Mayréna Part 2: King of Sedang

In part 1, we explored how Mayréna lead an expedition into the wild jungle near Kontum, Central Vietnam. Here he succeeded in thwarting a rival Prussian expedition and thus secured French dominance in the region by forging alliances with chiefs of the Sedang Tribe; the last tribe standing in the way of a road from Quy Nhon on the Annam Coast to Attapeu in Laos.

In this second part, we will delve into how Mayréna seized the moment to declare himself king of an independent Sedang kingdom — a bold move that would set the stage for his own downfall.

Earlier in their mission, Mayréna had informed his guide and interpreter, the missionary Guerlach, that the governor-general of French Indochina had strictly ordered Mayréna not to act in the name of France. Recall that this mission was entirely unofficial, in order to avoid causing diplomatic problems. So when initially Mayréna was asking the Sedang chiefs to sign allegiance to him personally, it did not ring alarm bells for Guerlach.

The expedition would set up their forward base at Kontum which was well established – having the Christian mission, 4 converted Bahnar villages and a small Vietnamese population. Mayréna would take three forays from Kontum to the Sedang land, collecting signatures from various village chiefs on treaties while missionaries translated and signed as witnesses.

Over time Guerlach grew increasingly uneasy with this approach. Although he signed the treaties as a witness, he would later clarify this was in no way an endorsement. His letters suggest he felt Mayréna was not acting in the best interest of France, and after the second foray to the Sedang land, Guerlach seemed to distance himself from his countryman. For the third and last foray, it was Father Irigoyen, a missionary stationed at Kon Trang, who acted as interpreter for Mayréna. After this Mayréna would not see the Sedang people ever again.

At this point I want to step aside from the story to explore how and why all this happened. Mayréna’s own account was that after he had impressed the Sedang with his skill with a sabre, he was asked to lead the Sedang against a neighboring tribe, the Jrai, and upon his victory the chiefs spontaneously declaring Mayréna king totally unprompted. Although this is blatantly a lie, evidence from more reliable sources does indeed back up that the Sedang chiefs did indeed crown him king of their own freewill. Was this due to Mayréna’s charisma, or was he merely a clever opportunist who exploited the hard work of those like Guerlach? After all, it was the missionaries like Guerlach who had lived among the Sedang, learned their language, and won their respect through years of hard work. Maybe it was simply a matter of time until they won over the Sedang – and Mayréna turned up at just the right time.

I, Blak, first chief of the village Dry or Drey, declare that my village and its inhabitants; its lands and its rivers is a village of the kingdom Sedang; furthermore I declare to call and recognize His Majesty Marie, king of the whole kingdom Sedang, and my king; furthermore, I declare that, from time immemorial until this day, I have never called and recognized a king chief of another country; today only, I, first chief of the village of Dry, call and recognize His Majesty Marie, king of the whole kingdom Sedang, and also king of the village of Dry, and its dependencies; again I declare to have heard and understood all the things that the king of the kingdom Sedang orders to be observed in each village of the kingdom Sedang [snip].

and the undersigned, P. Irigoyen, apostolic missionary, declares that the above French translation is the literal of the Sédang Convention passed before me by the village of Dak Dry.
Signed: P. IRIGOYEN, Apostolic Missionary.

My theory is that the Sedang may have overestimated Mayréna’s standing within the French Empire. The chiefs likely sensed that their traditional way of life was under threat and would not survive the march into the 20th century. Surrounded by powerful empires, they must have realized that securing a strong ally was essential for their survival. Unfortunately, their error was in believing that Mayréna was the ally they needed. With the confidence and charisma of a seasoned conman, he convinced them of his influence and power.

One thing is certain: the Sedang people were never called upon to demonstrate their loyalty. I suspect it would not have been easily given, as their commitment to Mayréna’s supposed kingdom was likely tenuous at best. Perhaps Mayréna was well aware of this and understood that their loyalty was irrelevant to his true intentions. His plans were never about building a lasting kingdom for the Sedang; rather, they were about using the illusion of one to serve his own ambitions.

Back to the story, after the third foray with Irigoyen, Mayréna left the highlands and returned to civilisation. The likely reason being that without Guerlach’s support Mayréna would not be able to set up more meetings with more chiefs. Or maybe he just felt he had gathered enough signatures to lend weight to his scheme. Whatever the reason, he quickly put a lot of distance between himself and his supposed kingdom, travelling first to Hong Kong. Here, he would write prolifically to quickly put spin on what he had done.

Mayréna boasted that he was received as royalty in Hong Kong, likely embellishing his exploits to gain favor and attention. With his newfound status, he wasted no time in exploiting his self-proclaimed kingship to its fullest. He began selling titles, land, and mining rights, to gullible buyers enticed by the promise of influence and wealth in his so-called kingdom. Many of these transactions were dubious at best, as Mayréna had dubious power to offer such assets. Regardless, he pocketed the profits and indulged in a life of luxury, parading his fabricated success while living off the proceeds of his fraudulent schemes. His reign, built on deception, became less about leadership and more about how much he could extract from Europeans.

To a world that had never heard of Sedang people, Mayréna had to justify his right to rule, Mayréna wrote at length to passionately argue that the tribes were not, and never had been, subjects of Annam or anyone else. Thus by choosing him as their king, he claimed an unassailable sovereign right to govern.

The independence of these countries is incontestable. It is affirmed by the missionaries, by the people of the country who declare that they have never accepted foreign leaders, it is incontestable according to the geographical configuration of the country, because three chains of high mountains, successive chains, protect it on the side of Annam and Siam; they are natural and impassable walls, where, with a hundred men, one could stop an army. – Marie-Charles David de Mayréna,

Mayréna went to great lengths to create an aura of legitimacy around his so-called kingdom, producing a variety of paraphernalia such as stamps, medals, and even currency. Many of these items bore inscriptions in the Sedang language—a surprising touch that suggests he must have carefully transcribed the language from Guerlach’s notes before leaving. However, this level of detail was largely wasted, as you could probably count on one hand the number of people who could read and write Sedang at that time. Ironically, none of these symbols of his “kingdom” ever made their way back to the Sedang people.

After Hong Kong the king travelled to France hoping for an audience with the president and aiming to open an embassy. He conducted many press interviews at this time but also the press dug up his past to smear his name – recall he’d fled France due to misconduct in the banking industry.

His downfall would begin in April 1889, when a Belgian financier named Somsy agreed to give the self-styled king arms and money in exchange for mineral rights in Sedang. But on his return journey to Vietnam, the French Navy blockaded the ports in order to prevent him reaching Sedang. The arms were then seized as contraband in Singapore. Mayréna’s dreams crushed, fled in to British Malaya.

In British Malaya Mayréna would embrace Islam and take several local wives. On November 11, 1890, the life of King Marie I came to a mysterious end. Reports of his death on Tioman Island vary, with claims ranging from poisoning to snakebite or death in a duel.

In early March 1890 – only 2 years after the “founding” of the Kingdom of Sedang – The Resident of France in Quy Nhon lead an sizable force into the Central Highlands to inform the Sedang Mayréna was dead and he would be taking control of the region. This was the start of Kontum being integrated into the French colony. Within the next few years, the French would go on to push to Attapeu and all the way to the Mekong, joining up with their Cambodian colony and taking the southern part of Laos from Siam.

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Does any legacy of the so-called Kingdom of Sedang survive today? The short answer is no. While there are a few pieces of memorabilia, such as stamps you can view in Hue museum, in the region itself there is no sign that such a kingdom ever existed. In the 1990s a group in Canada decided to pick up the idea of the failed state. They founded the Assembly For the Restoration of the Sedang Nobility in Montreal on November 2, 1995. They seem to have no connection to Mayréna or the Sedang people or the region. At the time of writing, Their website has not been updated since 2006.

In many ways, The Kingdom of Sedang seems to have been a stunt pulled by a showman and opportunist, a man eager to gain fame and fortune by hook or by crook. For me, the story reminds me of modern-day phenomenon of self-declared micronations like Sealand and Liberland. Indeed, the Kingdom of Sedang wasn’t the first of this kind, for example in 1860 there was The Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia. These audacious ventures tap into a deep-rooted human fascination with power and ambition, time and again capturing the public imagination in a way that is both intriguing and entertaining.