Tuʻi Tonga

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The Tuʻi Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the 10th century with the mythical ʻAhoʻeitu; withdrew from political power in the 15th century by yielding to the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua; and died out with Laufilitonga in 1865. Today its descendants still live forth in the chiefly line of Kalaniuvalu.

Tradition names 39 holders of the title, but there is an alternative list with 48 names.

  1. ʻAhoʻeitu – divine father, around 900 AD, resided first in Popua and then other places of the Hahake district, like Toloa near Fuaʻamotu.
  2. Lolofakangalo
  3. Fangaʻoneʻone
  4. Līhau
  5. Kofutu
  6. Kaloa
  7. Maʻuhau – residence in Lavengatonga
  8. ʻApuanea
  9. ʻAfulunga
  10. Momo – married with Nua, the daughter of Loʻau, the Tuʻi Haʻamea. Several places claim to have been Haʻamea, but if it is another name for Haʻamoa (Sāmoa), the marriage may refer to a political alliance between Tonga and its old foe. The Tongan maritime empire came into existence. Royal court in Heketā near Niutōua.
  11. Tuʻitātui – around 1100 AD, extended the royal court, built the Haʻamonga; established with Loʻau the Falefā (house of four), as a kind of crown ministers; his cunning stepbrother Fasiʻapule became a governor.
  12. Talatama – shifted the residence to Lapaha; died without issue
  13. Tuʻitonganui ko e Tamatou – said to have been a block of wood, standing in as child of Talatama and father of Talaihaʻapepe to keep the dynasty pure
  14. Talaihaʻapepe – real brother of Talatama and supposed grandson through the woodblock
  15. Talakaifaiki – around 1250; start of the decline of the Tongan maritime empire, lost Sāmoa due to his cruelty to the Mālietoa line
  16. Talafāpite
  17. Tuʻitonga Maʻakitoe
  18. Tuʻitonga Puipui
  19. Havea I – assassinated by a Fijian (Sāmoa was lost to the empire a long time ago, now Fiji seemed to get revolutionary too)
  20. Tatafuʻeikimeimuʻa
  21. Lomiʻaetupuʻa
  22. Havea II – assassinated with an arrow by Tuluvota, a Fijian
  23. Takalaua – assassinated by Tamasia and Malofafa from ʻUvea and Futuna while taking his bath in the Tolopona stream at Alakifonua; a harsh ruler, start of political upheavels
  24. Kauʻulufonua I – around 1470, pursued his father's murderers from Tongatapu to ʻEua, Haʻapai, Vavaʻu, both Niuas, then Niuē, Fiji, Samoa, finally arresting them at their home island of either ʻUvea or Futuna. Back at home in Muʻa he killed them in a savage way (kicking out their teeth and then letting them chew kava), giving him the nickname fekai, the wild. He won his revenge, but lost a serious war against the Futunans (also see: meʻetuʻupaki), and was driven out from ʻUvea too. Meanwhile he either gave his younger brother Moʻungāmotuʻa fargoing privileges to act as a viceroy in his place, or (more likely) the latter seized the power and started a new dynasty, the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua
  25. Vakafuhu – kept away from Tonga by the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua, lived in Sāmoa.
  26. Puipuifatu – lived in Sāmoa, tried in vain to invade Vavaʻu to restore power to his dynasty
  27. Kauʻulufonua II – lived in Sāmoa
  28. Tapuʻosi – was allowed to return to Muʻa, as apparently the Tuʻi Tonga line was now so weakened as to be of no threat to the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua. From now on the Tuʻi Tonga functioned as a kind of high priest, taking care of all religious obligations (an honour and a burden), giving him a very elevated status, but no worldly power. But no Tuʻi Tonga was ever murdered anymore either.
  29. ʻUluakimata I – also known as Teleʻa, builder of the greatest langi on Tongatapu
  30. Fatafehi – around 1600, married the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua Moʻunga ʻo Tonga's daughter, a custom which would last for some generations to come forming a permanent alliance between the two houses; his sister married a Fijian, changing the international orientation of Tonga from Sāmoa to Fiji
  31. Kauʻulufonua III – was met by Abel Tasman in 1643
  32. ʻUluakimata II
  33. Tuʻipulotu (I) ʻilangi Tuʻofefafa - from now on the Tuʻi Tonga principal wife (moheofo) became the daughter of the Tuʻi Kanokupolu instead of the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua, showing which dynasty of the latter two was now the most important
  34. Fakanaʻanaʻa
  35. Tuʻipolutu (II) ʻilangi Tuʻoteau
  36. Paulaho - real name was: Pau; seems to have been a bastard (not the son of a moheofo), and it is not clear how he came to power; tried to establish his son Fuanunuiava, probably also a bastard, as his successor during a grand ceremony in 1777, witnessed by Captain Cook; was defeated and deposed in a following civil war
  37. Maʻulupekotofa - the older brother of Paulaho, who should have been Tuʻi Tonga in the first place without Paulaho; tried to reduce the burden of religious taboos grown on the Tuʻi Tonga and to increase its political influence
  38. Fuanunuiava - took the power from his uncle in or around 1795, but continued his policy; joined Fīnau ʻUlukālala in the civil war of 1799; died in 1810
  39. Laufilitonga - born around 1798 was too young to become Tuʻi Tonga when his father died; by that time the title had so declined as to have lost almost all prestige; tried to opt for power, but lost the final battle at Velata in 1826 against Tāufaʻāhau; was (together with the Tuʻi Kanokupolu) mockingly installed as Tuʻi Tonga in 1827 as a king with neither political nor spiritual power; died in 1865 after which the title was abolished.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • I.C. Campbell; Classical Tongan kingship; 1989
  • E. Bott; Tonga society at the time of Captain Cook's visit; 1982
  • ʻO. Māhina; Images from the history and culture of Tonga; 2006