Kilkenny, Statutes of Soon, the Thais emerged as the chief rivals of the Khmers, replacing their former enemies, the Chams The Mongols under the leadership of General Sagatu also presented a threat to the Khmers, but the Khmer rulers were careful not to go to war against such a powerful force Jayavarman VIII ascended to the Khmer throne in 1243 He was a Hindu rather than a Buddhist like his immediate predecessors He was a violent anti-Buddhist and went on to destroy many Buddhist sculptures and converted the Bayon temple into a Hindu temple His son-in-law, Srindravarman, who usurped his throne in 1295, was a Buddhist, though he was a follower of Theravada Buddhism Later Khmer kings were adherents of this faith The Thai Ayuttaya kingdom replaced the Sukothai kingdom in 1350 and succeeded in diminishing Khmer power through several attacks By 1431 the Thais had conquered Angkor Despite being weakened, a line of kings managed to rule from Angkor and a separate line of Khmer kings continued to rule in Phnom Penh The latter line achieved more prominence because of the rise of Mekong as an important trade center, leading to the fall of Angkor See also Siamese invason of the Khmer kingdom Further reading: Coe, Michael D, Angkor and the Khmer Civilization London: Thames & Hudson, 2003; Dumarcay, Jacques The Site of Angkor Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998; Legendre-DeKoninck, Helene Angkor Wat: A Royal Temple Weimar: Verlag und Datenbank fur Geisteswissenschaften, 2001; Raveda, Vittorio Sacred Angkor: The Carved Reliefs of Angkor Wat London: River Books, 2002 Nurfadzilah Yahaya Kilkenny, Statutes of In 1366 c.e the Anglo-Irish parliament met in Kilkenny and produced a body of royal decrees that became known as the Statutes of Kilkenny The statutes aimed to prevent English colonists living in Ireland from adopting Irish culture and mandated that the Irish conform to English customs before they could obtain certain social, legal, and religious rights In particular, the statutes prohibited marriage between English and Irish; ordered the English to reject Irish names, customs, and law; prohibited the Irish from holding positions in English churches; and limited the mobility of peasant laborers The statutes also sought to prevent the colonists from waging war without the consent of the English 235 Crown Penalties for noncompliance were severe and included death, loss of property, and excommunication Although they were not ultimately successful, the Statutes of Kilkenny foreshadowed the continuously troubled relationship between England and Ireland in the following centuries England’s involvement with Ireland followed from the Norman (French) defeat of the English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 After occupying England the Normans’ proximity to Ireland naturally led to involvement with their neighboring country Ironically an Irishman helped pave the way for English occupation In 1166 the defeated Irish leader Dermot MacMurrough fled to England to seek allies To gain support, Dermot offered his Irish inheritance to an Anglo-Norman lord, Richard de Clare, earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow Strongbow consequently invaded and defeated the Irish high king, Rory O’Connor King Henry II of England arrived in 1171 and gained the allegiance of Strongbow and many of the Irish rulers However before returning to England he was unable to ensure a peaceful coexistence between the Irish and the colonists from England By 1360 Dublin and the surrounding areas (later called the English Pale) were under the control of the descendants of English colonists, the Anglo-Irish; land beyond the Pale was generally free from direct English control Lionel of Clarence, son of King Edward III and lieutenant of Ireland, summoned the 1366 parliament in an effort to reclaim English lands in Ireland The Statutes of Kilkenny dealt with three distinct groups: the Anglo-Irish colonists known as the “English by blood” or “middle nation”; the “English by birth,” often either imported English administrators or absentee lords who ruled their Irish estates from England; and the native Irish In addition to revealing aspects of the relationship between the ruling English and subordinated Irish, the Statutes of Kilkenny show internal divisions between the English groups In the two decades prior to 1366 rebellious Anglo-Irish colonists had become an increasing problem for England English taxation, absentee English lordship alongside demands for protection of English interests, and close contact with Irish culture lessened Anglo-Irish allegiance to the Crown The Black Death of the mid-14th century and the Hundred Years’ War with France may also have greatly reduced the influx of English immigrants, making the colonists more susceptible to Irish influences The statutes’ attempts to uproot Irish elements in the Anglo-Irish sought to create not only distance from