Minye Kyawswa II of Ava

Minye Kyawswa (Burmese: မင်းရဲကျော်စွာ, pronounced [mɪ́ɴjɛ́ tɕɔ̀zwà]; also spelled Minyekyawswa; c. 16 November 1567 – late December 1599) was heir apparent of Burma from 1593 to 1599, and viceroy of Ava from 1587 to 1593.

[1] The prince grew up in Pegu during the reign of his grandfather King Bayinnaung, who had founded the largest empire in Southeast Asia.

Unlike other senior princes of the day, he did not take part in any of the early military campaigns—Chinese Shan States (1582–83),[7] Ava (1584),[8] and Siam (1584, 1586).

The king appointed his second son by his chief queen viceroy of Ava with the title of Minye Kyawswa, effective 5 February [O.S.

[11] To help the young prince govern Upper Burma, the king also sent along a dozen senior seasoned officials led by Baya Yawda (as chief minister), and Let-Yway-Gyi Myin Hmu[note 2] (as commander of the military).

The new viceroy had a difficult task ahead of him: reestablish tighter control over the fractious vassal rulers throughout central and northern Burma, the Shan states and Manipur.

Only two years earlier, the high king, who did not want another strong vassal ruler like the rebellious viceroy Thado Minsaw of Ava, experimented by appointing Min Letya only as a governor to administer the vast upcountry.

In 1590, Minye Kyawswa was able to contribute the vast majority of the 10,000-strong army, raised to suppress a rebellion in the northern Shan state of Mogaung.

He was explicitly asked to do so by Nanda, who was frantically directing all his efforts to defeat a Siamese invasion of the southern Tenasserim coast.

[note 5] Minye Kyawswa soon became the front runner to succeed Mingyi Swa, who fell in action in Siam in January 1593.

He made Minye Kyawswa's deputies Baya Yawda and Let-Yway Myin Hmu as co-administrators, backed by a 3000-strong army.

Its home base of Lower Burma had borne the brunt of the war effort in the past decade, and was now greatly depopulated.

[20] Able men had fled military service to become monks, indentured servants, private retainers or refugees in the nearby kingdoms.

Yet, the new crown prince frantically set out to raise more men—again mainly from Lower Burma, branding men to facilitate identification, executing deserters, and forcing monks into the army.

Nanda was forced to intervene the quarrel between the brothers, officially releasing the conscripted men and seized property.

[note 6] Upper Burma and other northern territories had been de facto independent, certainly since Minye Kyawswa was recalled to Pegu, if not earlier.

[note 7] Lan Xang briefly returned to the fold in 1596 with the sudden death of the rebel king Nokeo Koumane.