Kosa Pan
Kosa Pan was a Siamese diplomat and minister who led the second Siamese embassy to France sent by King Narai in 1686. He was preceded to France by the first Siamese embassy to France, which had been composed of two Siamese ambassadors and Father Bénigne Vachet, who had left Siam for France on January 5, 1684.
Family
According to historian Edward van Roy, Pan was the son of Phraya Kiat, a Mon noble who sided with Naresuan during the fourth Burmese-Siamese War, and, daughter of King Ekathotsarot and wet nurse for Phetracha and Prince Narai, both future kings of Siam. Through his son Khunthong, Pan was a great-great-grandfather of King Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty. His older brother, Lek, held the post of foreign minister before him.Early life
Pan was born in the Ayutthaya Kingdom around 1633. As his mother was a wet nurse for the young prince Narai, Pan was considered a foster brother to the future king. Chao's connection, if any, with the then-reigning Sukhothai dynasty of the Ayutthaya Kingdom is unclear, with some speculating her to be a daughter King Ekathotsarot.Names
Pan was his given name. As foreign minister, he was styled Chaophraya Kosathibodi. He is colloquially called Kosa Pan.He is also known by his former style as a first-class diplomat: Ok-phra Wisut Sunthon. Contemporary French documents recorded his name as Ooc, Pravisoutsonthoon Raatchathoud.
His success in diplomatic negotiations earned him the epithet golden-tongued diplomat.
Embassy to France (1686)
To accompany the return of the 1685 French embassy to Siam of Chevalier de Chaumont and François-Timoléon de Choisy, Pan was selected by Constantine Phaulkon, the Prime Counsellor to King Narai, to lead an embassy to France. Pan set out for France in 1686 on two French ships with two other Siamese ambassadors, Ok-luang Kanlaya Ratchamaitri and Ok-khun Si Wisan Wacha, and by the Jesuit Father Guy Tachard.The embassy was bringing a proposal for an eternal alliance between France and Siam. Pan's embassy was met with a rapturous reception and caused a sensation in the courts and society of Europe. The mission landed at Brest, France and journeyed to Versailles, constantly surrounded by crowds of curious onlookers. The embassy stayed in France from June 1686 to March 1687.
1688 Siamese revolution
Upon his return to Siam, Pan was pressured to become a supporter of Phetracha's anti-French faction of dissatisfied nobles, who resented the power that the French held in Siam. The following revolution toppled Narai and ousted the French forces. Pan was sent to negotiate with their officials. He was appointed by Phetracha as his Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.Pan was met in Siam in 1690 by the German naturalist Engelbert Kaempfer. The naturalist noted "pictures of the Royal family of France and European maps" hanging "in the hall of his house":
In 1699, Pan and Phetracha received a visit from the Jesuit Father Guy Tachard. The meeting was formal and did not produce any closer relations.