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Some Problems of Brunei Chronology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Abstract

Owing to the absence of dates in historical manuscripts and on monuments, Brunei chronology has been based upon traditional dates of uncertain origin. The object of this article is to take such events in Brunei as can be chronicled in external sources and to compare these foreign dates with those traditionally accepted.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1989

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References

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4 Ibid., pp. 1–8.

5 Ibid., p. 11 (1).

6 Ibid., p. 54 (5).

7 Ibid., p. 12 (3).

8 Ibid., p. 13 (5).

9 Ibid., p. 57 (10 & 11).

10 Ibid., p. 64 (23).

11 Ibid., p. 71 (33).

12 MS.A., p. 12 (3); MS.B., p. 51(1) Note 2.

13 MS.A., p. 11 (1); MS.B., p. 51 (1).

14 Ibid., p. 82 (54).

15 Sharifuddin, Dato P.M. and Hj. Abd. Latif Hj. Ibrahim, B.M.J. 3, No. 2 (1974): 253–64.Google Scholar

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30 Where spelling in the Family Tree differs from that of Dr. Sweeney, the former is followed here.

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32 Ibid., p. 70 (32).

33 MS.A., p. 11 (1).

34 E.g. Bisayah: B. Sandin, “The Bisayahs of Limbang”, Sarawak Museum Journal (S.M.J.) 19, Nos. 38–39 (July-December 1971): 406; Melanau: Lawrence, A.E., “First Brunei Conquests on the Sarawak Coast”, S.M.J. 1, No. 1 (1911): 120–24.Google Scholar

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44 The names of the royal party are given on the memorial stele at the tomb of Maharaja Kama; they are given by Brown, Mrs Carrie, “Two Ming Texts Concerning King Ma-na-je-chia-na of P'o-ni”, B.M.J. 3, No. 2, (1974): 224.Google Scholar They are all easily reconstituted into Sanskrit titles still used in Brunei, and given in Brown, Brunei, pp. 185–225.

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56 Low, p. 24.

57 MS.B., pp. 52–53 (2–5); Low, p. 6. This is the Italian spelling of Kinabatangan and Kinabalu, cf. Nicholl, R., “The Sixteenth Century Cartography of Borneo”, B.M.J. 3, No. 4 (1976): 114–15.Google Scholar It is unnecessary to labour the point. Ki-na is a Kadazan prefix for a toponym, and has nothing to do with China, cf. Evans, I., Among Primitive People in Borneo (London, 1922), pp. 277–79.Google Scholar

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63 Ibid., p. 107.

64 Low, pp. 24–25.

65 MS.A., p. 11 (1).

66 MS.B., p. 54(5).

67 Supra note 28.

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72 Photograph in Majul, op. cit., opposite p. 180.

73 Nicholl, Sources, pp. 22–23.

74 Ibid., p. 21.

75 MS.A., p. 12 (2).

76 MS.B., p. 54(6).

77 Infra note 95.

78 Low, p. 3 note (6), and p. 24 note.

79 Ibid., p. 24.

80 MS.A., p. 12 (2).

81 MS.B., p. 54(6).

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88 Supra note 69.

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92 Ibid., pp. 55 & 197.

93 Blair and Robertson, Vol. 4, p. 152; Nicholl, Sources, p. 37.

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95 Ibid., p. 16.

96 As in note 94, p. 5; MS.A., p. 12 (2); MS.B., p. 56 (8); Low, pp. 11 & 26.

97 Low, p. 26.

98 MS.A., p. 12 (2); MS.B., p. 56 (8).

99 Nicholl, Sources, pp. 82–87.

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108 Blair and Robertson, Vol. 4, p. 219.

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112 Low, p. 8.

113 MS.A., p. 13 (5).

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116 MS.A., p. 20(16).

117 MS.A., p. 12 (3); MS.B., p. 56 (10).

118 Low, p. 27.

119 Low, p. 27; A. Dalrymple, Oriental Repertory Vol. 1 (London, 1791), p. 577.

120 Blair and Robertson, Conquest of Mindanao, Vol. 29, p. 300.

121 Van Dijk, Brunei, p. 28.

122 Low, p. 13 note 2.

123 The distressing circumstances of the murder are related in MS.B., p. 58 (12) and Low, pp. 12–13.

124 The 14 Rabiul Akhir fell on hari Isnein four times during the seventeenth century: A.H. 1014 (A.D. 1605); A.H. 1046 (A.D. 1636); A.H. 1078 (A.D. 1667); A.H. 1110 (A.D. 1698).

125 Van Dijk, Brunei, pp. 27–28.

126 MS.B., p. 60(15).

127 Low, p. 14.

128 MS.A., p. 12(3).

129 Dato P.M. Sharifuddin & Hj. Abd. Latif, op. cit., p. 254; Low, p. 34.

130 MS.A., p. 13 (5); p. 21 (18).

131 MS.A., p. 14 (7).

132 MS.B., p. 57 (10).

133 Ibid., cf. Dr. Sweeney's note 3 on this.

134 MS.B., p. 64 (23); Low, p. 17.

135 MS.B., p. 71 (33).

136 Van Dijk, Brunei, p. 30.

137 Ibid., p. 30.

138 MS.A., p. 50 (72); Low, p. 11.

139 Low, p. 17 note.

140 MS.B., pp. 67–68 (27–29); Low, pp. 20–21.

141 Van Dijk, Brunei, p. 31.

142 Nicholl, R., “Relations between Brunei and Manila”, B.M.J. 4, No. 1 (1977): 154–55.Google Scholar Hereinafter referred to as “Nicholl, Relations”.

143 Low, p. 29.

144 Nicholl, Relations, p. 133.

145 Ibid., p. 144, which reproduces a photograph of the actual passage.

146 Ibid., pp. 162 & 171.

147 Ibid., pp. 159–62 & 166–67.

148 BIair and Robertson, Augustinians in the Philippines, Vol. 42, p. 184; Nicholl, Relations, p. 171.

149 Nicholl, Relations, pp. 161–62.

150 Ibid., p. 156.

151 Ibid., p. 173.

152 The present writer, when editing these texts in 1976, suggested (p. 150) that the Sultan here described might be Sultan Muhyidden, but this now appears wholly inadmissable.

153 MS.A., p. 12 (3).

154 MS.B., p. 69 (30).

155 Dato P.M. Sharifuddin and Hj. Abd. Latif, op. cit., p. 255; Low, p. 35.

156 Low, p. 29.

157 Ibid.

158 The date on the tomb is no longer legible.

159 MS.A., p. 12(3).

160 As for note 155; Low, p. 35.

161 H.E.I.C. MS. Borneo Factory Records, p. 495.

162 Nicholl, Relations, p. 176.

163 Cf. note 59.

164 “Brunei Rediscovered”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 14, No. 1 (March 1983): 32–33.

165 Carroll, op. cit., p. 4.

166 Groenveldt, op. cit., p. 113.

167 Ibid., pp. 113–14.

168 Carroll, op. cit., p. 5.

169 Ibid., p. 2.

170 Ibid., p. 16.

171 Op. cit., p. 2.

172 Op. cit., p. 1 note 2.

173 Op. cit., p. 139.

174 Op. cit., p. 138.

175 “Early Portuguese and Spanish Contacts with Borneo”, International Association of Historians of Asia, Taipei Conference 1962, Transactions, pp. 485–526.

176 Op. cit., p. 138.

177 B.M.J. 4, No. 3 (1977): 31.