XXXI Международный конгресс ИИСАА. 23–25 июня 2021 г. Т. 1

Россия и Восток. К 100-летию политических и культурных связей новейшего времени. Т. 1 243 СЕКЦИЯ VII • SECTION VII ИСТОЧНИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И ИСТОРИОГРАФИЯ ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНОЙ АЗИИ HISTORIOGRAPHY AND SOURCE STUDIES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA Lorrillard Michel (École française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris) Lao royal ordinances and territories in the margins: the case of the “bai-chum” of the Hua Phan (northern Laos) The archives of the École française d’Extrême-Orient contain copies of some 80 Lao royal ordinances, the originals of which have been kept for more than a century by the National Library of Thailand (some of them have recently been published in Thai language and script under the name “bai-chum»), after they were brought from Laos by Siamese troops in 1887.  These documents, written on three different types of support — long strips of cloth, palm leaves and traditional paper manuscript — are practically all dated and bear a seal, either painted or waxed. They relate to the management and administrative boundaries of the various muang of the ancient Hua Phan region (now Sam Nua province). Surprisingly enough, these royal ordinances, drawn up either in Vientiane or in Luang Prabang, provide detailed information on a region that was, however, singularly marginal, on the borders of Vietnam and China, over a period that stretches from the second quarter of the 16th century to the third quarter of the 19th century. The authenticity of the documents seems to be real, but the circumstances surrounding their discovery, in a context of intense rivalry between the two territorial