View source for The Golden Letter of King Alaungpaya

{{Short description|Burmese manuscript on rolled gold (1756)}}
The '''Golden Letter''' is a manuscript written on rolled [[gold]] in the [[Burmese language]], which was sent on 7 May 1756  by King [[Alaungpaya]] of [[Burma]] to the King [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] of Great Britain in [[London]]. It is now preserved at the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library in [[Hanover]].<ref name="LeiderKing7">Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 7.</ref> In October 2015, the Golden Letter was added to [[UNESCO]]'s [[Memory of the World Register]],<ref>''[http://www.unesco.de/kommunikation/2015/weltdokumentenerbe-2015.html Fünf deutsche Neueinträge im „Memory of the World“-Register]'' (in German), unesco.de</ref> as a common heritage of Myanmar, Germany, and the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Golden Letter of the Burmese King Alaungphaya to King George II of Great Britain|publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-8/the-golden-letter-of-the-burmese-king-alaungphaya-to-king-george-ii-of-great-britain/|access-date=2017-08-31}}</ref>[[File:Goldener_Brief_Gesamt_Vorderseite_(Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz_Bibliothek).jpg|850px|right|The Golden Letter. The mythical bird [[Hamsa (mythischer Vogel)|Hamsa]] is depicted on the left. Rows of rubies are set on both left and right. Damage from 1768 can be recognized at bottom-right.]]
== History ==
[[File:Pyinoolwin_--_DSA_Alaungpaya.JPG|thumb|King Alaungpaya of Burma]]
[[File:George_II_1755-1767.jpg|thumb|George II of Great Britain]]
King [[Alaungpaya]] of Burma was one of the most influential rulers of his time in Southeast Asia.<ref>Georg Ruppelt, Jacques Leider: ''The Golden Letter from King Alaungphaya …'', pg. 7.</ref><ref name="RuppeltLeider11">Georg Ruppelt, Jacques Leider: ''The Golden Letter from King Alaungphaya …'', pg. 11.</ref> During this era, the British [[East India Company]] (EIC), founded in 1600, had established itself in India and was building up its economic and political influence. On the "tenth day of the waxing Moon in the [Burmese] month Kason of the Sakkaraj-year 1118" (7 May 1756 in the Gregorian calendar),<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 76.</ref> Alaungpaya directed that four letters be drawn up by his chancery. One letter – the golden and thus the most important – was addressed to the British king, George II. The second was addressed to the director of the East India Company, the third to the British [[President of Madras]], and the fourth to the headmaster of the island [[Negrais]] in the [[Irrawaddy River]] delta.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pp. 58–61.</ref>
To avoid misunderstandings or misinterpretation of their contents,<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 99.</ref> Alaungpaya had all the letters, which differed in both content and style depending on their respective recipients,<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 98.</ref> already be translated in [[Rangoon]], and sent these translations together with the originals. At the headquarters of the East India Company in London, the receipt of the letter was recorded.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 84.</ref>
In the Golden Letter, Alaungpaya offered to George II that the longstanding trade relationship between their countries be expanded. Among other things, this could be done by having the East India Company set up a fortified trading post at the harbor city [[Pathein]] on the southwestern coast of Burma. At the time of the letter's composition, the company had only a minor outpost on the small island of Negrais. This was far away from trading routes, had no infrastructure to support it, and lay in an unhealthy climatic zone.<ref name="RuppeltLeider9">Georg Ruppelt, Jacques Leider: ''The Golden Letter from King Alaungphaya …'', pg. 9.</ref>
The fact that one king wrote to another to make such an offer in the form of a costly, artfully produced and decorated letter made from gold, showed on the one hand the importance and value of the offer, and on the other hand the generosity of this gesture.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 92.</ref> Both sides stood to profit: the sender could project his reputation externally, and burnish his own internal power. The recipient could further his economic strategy against the competition from the [[French East India Company]] (''Compagnie française des Indes orientales'').
The recipient of the Golden Letter was George II, who was born in Hanover and belonged to the [[House of Welf]]. He was simultaneously the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|King of Great Britain]] and the [[Electorate of Hanover|Elector of Hanover]], joining these territories in [[personal union]]. The letter was next sent to Madras, where there were various delays causing it to arrive in London only in March 1758, almost two years after it was first sent.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 59.</ref>
One reason for the almost two-year delay could be the [[Seven Years' War]], which broke out in 1756, the year that the letter was written. Great Britain was directly involved in the war. Alaungpaya sent the Golden Letter to George II together with another letter addressed to the directors of the East India Company. Both recipients, however, understood neither the contents nor the significance of the message, and therefore saw no reason to respond in a diplomatically measured manner. This initiative of the Burmese ruler was seen more as a curiosity, than as a serious political move by a less-powerful state. Alaungpaya not only received no reply to his offer, but had no acknowledgement that the letters had even arrived at their destinations. It is known that he saw this disregard for him as a serious insult.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 60.</ref>
George II sent the letter, considered to be a curiosity, to the library in his home city of Hanover, where it arrived three weeks later, albeit with an incorrect description.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 105.</ref> The error was due to Gerlach Adolph von Münchhausen, who was a [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Counsellor]] to George II.<ref>Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek: Historische Akten der Bibliothek V15, f 29, cited in ''Nomination form: International Memory of the World Register. The Golden Letter of the Burmese King Alaungphaya to King George II of Great Britain.'' pg. 3, footnote 2.</ref> Münchhausen described it, in a ministerial letter to the librarian at Hannover, Christian Ludwig Scheidt,<ref>[http://der-goldene-brief.gwlb.de/uploads/pics/V15_S29r_frei.jpg Image of the ministerial letter of 28 March 1758 from Münchhausen to Scheidt]</ref> as a diplomatic note in "Indian" (i.e. [[Sanskrit]]) from an Indian prince of the [[Coromandel Coast]], whose religion forbade him from eating anything living and who worshipped fire.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 106.</ref> Thus was the letter archived. For the next 248 years, apart from an incident in 1768, the Golden Letter received no more attention. On 11 June 1768, the Danish prince (later King) [[Christian VII]] arrived in Hanover on his [[Grand Tour]], where the Letter was shown to him.<ref>[http://der-goldene-brief.gwlb.de/typo3temp/pics/Bodemann_Eintrag_GoldenerBrief1-2_4a9fac0939.jpg Entry in the Bodemann Catalogue under Nr. 571a, pg. 98f.]</ref> However, he accidentally damaged it.<ref name="LeiderKing7" /> This damage is still visible today. The letter returned to obscurity. In 1867, Eduard Bodemann copied the erroneous description of the letter for his [[Library catalog|catalog]] of the "Royal Library at Hanover" under the shelf mark "IV 571 a".
Although the Golden Letter was known to have existed, and transcripts could be found in various archives, until its "rediscovery" in 2006, it was unknown where the original was or whether it even still existed. Only after this rediscovery was the text translated, and its true significance recognized. In February 2013, the Golden Letter was registered in the German list of national cultural treasures, under the law for cultural protection (''Kulturschutzgesetz'').<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/germany_uk_germany_golden_letter_eng.pdf|title=Nomination form International Memory of the World Register – The Golden Letter of the Burmese King Alaungphaya to King George II of Great Britain|date=2014|access-date=2017-11-04}}</ref>
=== Description ===
==== Material ====
[[File:Goldener_Brief_Hamsa_Rubine_(Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz_Bibliothek).jpg|thumb|The mythical bird Hamsa, sign of Alaungpaya.]]
The rectangular letter measures {{convert|54.7|by|8.5|cm}}, and is {{convert|0.2|mm}} thick. Including the 24 rubies, its total weight is {{convert|100|g}}.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 104.</ref> Spectroscopic analysis by the Lower Saxony State Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments (''Niedersächsichen Landesamt für Denkmalpflege'') found its [[fineness]] to be between 95.25 and 98.69%. The 24 egg-shaped rubies originate from a mine in the region of the Burmese city [[Mogok]]. Each ruby is held in a hexagonal setting of gold, measuring {{convert|6|by|6|mm}}.<ref name="LeiderKing103">Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 103.</ref>
==== Ornamentation ====
The thin gold layer is bordered on both right and left sides of the text by two vertical rows of twelve rubies each. On the left edge is an [[Repoussé and chasing|embossed]] figure of the mythical bird Hamsa, the king's signet, in an octagonal, richly decorated field. The signet figure was pressed onto the letter.
==== Text ====
The text of the letter runs from left to right. It is finely engraved in Burmese script in ten lines of equal length.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://der-goldene-brief.gwlb.de/fileadmin/Dokumente/GoldenerBrief/Birmanische_Fassung.pdf|title=[Transcript of the Burmese Golden Letter from King Alaungpaya to King George II, 1756]|website=Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek}}</ref>
==== Containers ====
[[File:Goldener_Brief_Stosszahn_(Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz_Bibliothek).jpg|thumb|The only surviving container used to transport the letter, a hollowed-out and ornamented elephant tusk.]]
The packaging of this valuable document for delivery was chosen to be artistically lavish and expensive, as well as robust for the long journey. The Letter was originally rolled in red paper and then stored in a cylindrical ivory container. This lidded container was especially made from a hollowed-out and decorated [[tusk]] of a Burmese elephant (''[[Asian elephant|Elephas maximus indicus]]''). Only some of the ornamentation can be recognized today. The container was itself placed in a kind of pouch made from [[brocade]]. This was itself inside a [[Casket (decorative box)|casket]] of polished wood, varnished with red [[resin]] and ornamented with gold. Attached to the casket was a piece of paper with the text in English. For protection, all these containers were further stowed in a robust red pouch while en route to London. Aside from the ivory cylinder, nothing remains of the other containers.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 102.</ref>
=== "Forgotten" and rediscovered ===
Due to the entry in the Bodemann Catalogue under the [[Accession number (library science)|shelf mark]] "Ms IV 571a", the existence of the Letter was always known within the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library (GWLB) and to researchers, not least because of transcripts in various archives. However, because of the erroneous description, the original received almost no attention for 250 years. In July 2005, Friedrich Hülsmann, the director of the Book- and Library-Systems department at the GWLB, invited [[Jacques Leider]], a [[Luxembourg]]-born historian and Southeast Asia expert at the [[École française d'Extrême-Orient]] in Paris, to help with identifying the document. Until this time, it was thought to be a Sanskrit document because of the catalogue entry. At the first examination, Leider already determined that it was written in Burmese, and that its meaning had been completely misunderstood until then.
=== Research ===
Jacques Leider was tasked in 2007 by the GWLB to research on the history of the Golden Letter. In addition to researching the history of the Letter and its "fate" in London, Leider translated the text and compared the original with other versions that exist as transcriptions in archives, e.g. in Myanmar. He published his results in 2009 in an extensive report.<ref>Jacques P. Leider: ''King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II …'', pg. 4.</ref> In 2013, the German [[Federal Foreign Office]] sponsored the [[Digitization|3D-digitization]] of the Letter through its cultural programme.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Aussenpolitik/KulturDialog/Kulturerhalt/Myanmar-GoldenerBrief_node.html|title=Myanmar: Der Goldene Brief als Digitalscan|date=2014|website=Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office, Germany)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010212242/http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Aussenpolitik/KulturDialog/Kulturerhalt/Myanmar-GoldenerBrief_node.html|archive-date=10 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
=== Significance ===
The choice of material and the quality of the handiwork are indicators of the status that the author attached to the contents of the Golden Letter and its recipient - and also to himself. The Letter could be the only example of its kind in the world today. That Great Britain, in the person of George II, was so uninterested in cooperating with Burma, could be put down to the geopolitical situation of the time. From 1756, Britain and other European states were involved in the [[Seven Years' War]]. It fought against several European states on different continents, and also in North America. Even the duchy of Hanover was involved on the British side in this conflict. Due to the years of conflicts, the East India Company withdrew from Burma and showed little interest in expanding its engagement there. Eventually, this together with many ill-advised political and military actions by Britain caused Alaungpaya to destroy the outpost on Negrais in the Irrawaddy Delta, which broke relations between the two states for decades.
The document also allowed a reassessment of the legacy of Alaungpaya, whose role was often oversimplified to that of a warrior, neglecting his actions in geopolitics and as a skilled international diplomat.
Against this background, the Golden Letter of Alaungpaya is not only a unique artefact of [[art history]], but also a window into the contemporary geopolitical relationship between Great Britain (and the East India Company in particular) and a resurgent Kingdom of Burma.
=== UNESCO Memory of the World Register ===
In 2014, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, the [[Ministry of Culture (Myanmar)|Myanmar Ministry for Culture]], and the [[British Library]] sent their nomination of the Golden Letter as a documentary heritage to [[UNESCO]] for inclusion in the [[Memory of the World Register]].<ref name=":0" /> This application was approved in October 2015, and the Golden Letter has been included in the Register since then.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Aussenpolitik/KulturDialog/Kulturerhalt/Myanmar_GoldenerBrief_Unesco.html|title=Der Goldene Brief des Königs Alaungphaya von Myanmar an Georg II. gehört zum UNESCO-Weltdokumentenerbe|date=12 October 2015|website=Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office, Germany)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103235616/http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Aussenpolitik/KulturDialog/Kulturerhalt/Myanmar_GoldenerBrief_Unesco.html|archive-date=3 November 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Due to a long renovation of the library building, the certificate from UNESCO was finally presented on 29 March 2017 by Verena Metze-Mangold, president of the UNESCO commission, to the library director Anne May. Present at the ceremony were Yin Yin Myint, Myanmar ambassador; Annabel Gallop, the curator of the Southeast Asian collection at the British Library; [[Prince Heinrich of Hanover]] representing the House of Welf; and [[Gabriele Heinen-Kljajic|Gabriele Heinen-Kljajić]], State Minister for Science and Culture in Lower Saxony.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Verbrieftes Weltkulturerbe / Festakt zur Aufnahme des Goldenen Briefs in das Unesco-Weltdokumentenerbe in der Gottfried-Wihelm-Leibniz-Bibliothek|last=Moers|first=Mario|date=30 March 2017|work=Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung|page=21}}</ref>
== References ==
* Jacques P. Leider: ''[http://der-goldene-brief.gwlb.de/fileadmin/images/GoldenerBrief/Forschung/Leider_Golden_Letter.pdf King Alaungmintaya’s Golden Letter to King George II (7 May 1756). The story of an exceptional manuscript and the failure of a diplomatic overture.]'' Hanover, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek 2009.
* Jacques P. Leider: ''La lettre du roi birman Alaungmintaya au roi de Grande-Bretagne George II (7 mai 1756): la re-découverte du manuscrit en or et son contexte historique.'' In: ''Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.'' 2011, I (janvier–mars), pp.&nbsp;155–173.
* Georg Ruppelt, Jacques Leider: ''[http://digitale-sammlungen.gwlb.de/gwlb/docs/PU/GoldBrief2.pdf The Treasure of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library in Hanover, Germany. The Golden Letter from King Alaungphaya of Myanmar to King Georg II of Great Britain.]'' Hanover, {{ISBN|978-3-943922-05-9}}.
* [http://der-goldene-brief.gwlb.de/index.php?id=284 Extensive bibliography in various languages] at der-goldene-brief.gwlb.de
== External links ==
* [http://der-goldene-brief.gwlb.de/ Official website of the Golden Letter]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqcEeh33poU Video (30 minutes) presented by Jacques Leider on the Golden Letter and its historical background]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfwU8ZgqcDs Der Goldene Brief aus Myanmar] (in German), video by the German Foreign Ministry
== Citations ==
<references />
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[[Category:1756 works]]
[[Category:Letters (message)]]
[[Category:Myanmar–United Kingdom relations]]
[[Category:Culture of Myanmar]]