1564, Feb - As the Thais miscalculate the Burmese strategy, the Burmese army makes a surprise attack on Ayutthaya. For lack of preparation on the part of the Siamese, King Chakrapat is pressed to agree to onerous peace terms dictated by Bhueng Noreng.
1564, Dec - The Burmese occupy Chiang Mai.
1565 - In an effort to strengthen Siam, King Chakrapat intends to marry his younger daughter, Princess Tepkasatri, to King Jaijetta of Laos. King maker Khun Pirentoratep (Prince Maha Tammaraja) and his wife Princess Wisutkasatri who is the elder sister of Princess Tepkasatri disapprove of the impending marriage and kidnap Princess Tepkasatri with Burmese help when she is about to be delivered to King Jaijetta of Laos. King Chakrapat thereupon loses the pleasure in being king and appoints his son, Prince Mahin, as the Regent of Ayutthaya in preparation to retire to private life. However, this is oil on the fire smouldering on the side of Khun Pirentoratep (Prince Maha Tammaraja) who not only is angry over not being consulted in family affairs but also feels he has been passed over in the succession to the throne. The result is that a split occurs in Siam in which each side is willing to bring in outside forces to subdue the other; King Chakrapat and his son Prince Mahin entertain a close relationship with the King of Laos while Khun Pirentoratep (Prince Maha Tammaraja) has a friendly relationship with the Burmese King Bhueng Noreng.
1568 - Due to the obvious unpreparedness of Prince Mahin to perform the kingly functions, King Chakrapat returns to his throne.
1568, Dec - Burmese King Bhueng Noreng invades Siam with an army which is recorded to have been even bigger than the previous one of up to 200,000 troops. Bhueng Noreng this time doesn’t choose classical Burmese entry point to Siam, the Three Pagodas Pass, but moves in from the north. The Siamese Governor of Phitsanulok, Khun Pirentoratep (Prince Maha Tammaraja), joins his army with the Burmese force, thereby putting Thai soldiers against Thai soldiers. The combined army marches towards Ayutthaya.
1569, Jan - At the most untimely moment, just when the combined armies of Bhueng Noreng and Khun Pirentoratep (Prince Maha Tammaraja) march towards Ayutthaya, King Chakrapat dies and Prince Mahin succeeds on the Siamese Throne. There are no historic indications that King Chakrapat was murdered, even though an according assassination would have fit very well into the strategy of the Burmese King Bhueng Noreng and more so of Khun Pirentoratep (Prince Maha Tammaraja).
1569, Aug 30 - After a siege of 7 months, Ayutthaya falls for the first time. But the victory of Bhueng Noreng and Khun Pirentoratep (Prince Maha Tammaraja) is not credited to brute force but treason, to a trap, probably devised by Prince Maha Tammaraja. Bhueng Noreng and Prince Maha Tammaraja achieved to smuggle into the besieged city the traitor Pijai Chakri. Pijai Chakri had been taken hostage by the Burmese in 1563 and since been completely brainwashed. He made his entry to Ayutthaya by appearing before the city’s gate, dressed up as prisoner and claiming to have escaped from the Burmese in order to help defend Ayutthaya. He succeeds in winning King Mahin’s trust and is put in charge of vital defence installations. But instead of doing his best to help in the defence of Ayutthaya, he gives out information to the Burmese and deliberately weakens Ayutthaya’s defence at points through which the forces of Bhueng Noreng and Prince Maha Tammaraja finally gain access.
1569, Dec - 21 years after having led a palace revolt, after having installed one king and having disposed of two, Prince Maha Tammaraja himself ascends the throne of Ayutthaya and assumes the title Phra Srisanpet. Bhueng Noreng who feels that his mission is accomplished returns to Burma, taking with him King Mahin and a substantial part of the population of Ayutthaya as well as a big booty but refrains from finishing off the Kingdom of Siam as he probably feels quite secure having installed his ally Prince Maha Tammaraja (now Phra Srisanpet) on the Siamese throne. However, Bhueng Noreng obviously underestimated Maha Tammaraja who immediately starts to rebuild the kingdom - with the obvious aim to make it an independent power again. He appoints his son Prince Naresuan who had grown up in Burmese custody after the second Burmese invasion of 1563 and as Prince and Governor of Phitsanulok, the position occupied by Maha Tammaraja himself for more than 20 years. Both, king and prince, immediately begin re-arming Siam as well as building new fortifications for Ayutthaya and towns in the north.
