Press (2000), 206.
