For much of the first half of the second millennium, Prome was a vassal state of Upper Burma-based kingdoms–Pagan, Pinya and Ava.

During the Ava period (14th–15th centuries), Prome was the southernmost region abutting the rival Hanthawaddy Kingdom.

Avan kings considered the region the most strategic, and appointed only the most senior princes as viceroys of Prome (Pyay).

[2] The Forty Years' War, which ended in a stalemate, left Ava exhausted, and its vassals restless.

In 1469, Prome's long-time governor, Mingyi Swa (r. 1446–1482) rebelled against his brother, when the latter ascended to the Ava throne as Thihathura.

Unlike the usual unrest in remote regions, the Yamethin rebellion was so close to Ava itself, and was a grave threat to the new king.

Taking advantage of the power struggle between his two nephews, the governor of Tharrawaddy, Thado Minsaw, seized Prome and declared himself king.

Thado Minsaw changed his policy in the 1520s when Ava was on its last legs suffering from the sustained assaults by Confederation of Shan States.

The Prome armies brought back the famed poet monk Shin Maha Rattathara.

When Toungoo troops attacked a heavily fortified Prome, Narapati asked for help from the Confederation in Ava.

The Confederation troops broke the siege, and refused to follow up on the retreating Toungoo armies.

[1] King Tabinshwehti of Toungoo appointed Thado Dhamma Yaza I, restoring the city to its former position of a provincial capital.

[5] The principality was again in revolt between 1594 and 1608, during the collapse of First Toungoo Empire before being re-annexed by King Anaukpetlun in July 1608.