Guy Tachard

Guy Tachard ( Father Tachard; * 1651 in Marthon at Angoulême, † 1712 in Chandernagar, India) was a French Jesuit missionary and mathematician. He was twice the Siamese king Narai (1685 and 1687 ) courtyard.

Life

1680 went with Jean II d' Estrées Tachard in the Caribbean islands.

Tachard died in 1712 on his last trip to Asia in the Indian Chandernagar.

First trip to Siam (1685 )

1685 Tachard was sent with five Jesuit missionaries under the Prior Jean de Fontenay to Siam, and who were the Abbé de Choisy led by the Chevalier de Chaumont. For their protection, the naval officer Claude de Forbin (1656-1733) was assigned, who led two ships. The Jesuits were on a mission trip to India and China. The mission reached the conclusion of a commercial treaty between Siam and France.

The two ships of the embassy, which was led by Kosa Pan, returned along with the Siamese ambassadors returned to France. They met in December 1688 with Pope Innocent XI. together, with Tachard translated a letter from King Narai.

Second trip to Siam ( 1687 )

On another trip Tachard went in March 1687 under Simon de la Loubère to Siam. Five warships under Admiral Desfarges brought the Siamese envoy back home. This mission had little success, only the previously completed commercial treaty was confirmed. The political situation was tense in Ayutthaya, many nobles were dissatisfied with the growing influence of foreigners at court, especially that of the Chancellor Constantine Phaulkon. The military leaders of the French behaved little diplomatically and brought many members of the court on against the French. In the further course of the upstart Phetracha could seize the hour, overthrow the king Narai and kill him, and let yourself sit on the throne.

Tachard previously returned back as " Ambassador Extraordinary of the King of Siam", accompanied by Ok Chamnan to France.

Third journey to Siam ( 1690)

Before his third voyage to Siam, the so-called Revolution of 1688 took place as a result of those executed King Narai and Phetracha as the new king ascended the throne. Tachard had no knowledge of these events, went on his way and came to Pondicherry in India, where he waited in vain for the approval of his arrival in Siam. He therefore returned empty-handed back to France.

Fourth trip to Siam

1699 Tachard returned again to Siam and met his old friend Kosa Pan, the Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister under King Phetracha. The encounter is described as very formal, which led to no results.

Work

• Voyage de Siam of pères Jesuites Envoyez par le Roy aux Indes et a la Chine. Paris 1686 ( online at Google Books).
• (1688 ) A relation of the voyage to Siam: Performed by six Jesuits sent by the French king, to the Indies and China in the year 1685.
• (1689 ) Second Voyage.
• Guy Tachard, Michael Smithies, Choisy, Simon de la Loubère: A Siamese Embassy Lost in Africa 1686: the odyssey of Ok- khun Chamnan. Cape of Good Hope (South Africa): Silkworm Books, 2000 ISBN 9747100959. .