The term Paramount Ruler, or sometimes Paramount Datu , is a term used by historians[ who? ] to describe the highest ranking political authorities in the largest lowland polities or inter-polity alliance groups in early Philippine history, [1] most notably those in Maynila, Tondo, Pangasinan, Cebu, Bohol, Butuan, Cotabato, and Sulu. [2] [3]
Different cultures of the Philippine archipelago used different titles to refer to the most senior datu, or leader, of the Bayan or Barangay state. [3]
In Muslim polities such as Sulu and Cotabato, the Paramount ruler was called a Sultan . [3] In Tagalog communities, the equivalent title was Lakan . [3] In communities which historically had strong political or trade connections with Indianized polities in Indonesia and Malaysia, the Paramount Ruler was called a Rajah . [4] Among the Subanon people of the Zamboanga Peninsula, a settlement's Datus answer to a Thimuay, and some Thimuays are sometimes additionally referred to as Thimuay Labi, [5] or as Sulotan in more Islamized Subanon communities. [6] In some other portions of the Visayas and Mindanao, there was no separate name for the most senior ruler, so the Paramount ruler was simply called a Datu, [4] [3] although one Datu was identifiable as the most senior. [7] [8]
Although Junker notes that a position as paramount leader could be passed on through heredity, [9] the inheritor would still have to prove himself worthy of the position, through a combination of personal charisma, capable leadership, and prowess in war. [7] In this way, Jocano notes that this Paramount Datu was chosen by the Datus from among themselves, a situation Jocano likened to "’a living democracy".’ [7]
Junker describes these alliances of rulers as "alliance groups", which she describes as having "a relatively decentralized and highly segmentary structure" [9] : 172 similar to other polities in Maritime Southeast Asia. [9] : 172
Junker notes:
"In the Philippines, the primary unit of collective political action appears to have been an organizationally more fluid "alliance group," comprising individuals whose recruitment into the group involved a variety of both kinship-based and non-kinship based relations (including principles of cognatic descent, as well as forms of ritual friendship). These alliance units, made up of perpetually shifting leader-focused factions, represented the extension of […] power over individuals and groups through various alliance-building strategies, but not over geographically distinct districts or territories." [9] : 172
Junker then proceeds to identify a number of mechanisms through which horizontal alliances between local chiefs were established and maintained through a variety of mechanisms
Neither Datus nor Paramount Datus functioned as Monarchs in any strict academic sense. [9] [7] The Datu's ability to exercise power over the members of their Barangay was not absolute, [3] and their control over territory was a function of their leadership of the Barangay, rather than any concept of "divine right." [9] Furthermore, their position was dependent on the democratic consent of the members of the Barangay's aristocratic (maginoo) class. [7] Although the position of Datu could be inherited, the maginoo could decide to choose someone else to follow within their own class, if that other person proved a more capable war leader or political administrator. [7]
Rulers from Philippine polities were sometimes referred to in Hokkien Chinese : 王 ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī :Ông; lit. 'King; Monarch' by the Chinese officials they conducted trade with mainly from Southern Fujian, and later initially understood by early Spanish chroniclers such as Pigafetta and Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz as 'Kings'. [3] However, this was a function of language, and of the respective sinocentrism and hispanocentrism of these early records, [9] [10] [3] rather than ethnographic observation of the way power was exercised locally. [9] [3] Since both the Chinese and the Spanish came from cultures which were politically organized around a belief in the divine right of monarchs, they tended to project their beliefs into the peoples they encountered during trade and conquest. [9] [3] In a more careful ethnographic observation, San Buenaventura (1613, as cited by Junker, 1990 and Scott, 1994) later noted that Tagalogs only applied the term Hari (King) to foreign monarchs, rather than their own leaders. [3]
Although popular portrayals and early nationalist historical texts sometimes depict Philippine paramount rulers as having broad sovereign powers and holding vast territories, critical historiographers such as Jocano, [7] : 160–161 Scott, [3] and Junker [9] explain that historical sources clearly show paramount leaders exercised only a limited degree of influence, which did not include claims over the barangays and territories of less-senior datus.
For example, F. Landa Jocano, in his seminal work "Filipino Prehistory:Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage", [7] : 160–161 notes:
"Even if different Barangays entered into alliances with one another, there was no sovereign datu over them. Each datu ruled his barangay independently. The alliances were limited to mutual protection and assistance in times of need. It did not entail permanent allegiance. The grouping was based on consensus. Whoever was chosen by the groups as their leader exercised leadership and asserted authority over them. It was a living democracy...Barangay alliances were loosely defined. These were often based on kinship and marriage. Each Barangay remained independent and enjoyed freedom from external control. That was why Lapulapu resisted the attempt of Magellan to make him acknowledge the lordship of Humabon. The same was true of the other datus who resisted coercive efforts of the Spaniards to make them subservient to other Datus."
Keifer [11] compares this situation to similarly-structured African polities where "component units of the political structure consist of functionally and structurally equivalent segments integrated only loosely by a centralized authority dependent on the consensual delegation of power upwards (sic) through the system." Junker, [9] expounding further on Keifer's work, notes:
..."While political leadership followed an explicitly symbolized hierarchy of rank [...] this leadership hierarchy did not (sic) constitute an institutionalized chain of command from center to periphery. Political allegiance was given only to the leader immediately above an individual with whom a kin group had personal ties of economic reciprocity and loyalty." [9]
This explanation of the limited powers of a paramount leader in cultures throughout the Philippine archipelago explains the confusion experienced by Martin de Goiti during the first Spanish forays into Bulacan and Pampanga in late 1571. [12] Until that point, Spanish chroniclers continued to use the terms "king" and "kingdom" to describe the polities of Tondo and Maynila, but Goiti was surprised when Lakandula explained there was "no single king over these lands", [12] [3] and that the leadership of Tondo and Maynila over the Kapampangan polities did not include either territorial claim or absolute command. [3] Antonio de Morga, in his work Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, expounds:
"There were no kings or lords throughout these islands who ruled over them as in the manner of our kingdoms and provinces; but in every island, and in each province of it, many chiefs were recognized by the natives themselves. Some were more powerful than others, and each one had his followers and subjects, by districts and families; and these obeyed and respected the chief. Some chiefs had friendship and communication with others, and at times wars and quarrels. These principalities and lordships were inherited in the male line and by succession of father and son and their descendants. If these were lacking, then their brothers and collateral relatives succeeded... When any of these chiefs was more courageous than others in war and upon other occasions, such a one enjoyed more followers and men; and the others were under his leadership, even if they were chiefs. These latter retained to themselves the lordship and particular government of their own following, which is called barangay among them. They had datos and other special leaders [mandadores] who attended to the interests of the barangay." [13]
Sulayman, sometimes referred to as Sulayman III (1558–1575), was a Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Luzon in the 16th century and was a nephew of King Ache of Luzon. He was the commander of Luzonian forces in the battle of Manila of 1570 against Spanish forces.
Lakandula was the title of the last lakan or paramount ruler of pre-colonial Tondo when the Spaniards first conquered the lands of the Pasig River delta in the Philippines in the 1570s.
Datu is a title which denotes the rulers of numerous indigenous peoples throughout the Philippine archipelago. The title is still used today, though not as much as early Philippine history. It is a cognate of ratu in several other Austronesian languages.
In early Philippine history, the Tagalog settlement at Tondo sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Tondo, was a major trade hub located on the northern part of the Pasig River delta, on Luzon island. Together with Maynila, the polity (bayan) that was also situated on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, had established a shared monopoly on the trade of Chinese goods throughout the rest of the Philippine archipelago, making it an established force in trade throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia.
In early Philippine history, the rank of lakan denoted a "paramount ruler" of one of the large coastal barangays on the central and southern regions of the island of Luzon.
Namayan, also called Sapa, Maysapan or Nasapan, and sometimes Lamayan, was an independent indigenous polity on the banks of the Pasig River in the Philippines. It is believed to have achieved its peak in 1175, and to have gone into decline some time in the 13th century, although it continued to be inhabited until the arrival of European colonizers in the 1570s.
Akí, also known as Rája Matandâ, was commonly referred to as the King of Luzon who ruled from the kingdom's capital Manila, now the capital of the Republic of the Philippines.
In Philippine history, the Tagalog bayan of Maynila was one of the most cosmopolitan of the early historic settlements on the Philippine archipelago. Fortified with a wooden palisade which was appropriate for the predominant battle tactics of its time, it lay on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, where the district of Intramuros in Manila currently stands, and across the river from the separately-led Tondo polity.
The known recorded history of the Philippines between 900 and 1565 begins with the creation of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription in 900 and ends with the beginning of Spanish colonization in 1565. The inscription records its date of creation in the year 822 of the Hindu Saka calendar, corresponding to 900 AD in the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the recovery of this document marks the end of the prehistory of the Philippines at 900 AD. During this historical time period, the Philippine archipelago was home to numerous kingdoms and sultanates and was a part of the theorized Indosphere and Sinosphere.
In early Philippine history, barangay is the term historically used by scholars to describe the complex sociopolitical units which were the dominant organizational pattern among the various peoples of the Philippine archipelago in the period immediately before the arrival of European colonizers. Academics refer to these settlements using the technical term "polity", but they are usually simply called "barangays."
The 1570 Battle of Manila was fought in Manila between Luzonians, led by Prince Sulayman, and Spaniards, led by field marshal Martin de Goiti, on 24 May 1570. Goiti's forces eventually besieged the fort of Manila, destroyed Manila, and won the battle, with the site of the fort falling to the Kingdom of the Spains and the Indies. The Spaniards then founded a Spanish city of Manila making it the capital of the Spanish East Indies.
Datu Magat Salamat was a Filipino historical figure best known for co-organizing the Tondo Conspiracy of 1587. He was one of at least four sons of Lakandula, and thus held the title of Datu under his cousin and co-conspirator Agustin de Legazpi, who had been proclaimed paramount ruler of the indianized kingdom of Tondo after the death of Lakandula, although the position soon became little more than a courtesy title.
In Philippine folk tradition, Rajah Salalila was the Rajah or paramount ruler of the early Indianized Philippine settlement of Maynila, and the father of the individual named Ache, who would eventually be well known as Rajah Matanda. Based on perceived similarities between the names, he is sometimes also called Sulaiman I in the belief that he shared the name of his supposed grandson, Rajah Sulayman.
Dayang Kalangitan is a legendary figure in early Philippine history who was said to be Dayang of the pre-Hispanic Indianized polity of Pasig. She was co-regent of Pasig with her husband, Rajah Lontok, and later sole ruler of their realms. She is one of the very few known female leaders in precolonial Philippine history.
Kedatuan were historical semi-independent city-states or principalities throughout ancient Maritime Southeast Asia in the present-day Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In a modern Indonesian/Malay sense, they could be described as kingdoms or polities. The earliest written record mentioning the term kadatuan was the 7th-century Srivijayan Telaga Batu and Kota Kapur inscription from Sumatra, Indonesia.
In the Philippine languages, a complex system of titles and honorifics was used extensively during the pre-colonial era, mostly by the Tagalogs and Visayans. These were borrowed from the Malay system of honorifics obtained from the Moro peoples of Mindanao, which in turn was based on the Indianized Sanskritized honorifics system in addition to the Chinese system of honorifics used in areas like Ma-i (Mindoro) and Pangasinan. The titles of historical figures such as Rajah Sulayman, Lakandula and Dayang Kalangitan evidence Indian influence. Malay titles are still used by the royal houses of Sulu, Maguindanao, Maranao and Iranun on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. However, these are retained on a traditional basis as the 1987 Constitution explicitly reaffirms the abolition of royal and noble titles in the republic.
Agustin de Legazpi is a prominent historical figure in the Philippines best known as the leader of the Tondo Conspiracy of 1587–1588, the last native ruler of Tondo, and the last individual to hold the title of paramount ruler in any of the Indianized indigenous Tagalog polities of the Pasig River delta, although it had been reduced to little more than a courtesy title by the time of Agustin de Legazpi's execution. He was a great grandson of the Bruneian Sultan and was a convert from Islam to Christianity, his Bruneian name was Rajah Muhammad Zahir al-Din.
The term "Lakan Dula Documents" is used by Philippine historiographers to describe the section of the Spanish Archives in Manila which are dedicated to the genealogical records of the "Manila aristocracy" from the period immediately following European colonial contact. As of 2001, only one bundle of twelve folders remains in the archive, the rest having been lost, misplaced, or destroyed by various events such as the Japanese Occupation of Manila during World War II. The surviving bundle is labeled "Decendientes de Don Carlos Lacandola", and scholars use the term "Lacandola Documents" as an informal shortcut.
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