Phitsanulok, Thailand

Phitsanulok was originally named "Song Khwae" (lit. "Two Rivers") as it used to be situated between the Nan and Khwae Noi Rivers, although the Khwae Noi River now drains into the Nan River ten kilometers to the north of Phitsanulok. The Northern Chronicles credited the foundation of Song Khwae to "King Srithampidok" or King Thammaracha I of Sukhothai, on the east bank of Nan River. King Thammaracha I also constructed the Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat and cast famous Buddha images of Phra Buddha Chinnarat and Phra Buddha Chinnasri. Song Khwae eclipsed Sukhothai in importance, becoming the royal seat of Sukhothai Kingdom in 1378. After the demise of the last King of Sukhothai at Song Khwae in 1438, Prince Ramesuan of Ayutthaya came to rule Song Khwae. When Prince Ramesuan was crowned as King Trailokanat of Ayutthaya in 1448, Song Khwae and the Sukhothai Kingdom were incorporated into the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

The Ayutthaya annals call the town Chainat, where the Sukhothai inscriptions call it Song Khwae, until the two names were dropped in 1463. During the Ayutthaya-Lanna War, King Trailokanat moved his residence to Song Khwae in 1464 and renamed the city "Phitsanulok" (from Sanskrit Vishnu and Loka "world"). He expanded the city westward to the west bank of Nan River. Siroch Sittisombut dates the move to 1463, and describes it as joining Chainat and Song Khwae inside a single wall. In the sixteenth century, Phitsanulok was the seat of Uparaja or heir presumptive to Ayutthaya throne who took residence in the Chantana Palace on the west bank. In 1548, King Maha Chakkraphat appointed his supporter Phra Pirenthorathep as "King Thammaracha" of Phitsanulok as a tributary ruler. During the Burmese-Siamese Wars, Phitsanulok and the Sukhothai region became battlegrounds between Burma and Siam. When King Bayinnaung invaded Phitsanulok in 1563, King Thammaracha of Phitsanulok submitted to the Burmese.

King Thammaracha, now reigned at Ayutthaya, appointed his son Prince Naresuan as the Uparaja of Phitsanulok in 1570. In 1584, Prince Naresuan ordered the evacuation of all cities in the Sukhothai region including Phitsanulok down south in preparations against Burmese invasions. Phitsanulok was abandoned until it was later restored in 1593 not as a Uparaja seat but as a Muang Ek or first-level city held by a governor, becoming the center of Siamese administrations in northern regions. The governors of Phitsanulok held the title "Chao Phraya Surasi". After the Second Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, Phitsanulok came under the rule of Chao Phra Fang, a monk who declared himself a local lord based on the town of Fang (modern Uttaradit). King Taksin of Thonburi sent forces to capture Phitsanulok in 1768 and appointed Boonma (later Prince Maha Sura Singhanat) as Chao Phraya Surasi the governor of Phitsanulok.

The Burmese General Maha Thiha Thura laid siege on Phitsanulok in 1775. Chao Phraya Chakri (future King Rama I) and his brother Chao Phraya Surasi Boonma held the city for four months until the city finally fell to the Burmese. Phitsanulok was utterly destroyed on this occasion. The Burmese invaded again in 1785 and Phitsanulok was abandoned temporarily because the manpower shortage left the city defenseless. After the series of warfare, Phitsanulok was in ruins and depopulated through the nineteenth century. The Phra Buddha Chinnasri image was moved to Wat Baworn Niwet in Bangkok in 1829. In 1834, the Phuan people were deported from Muang Phuan in Laos to re-populate Phitsanulok and surrounding cities. Phitsanulok slowly recovered to be an urban center.

As a part of reforms of King Chulalongkorn, Phitsanulok became the administrative seat of the monthon Phitsanulok in 1894. When the monthons were abolished in 1932, Phitsanulok became the capital of Phitsanulok Province.

Chaipong Samnieng, summarising Jiraporn Stapanawatana's social history of the town, describes a Free Thai organisation in Phitsanulok during the Second World War, built through the civil service and reaching Tak and Uttaradit. He reports that the Japanese troops stationed there entered the life of the town as employers and trading partners rather than only as enemies.

The Phitsanulok fire of 1957 destroyed much of the older portion of the city, which at the time consisted mostly of wooden buildings. On 28 November 1961, the King Naresuan Shrine was completed at Chandra Palace. On 25 January 1967, the Phitsanulok campus of what is now Naresuan University was established as the northern branch of the degree level College of Education. In 1974, the College of Education was upgraded as Srinakharinwirot University, with Phitsanulok as one of the six campuses. In 1990, the regional campuses became independent universities, and the Phitsanuloke campus was named after Phitsanulok-born King Naresuan the Great.

Naresuan Dam was constructed from 1976 to 1985 on the Nan River as part of the Phitsanulok Irrigation Project. The dam was designed to help prevent flooding of the city. On 8 March 1999 Phitsanulok was upgraded to city municipality (thesaban nakhon).