Shin Sawbu was queen regnant of Hanthawaddy from 1454 to 1471. Queen Shin Sawbu is also known as Binnya Thau or Old Queen in Mon. Queen Shin Sawbu and Queen Jamadevi of Haripunjaya are the two most famous among the small number of queens who ruled in mainland Southeast Asia.
Thado Minbya was the founder of the Kingdom of Ava. In his three plus years of reign (1364–67), the king laid the foundation for the reunification of Central Burma, which had been split into Pinya and Sagaing kingdoms since 1315. He also founded the capital city of Ava (Inwa) in 1365, which would remain the country's capital for most of the following five centuries. The young king restored order in central Burma, and tried to stamp out corrupt Buddhist clergy. He died of smallpox while on a southern military expedition in September 1367.
Wareru was the founder of the Martaban Kingdom, located in present-day Myanmar (Burma). By using both diplomatic and military skills, he successfully carved out a Mon-speaking polity in Lower Burma, during the collapse of the Pagan Empire in the 1280s. Wareru was assassinated in 1307 but his line ruled the kingdom until its fall in the mid-16th century.
Binnya Dhammaraza was king of Hanthawaddy Pegu from 1421 to 1424. His short reign was marked by rebellions by his half-brothers Binnya Ran and Binnya Kyan; renewed invasions by the Ava Kingdom; and various court intrigues. He never had any real control beyond the capital Pegu (Bago), and was poisoned by one of his queens in 1424. He was succeeded by Binnya Ran.
Binnya Ran I was king of Hanthawaddy Pegu from 1424 to 1446. As crown prince, he ended the Forty Years' War with the rival Ava Kingdom in 1423. He came to the throne after poisoning his brother King Binnya Dhammaraza in 1424. As king, Binnya Ran largely kept his kingdom at peace for much of his 20-year reign when Ava was struggling to keep its territories intact. He pursued an opportunistic policy to keep Ava weak, helping Toungoo's rebellion against Ava between 1437 and 1442 during which he placed his son as the viceroy of Toungoo. When Ava reconquered Toungoo in 1442, he did not resume a large-scale war against Ava.
Binnya Kyan was the 13th king of the Hanthawaddy Pegu Kingdom in Burma from 1451 to 1453. Binnya Kyan, son of King Binnya Dhammaraza, came to power after assassinating his cousin King Binnya Waru in 1451. One notable project of his reign was the raising of the height of Shwedagon Pagoda to 92 metres (302 ft) from 20 metres (66 ft). The king himself was murdered in 1453 by his first cousin Leik Munhtaw who seized the throne. Despite his raising of the height of the Shwedagon, the king murdered so many of his rivals that by the time he himself was murdered, his killer, first cousin Leik Munhtaw was the last living male descendant of King Razadarit.
Leik Munhtaw was the 14th king of the Hanthawaddy Pegu Kingdom in Burma for seven months in 1453–54. He came to power by assassinating his first cousin King Binnya Kyan. Binnya Kyan himself had come to power in 1451 by murdering his cousin King Binnya Waru, and went on to kill off male descendants of King Razadarit. Leik Munhtaw, son of King Binnya Ran I and a grandson of Razadarit, got to Binnya Kyan, also a grandson of Razadarit, first. Leik Munhtaw went on to kill more rivals. In early 1454, palace ministers killed Leik Munhtaw, leaving no male heir of Razadarit's line. The ministers chose his daughter Shin Sawbu to be the next ruler of Hanthawaddy.
Tarabya was king of Ava for about seven months in 1400. He was the heir apparent from 1385 to 1400 during his father King Swa Saw Ke's reign. He was a senior commander in Ava's first three campaigns (1385−91) against Hanthawaddy Pegu in the Forty Years' War. He was assassinated seven months into his rule by his one-time tutor, Gov. Thihapate of Tagaung. The court executed the usurper, and gave the throne to Tarabya's half-brother Min Swe.
Minkhaung I of Ava was king of Ava from 1400 to 1421. He is best remembered in Burmese history for his epic struggles against King Razadarit of Hanthawaddy Pegu in the Forty Years' War (1385–1424). As king, Minkhaung continued his father Swa Saw Ke's policy to restore the Pagan Empire. Under the military leadership of his eldest son Minye Kyawswa, Ava nearly succeeded. While he ultimately failed to conquer Hanthawaddy and Launggyet Arakan, he was able to bring in most of cis-Salween Shan states to the Ava orbit.
Thihathu of Ava was king of Ava from 1421 to 1425. Though he opportunistically renewed the Forty Years' War with Hanthawaddy Pegu in 1422, Thihathu agreed to a peace treaty with Prince Binnya Ran in 1423. His subsequent marriage to Ran's sister Princess Shin Saw Pu helped keep the peace between the two kingdoms when Ran became king of Pegu in 1424.
Minye Kyawswa was crown prince of Ava from 1406 to 1415, and commander-in-chief of Ava's military from 1410 to 1415. He is best remembered in Burmese history as the courageous general who waged the fiercest battles of the Forty Years' War (1385–1424) against King Razadarit of Hanthawaddy Pegu.
Dhammazedi was the 16th king of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom in Burma. Considered one of the most enlightened rulers in Burmese history, by some accounts call him "the greatest" of all Hanthawaddy kings. The former Buddhist monk, educated in the rival kingdom of Ava in his youth, was a trusted adviser and son-in-law of Queen Shin Sawbu. At age 48, he left the monkhood after he was selected by Shin Sawbu as the heir apparent, and was married to one of the queen's daughters. He immediately became the de facto ruler of the kingdom as Shin Sawbu handed over all administrative duties to him.
Binnya Ran II the 17th king of the Kingdom of Hanthawaddy in Burma from 1492 to 1526. He was revered for his gentleness although his first act as king was to enforce the massacre of the kinsmen, putting all the royal offspring to death.
Agga Maha Thenapati Binnya Dala, was a Burmese statesman, general and writer-scholar during the reign of King Bayinnaung of the Toungoo Dynasty. He was the king's most trusted adviser and general, and a key figure responsible for the expansion, defense and administration of the Toungoo Empire from the 1550s to his fall from grace in 1573. He oversaw the rebuilding of Pegu (1565–1568). He is also known for his literary works, particularly Razadarit Ayedawbon, the earliest extant chronicle of the Mon people. He died in exile after having failed to reconquer Lan Xang.
Akhamaman was the self-proclaimed king of Pegu, in modern Myanmar, with the title of Thunekkhat Yaza from 1285 to c. 1287. He was one of several regional strongmen who emerged during the final years of the Pagan Empire in the 1280s. As the ruler of Pegu, he successfully fended off two attacks by King Narathihapate's forces. After the victory, however, he became deeply unpopular for his increasingly autocratic rule, and was assassinated.
Binnya Set was governor of Dagon from 1415 to 1418. He was appointed governor c. April 1415 by his father King Razadarit of Hanthawaddy Pegu during the long running war against the northern Ava Kingdom. He was captured by the Ava armies in early 1418, and brought back to their capital of Ava (Inwa). There, Set was given good treatment befitting a prince. Chronicles do not say that he ever returned to his native country.
Binnya Kyan was viceroy of Martaban from 1422 to 1442/43. A son of King Razadarit, Kyan was also governor of Dala from 1414 to 1422, with the title of Binnya Dala.
Thihapate of Mohnyin was sawbwa of Mohnyin from 1439 to 1450/51, and governor of Pakhan from 1429 to 1450/51. He is best remembered in Burmese history for declining to take the Ava throne in 1442, after the death of King Minye Kyawswa I of Ava. He was a principal figure in Ava's reconquest of Mohnyin (1439), Kale (1439) and Mogaung (1442), and defense of the northern frontier states from Chinese incursions in the 1440s.
Smin Awa Naing Min Thiri was an early 15th-century senior Hanthawaddy court official and military commander. A trusted adviser of King Razadarit, Awa Naing is best remembered in Burmese history for the 1415 battle of Dala–Twante in which his undermanned regiment mortally wounded Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa of Ava.
Saw Maha-Rit was a Hanthawaddy royal and a military commander. A son-in-law of King Razadarit, Maha-Rit led the first siege of Prome (Pyay) during the Second Ava–Hanthawaddy War. He was executed for leaving behind his wife Princess Tala Mi Kyaw at the battle scene.
