Rajah Matanda


Rajah Ache, better known by his title Rajah Matanda, was one of the rulers of Maynila, a pre-colonial Indianized Tagalog polity along the Pasig River in what is now Manila, Philippines.
Ache ruled Maynila, together with Rajah Sulayman, and they, along with their cousin Lakan Dula, who was ruler of Tondo. They were three "paramount rulers" with whom the Legazpi expedition dealt when they arrived in the area of the Pasig River delta in the early 1570s.

Etymology

"Rajah Matandâ" means "old ruler" in Tagalog, and Joaquin claims that the Islamic origin of the term "Rajah" indicates that the noble houses of Maynila at the time was organized according to a Muslim social orientation, even if Spanish records indicate that the common folk of Maynila practiced pag-aanito.
Spanish records refer to him as Rajah Ache el Viejo. He is also sometimes referred to as Rajah Laya, a name derived from Ladyang Matanda – a local pronunciation of his title.

Early life, as recounted in the Elcano expedition

Among the Spanish accounts of Ache's capture, Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz is considered to be the one which records Ache's statements most extensively. Details of Ache's early life are thus usually based on the Aganduru Moriz account.
According to Aganduru Moriz' account, Ache's father, whose name Aganduru Moriz' did not mention, died when he was still very young, and his mother took his place as leader of the Maynila settlement. In the meantime, Ache was raised alongside his cousin, who was ruler of Tondo – presumed by some to be Bunao Lakandula.
During this time, the "young prince" Ache realized that his cousin, who was ruler of Tondo, was "slyly" taking advantage of Ache's mother, by taking over territory belonging to Maynila. When Ache asked his mother for permission to address the matter, his mother refused, encouraging him to keep his peace instead.
Ache could not accept this and thus left Maynila with some of his father's trusted men, to go to his "grandfather", the Sultan of Brunei, to ask for assistance. The Sultan responded by giving Ache a position as commander of his naval force. Pigaffetta noted that Ache was "much feared in these parts", but especially the non-Muslim locals, who considered the Sultan of Brunei an enemy.

Battle with the Expedition of Sebastian Elcano (1521)

Aganduru Moriz recounts that in 1521, Ache was in command of the Bruneian fleet when they chanced upon what remained of the Magellan expedition, under the command of Sebastian Elcano, somewhere off the southeastern tip of Borneo. Rizal notes that Ache had just won a naval victory at the time, and Rizal and Dery both say Ache was on his way to marry a cousin – a ritual which Scott describes as the usual way that nobles at that time gained influence and power.
Dery notes that Ache's decision to attack must have been influenced by a desire to bring Elcano's ship back to Manila bay, for use as leverage against his cousin, the ruler of Tondo.
Elcano, however, was able to defeat Ache. As a result, Ache was captured and brought onboard Elcano's ship. According to Scott, Ache was eventually released after a ransom was paid.

Term as Rajah (before 1570)

Some time between 1521 and 1570, Ache succeeded his mother and became Paramount datu over Maynila, taking on the title of Rajah.
By the time of the next historical accounts about Ache in 1570, Maynila was also being ruled by his nephew, Sulayman, who also held the title of Rajah. This situation, with Maynila seeming to have two rulers, has been interpreted by scholars in different ways. According to the interpretation of Luis Camara Dery, by the time de Goiti arrived in 1570, Rajah Matanda had already ceded his authority to his nephew and heir apparent, Rajah Sulayman, although Rajah Matanda still retained considerable influence. According to the interpretation of William Henry Scott's take, however, Rajah Sulayman was not proclaimed Paramount ruler until Matanda's death in 1572.

Arrival of De Goiti (1570)

By the late 1560s, Miguel López de Legazpi was already searching for a more suitable place to establish the Spanish colonial capital, having found first Cebu and then Iloilo undesirable because insufficient food supplies and attacks by Portuguese pirates. He was in Cebu when he first heard about a well-supplied, fortified settlement to the north, and sent messages of friendship to its ruler, Rajah Matanda, whom he addressed as "King of Luzon." In 1570, Legazpi put Martín de Goiti in command of an expedition north to Manila and tasked him with negotiating the establishment of a Spanish fort there.
When the forces of de Goiti arrived in 1570, they were initially welcomed by Rajah Matanda. But just as Matanda was receiving de Goiti on the shore, Rajah Sulayman and his party arrived, taking on a much more aggressive stance towards the foreigners. De Goiti began negotiating with Matanda and Sulayman so that the Spanish could set up their base of operations in Manila, but negotiations dragged on for several days.
As negotiations broke down, a misunderstanding between the two parties resulted in Sulayman's forces believing they were under attack, and retaliating against de Goiti's shore party. In the ensuing battle, the fortified city of Manila was burned down, and de Goiti's party temporarily overtook Maynila.
Outnumbered and fearing that a shift in seasonal winds would trap him in Manila, de Goiti decided to sail back to Legazpi instead of pressing his advantage.

Arrival of Legazpi (1571)

The following year, Legazpi himself arrived in Manila. He was welcomed first by Lakandula of Tondo and then by Rajah Matanda. Fearing his presence would exacerbate the conflict between Maynila and the Spanish, Sulayman did not meet with Legazpi face to face until later. The rulers of Maynila and Tondo eventually cut a deal with Legazpi, which allowed him to claim Maynila for the crown of Spain, and the Spanish city of Manila was born in June 1571.

Death (1572) and succession

In August 1572, Rajah Matanda fell ill and requested to be baptised into the Catholic Church. In the same year, he succumbed to his illness.
Before he died, Legazpi granted Rajah Matanda's wish that Rajah Sulayman be declared Paramount ruler of Maynila. The unnamed author of the "Anonymous 1572 Relacion" explains that this was in keeping with indigenous laws, which allowed inheritances to be passed on to "legitimate" children. While Rajah Matanda did in fact have children, they were not born of his "legitimate wife". The unnamed author of the relacion, explaining the custom as he understood it, says:

Descendants

According to archival research of historian Luis Camara Dery, Rajah Matanda had at least two sons and one daughter: Don Ambrocio Mag-isa Ladyangbata, Don Luis Ylao, and Doña Maria Bolactala.
Dery theorizes that unlike their father who had befriended the Spanish, these siblings "appeared to be lukewarm to the Spaniards", so that the privileges and exemptions granted to Matanda's descendants by Legazpi were only claimed by their children and grandchildren – the third and fourth generation from Rajah Matanda.
As of 1696, Rajah Matanda's descendants had fallen on hard times, as Dery notes: