Pierre d'Espagnac

Pierre d'Espagnac, sometimes Pierre d'Espagnal (1650-1689) was a French Jesuit missionnary in Siam (modern Thailand) during the 17th century.

Pierre d'Espagnac was a member of a mission of 14 Jesuit scientists sent to Siam by Louis XIV, under the guidance of Father Tachard. As the others, he was given the title of "Royal Mathematician" and was sponsored by the Academy. ["Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories" By Agustín Udías Vallina, Agustin Udias, Page 54 [http://books.google.com/books?id=oMZWrrO_BGIC&pg=PA54&dq=d%27Espagnac+Siam&sig=ACfU3U0_IF0aeY-pXUyig1CdLA1Z5DULcg] ] D'Espagnac left Brest in March 1687 together with the Loubère-Céberet mission to Siam. ["Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories" By Agustín Udías Vallina, Agustin Udias, Page 54 [http://books.google.com/books?id=oMZWrrO_BGIC&pg=PA54&dq=d%27Espagnac+Siam&sig=ACfU3U0_IF0aeY-pXUyig1CdLA1Z5DULcg] ]

D'Espagnac spoke Portuguese, an served for sometime as an interpreter for Constantine Phaulkon. [Smithies, p.78]

The Jesuits were warmly received by the Siamese king Narai, who had great interest in astronomy. They observed an eclipse with him in April 1688. ["Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories" By Agustín Udías Vallina, Agustin Udias, Page 54 [http://books.google.com/books?id=oMZWrrO_BGIC&pg=PA54&dq=d%27Espagnac+Siam&sig=ACfU3U0_IF0aeY-pXUyig1CdLA1Z5DULcg] ] Soon however, the Siamese revolted in the Siamese revolution.

Pierre d'Espagnac is next seen in Mergui as part of the French troops fleeing Mergui following the advent of the 1688 Siamese revolution. He was captured in Tavoy by the Siamese, together with the Chevalier de Beauregard and four French soldiers, as they were trying to obtain supplies for their ships. [Smithies, p.81] Pierre d'Espagnac seems to have been enslaved, ["English intercourse with Siam in the seventeenth century" By John Anderson,Page 380, [http://books.google.com/books?id=-3M82RmDjC0C&pg=PA380&dq=d%27Espagnac+Siam&sig=ACfU3U2teRggazeKZkZr4pO4IEFJQxAQXQ] ] and soon died (a year later) in slavery. [Smithies, p.78]

ee also

*France-Thailand relations

Notes

References

*Smithies, Michael "Three military accounts of the 1688 revolution in Siam", Orchid Press, Bangkok, 2002, ISBN 9745240052