Early Life
The legend holds that Bayinnaung was born to a couple living near Pagan, and was named Shin Ye Htut (ရှင်ရဲထွတ်). Ye Htut's mother later moved to Toungoo to become Prince Mintaya's milkmaid. At Toungoo, Ye Htut was married to Mintaya's sister. Prince Mintaya was then crowned as King Tabinshweti of Toungoo in 1531. As an acquinted childhood friend to the king, Ye Htut gained the royal trust and was made Bayinnaung Kyawhtin Nawrahta (Bayinnaung means "the royal brother-in-law.).
There is some uncertainty with regard to Bayinnaung's ancestry, as no contemporaneous records of his genealogy exist. U Kala's Mahayazawingyi (a royal chronicle) states that Bayinnaung's father was Mingyi Swe, the son of Taungkha Min, implying that he belonged to Toungoo royalty. However, oral tradition claims otherwise, that Bayinnaung descended from a family of commoners, with his father a toddy palm climber, a theory first documented by Taw Sein Ko, a Burmese archaeologist.
After the failed campaign against Ayutthaya in 1548, Tabinshweti lost his momentum and suffered mental illness. The Crown Prince Bayinnaung then took control of state affairs to protect the kingdom. Smim Htaw, a son of the last Mon king of Pegu, staged a rebellion and Tabinshweti himself was assassinated in 1550 by Smim Sawhtut – his close Mon advisor who was also of Pegu dynasty descent. Smim Sawhtut then crowned himself as the king of Pegu but found himself also under competition with Smim Htaw. Smim Htaw led the Mon armies to assault Pegu and was able to execute Smim Sawhtut after three months of rule.
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