Qualla: Prome Kingdom

Prome Kingdom: Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Bayin Htwe escaped. The king of Prome had been taken prisoner by the Confederation of Shan States in 1532, dragged north to Upper Burma after the very allies he had helped rise to power turned on him. When the Confederation's leader Sawlon was assassinated by his own ministers, Bayin Htwe broke free and made for home. He reached the walls of Prome only to find the gates shut against him -- barred by his own son Narapati, who had seized the throne in his father's absence. Bayin Htwe died soon after in the forests outside the city. It was the kind of betrayal that defined the Prome Kingdom: a small state in central Burma that survived for sixty years by playing larger powers against each other, until the game consumed everyone involved.

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Prome Kingdom: Born from a Brother's Rebellion

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Prome had been a vassal of the Ava kingdom for centuries, a strategic frontier post on the border with the rival Hanthawaddy kingdom to the south. The Forty Years' War between Ava and Hanthawaddy, fought from 1385 to 1424, ended in a stalemate that left Ava exhausted and its vass...

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Prome Kingdom: Four Decades of Quiet Survival

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Thado Minsaw proved shrewder than his violent rise suggested. Rather than picking fights with his neighbors, he kept Prome out of the wars consuming Upper Burma and forged a peaceful relationship with Hanthawaddy, the most powerful kingdom in the region. His territory stretched f...

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Prome Kingdom: Sacking the City of Ava

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In the 1520s, Thado Minsaw abandoned restraint. Ava was dying -- the Confederation of Shan States, a coalition of highland warlords, had been hammering the kingdom for years. Thado Minsaw entered into a league with Sawlon, the Confederation's leader, and in March 1525, their comb...

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Prome Kingdom: Caught Between Empires

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Thado Minsaw's son Bayin Htwe inherited an alliance that had curdled. On March 25, 1527, Confederation forces captured Ava and installed Sawlon's eldest son Thohanbwa on the throne. Sawlon resented Prome's insufficient support during the campaign and harbored a grudge. In 1532, C...

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Prome Kingdom: Five Months of Starvation

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In late 1541, the rising Toungoo dynasty besieged Prome for the final time. The last king, Minkhaung, called on both his allies -- the Confederation sent troops from Ava, and Mrauk U dispatched an army and a naval flotilla that landed at Bassein. It was not enough. Toungoo forces...

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