The experiences of Jacobus van de Koutere, a Bruges adventurer in Siam and surroundings (part 1)

Ancient map of Ayutthaya – Photo: Wikipedia

The Portuguese were the first farang who set foot in Siam in 1511. They were followed a century later by the Dutch. That is how it reads in the history books, although this story deserves some nuance. It was not the Northern Dutch shippers and merchants of the VOC who first arrived from our regions in the Siamese capital Ayutthaya. This honor belongs to a South Dutchman, the Bruges native Jakobus van de Koutere or Jacques van de Coutre as he became internationally known. A Fleming who – oh irony of history – had devoted a large part of his life to fighting the VOC…

Jakobus van de Koutere was baptized on March 5, 1577 in the church of Sint-Walburgis in Bruges, West Flanders, then only the shadow of what was once the most prosperous port city in Western Europe. However, according to a statement made by James himself before the Inquisition in 1610, he was born in 1572… Be that as it may, he was the third in a family of four children. His parents, thebustelbesemaekereor broom binder Jakob vande Koutere and Anna Van Houven belonged to the lower middle class. Like many craftsmen, they could have benefited from the very favorable economic climate in the first half of the sixteenth century in Flanders and possessed 'The helmet' a modest hut in the Vlamingstraat and two more buildings in the Flipstockstraat near the Sint-Pieterskerk. Shortly after Jakobus' birth, however, this changed abruptly with the outbreak of the bloody Eighty Years' War, which did not spare the Brugse Ommeland either. Even before 1583, Hanskin, the youngest brother of Jakobus, had died and as if that were not enough, father Jakob senior died a little later and the family became poor. Jozef van de Koutere, the second oldest brother of Jakobus, left for Portugal in 1586 – which had been an integral part of the Spanish crown domain since 1580 under Philip II – to try his luck there. Five years later it was James' turn.

On August 1, 1591 he left Vlissingen on board 'The Red Lion' under the authority of Captain Gaspar Janssens to Portugal. Before the prow turned south, however, it first went north where the crew sailed for three months on cod catches on behalf of the Flemish shipowner and ship owner Herman Varmere in the harsh Icelandic waters. On the return journey, just past the Irish coast, British buccaneers had taken the ship very close. In this confrontation Captain Jansens was killed whose legs were torn off by an English cannonball. However, James survived this adventure unscathed and arrived in Lisbon in the second half of October 1591, where he moved in with his brother Joseph. They soon realized that Lisbon was not the most suitable place to make a fortune and in the spring of 1592, as soldiers in the service of the Portuguese crown, they embarked on the 'Our Lady Of Nazareth' which sailed to the Portuguese colonies in the Far East. After a short stopover in Mozambique where the critically ill brothers could regain their strength, they finally arrived in Goa on September 14, 1592. The Bruges brothers did not immediately find capital, but Jozef did find a bride. Barely three months after his arrival in the Portuguese colony, he married a daughter from the de Couto family, who was later described by Jakobus as someone “…of prominent ancient Christians, but with little money "...

On September 28, 1593, James, again as a mercenary, embarked on Don Diego Lobo's ship. A month and a half later he set foot in Melaka. Melaka had been occupied by the Portuguese since March 1511, who not only developed it into an important trading post, but also used it as a strategic base for further Portuguese expansion in the wider region. In short, thé place to be for a young ambitious guy. While still on the quay, he happened to meet a certain Sequin Martinela, an elderly Venetian dealer in diamonds and other precious stones, who took the young man from Bruges under his wing and not only taught him the tricks of his trade, but also introduced him to a number of notables, including Captain Francisco de Silva de Menezes, the commander of the fortress of Melaka. He saw something in the adventure-seeking van de Koutere and six months later charged him with the assignment to accompany ambassador Martin Teixera on a mission to the court of the Malaysian kingdom of Pam, the current Pahang. In his memoirs Van de Koutere wrote that at that moment his career as a trader started because he “also went to buy diamonds and besoar stones, because I knew about thatas he wrote in all modesty…

On May 8, 1595, James left with a new assignment. He was accompanied by the interpreters Antoon and Michiel Ans, the sons of a Flemish skipper who had settled in the Andalusian port city of Malaga after marrying a local beauty. With a large junk it went to Siam to Ayutthaya - invariably described by him as Odia - to negotiate the fate of a number of Portuguese who had been captured by the Siamese king Naresuan the Great after the Siamese invasion of Cambodia in 1593. Koutere and the Ans brothers were accompanied by Jorge de Mota, a Dominican friar who lived in Ayutthaya, ten Portuguese soldiers and a fierce fighting dog. The two brothers had lived in Cambodia for a long time, spoke Khmer and Siamese and were not only married to a Cambodian lady-in-waiting, but also confidants of the young Cambodian king Chey Chetta I and his father Satha I. It was not a smooth journey because when they arrived on an island stocking up on drinking water in the Straits of Malacca, they were surprised by natives armed with poison darts and blowguns, and off the coast of Pattani they narrowly escaped three junks full of pirates. Once they had arrived in the Siamese capital, however, they were received with all due respect by Naresuan and Jakobus van de Koutere would stay in Ayutthaya for eight months. There, however, he got caught up in the web of intrigues that had spread the Dominican de Mota and barely even escaped an assassination attempt.

Our Bruges adventurer, however, had kept his eyes open during his stay in Siam, and when he entrusted his memories to the parchment between 1623 and 1628, he gave a vivid description of Siam, parts of which I do not want to withhold from you. For example, he described Ayutthaya as follows:

"The king has his court in the city of Odia, which is walled with bricks and lies within two broad and deep moats. This city is located some 40 miles inland on the bank of an arm of the Ganges River. There will be ships of the largest sizes, which will moor close to the high city walls. The medium-sized ships can even enter the city because it is intersected with canals, in which countless and even very large caimans swim. In winter the whole city is flooded, to more than lance height, and also the whole country, so that the hills and heights seem like islands. This flood lasts two and a half months. During this period, people move around in boats, trade in them, and hold their market in them. The houses are built of planks and rattan, because of the bad weather. Because the inhabitants know that climate, they sow before washing the water. When the time comes, the crop grows with the water, so that the ears always stick out above the water. They ripen above the water and the harvest is brought in with boats where only the ears are plucked. In this weather entire villages move from the plains to the higher parts. Others stay and move to their huts on stilts. They herd the cattle in sturdily built corrals that were erected on top of very thick bamboo sticks. Their temples and pagodas are built on the highest places, where the water does not reach. During the flood, the king goes on an elephant hunt because all the animals then retreat to the mountains. “

Van de Koutere enjoyed the privilege of witnessing a royal elephant hunt and described them in detail:

"We came to a hill with a very large ramp. This one was made of thick trees that sprang up there while other thick logs were planted in the ground between them. The entrance to this redoubt was half a mile wide and narrow logs formed corridors inside. We saw many female elephants enter. Some men, camouflaged with foliage, mounted these elephants and led them into the corridors. The genitals of these females were smeared with certain herbs, the smell of which made the male elephants walk after them intoxicated. After they had entered these corridors, one after the other, many men closed in on them. They pricked them with long forks, driving them into the narrowest parts of the corridors. There they were surrounded so that they could not reverse or turn around. Caught in this way, the hunters placed many trunks between the animals and tied them to the legs with strong rattan stems as if they were foot irons. They picked out the best and took them away with the foot irons. These elephants were tied to shady trees where they left them without food or water for three to four days. Then they fed them little by little until they were weakened enough to be trained….”

This treatment may seem cruel, but the king's favorite elephants certainly lived a regal life in the royal stables, as a stunned James witnessed for himself:

"Each had its silk pillow on which they slept like puppies. One can easily imagine that the pillows for those elephants were six cubits and higher. The animals were fastened with chains as massive as those of a gate and garnished with gold (…) Each of the elephants had six large golden bowls, as thick as the flat side of a real. Some contained oil with which the animals were anointed, others water with which they sprayed them. The other four served for eating, drinking, urinating and their natural needs respectively. After all, the elephants were trained in such a way that when they wanted to urinate or relieve themselves, they got up from their pillows. The mauls immediately understood this and handed them the bowls. Their abode was always very fragrant and fumigated with benzoin and other fragrant perfumes (…) If I had not seen it myself, I would never have believed it…”

Our resident of Bruges was perhaps even more shocked by the respect that was accorded to Naresuan's deceased favorite elephant:

"She built over the dead elephant a very large throne of blue damask, opened its belly, took out its intestines, and treated it with many sweet ointments. They put a great amount of flowers and roses on it. To keep its belly open, they put gilded stakes in it. Four priests are seated inside. They wore yellow clothes and held ganitra, beads. Many wax candles were burning. Then they made a very large square gallery in wood around it, all gilded and painted. Five staircases reached to the bottom and all around were balustrades. This entire construction was built in less than one and a half hours. The elephant now stank from more than half a mile away. Then all the greats and lords came to worship him from the gallery or the cloister, where on the balustrades stood a mass of burning candles. All worshiped the beast on their knees. This barbaric affair lasted eight days and nights with ceaseless dances and infernal music with bells, timpani, pans and other instruments (…) Around they placed many painted pots, filled with various foodstuffs and with the openings painted and closed. The barbarians said that in the other life the elephant must also eat. When the eight days were up, the priests covered him with coarse and fine firewood. Then the king came, went around the elephant three times, kindled the fire, and after the burning ordered the ashes to be collected in golden vases. They put it near the urns of his parents and ancestors. After this, the two caretakers of the elephant presented themselves to the king. They said that now that the elephant, their master, had died, they wanted to go to the other life to serve him further. The king, with many words of thanks for this deed, drew his sword from its sheath, made them cleave in the middle and then burned with great honor….”

You can read about how things turned out with our Bruges adventurer in Part 2.