Guy Tachard


Guy Tachard, also known as Père Tachard, was a French Jesuit missionary and mathematician of the 17th century, who was sent on two occasions to the Kingdom of Siam by Louis XIV. He was born in Marthon, near Angoulême.
In 1680, Tachard went to the Caribbean with Jean II d'Estrées.
Tachard was involved in embassies to Siam, which came as responses to embassies sent by the Siamese King Narai to France in order to obtain an alliance against the Dutch.

First embassy to Siam (1685)

Tachard was sent in 1685 with five other Jesuits under Superior Jean de Fontaney, on a first French embassy to Siam led by Chevalier de Chaumont and François-Timoléon de Choisy, and accompanied by Claude de Forbin. The objective of the Jesuits was to complete a scientific expedition to the Indies and China. Enticed by the Greek Constantine Phaulkon, he returned to France to suggest an alliance with the king of Siam Narai to Louis XIV.
The five other Jesuits Fathers continued to China where they arrived in February 1688: Jean de Fontaney, Joachim Bouvet, Jean-François Gerbillon, Louis Le Comte and Claude de Visdelou.
The two ships of the embassy returned to France with a Siamese embassy on board, led by the Siamese ambassador Kosa Pan, who was bringing a proposal for an eternal alliance between France and Siam. The embassy stayed in France from June 1686 to March 1687.

Second embassy to Siam (1687)

A second embassy to Siam was sent in March 1687. organized by Colbert, of which Tachard was part again. The embassy consisted in five warships, led by General Desfarges, and was bringing the Siamese embassy home.
The mission was led by Simon de la Loubère and Claude Céberet du Boullay, director of the French East India Company. A young Jesuit had been brought by Tachard: the future composer André Cardinal Destouches. However, apart from the reaffirmation of the 1685 commercial treaty, the mission achieved little else.

Embassy to France and Rome (1688)

King Narai dispatched the third Siamese mission to France and Rome in January 1688. Tachard accompanied 3 Siamese envoys Ok-khun Chamnan, Ok-khun Wiset Puban, Ok-muen Pipith Raja. Ok-khun Chamnan led the mission. Tachard had the title of "Ambassador Extraordinary for the King of Siam ". The French Envoy Extraordinary to Siam, Simon de la Loubère traveled with them back to France. They left Siam aboard the ship Gaillard'' on 3 January 1688. They were followed three days later by 3 catechists from Tonkin, and five Siamese students were sent to study at the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris.
During their first visit to Paris they could not meet Louis XIV, because King Narai was a devout Buddhist and resisted French pressure to convert to Catholicism. Thus the Siamese Ambassadors and Vietnamese Catechists, with Father Tachard met with Pope Innocent XI in the Vatican on 23 December 1688. Tachard acted as translator for the Siamese embassy and he translated King Narai's letter to the Pope. The Italian painter Carlo Maratta made portraits of the Siamese ambassadors and Tonkin catechists in Rome during December 1688/January 1689. They met the pope again for a farewell audience on 5 January 1689.
The dis-embarkment of French troops in Bangkok and Mergui led to strong nationalistic movements in Siam directed by Phra Petratcha. This ultimately resulted in the Siamese revolution of 1688 in which king Narai died on 10/11 July 1688, Phaulkon was executed, and Phra Petratcha became king. Desfarges negotiated to return with his men to Pondicherry. In the later part of 1689, Desfarges captured the island of Phuket in an attempt to restore French control.

Other travels

In 1690, when Tachard tried to return to Siam, a revolution had happened, King Narai was already dead and the new King Petratcha was on the throne. Tachard had to stop at Pondicherry and return to France without obtaining a permission to enter the country.
In 1699, Tachard again went to Siam, and managed to enter the country this time. He met with Kosa Pan, now Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the new king Petracha, but the meeting remained purely formal and led to nothing.
Tachard travelled a fifth time to Asia and died in the Indian city Chandernagor in 1712.

Works

  • Tachard, Guy 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
  • Tachard, Guy Second Voyage
  • Guy Tachard, Michael Smithies, Choisy, Simon de la Loubère A Siamese Embassy Lost in Africa 1686: The Odyssey of Ok-khun Chamnan, Silkworm Books, Cape of Good Hope,