Trần Nghệ Tông
Encyclopedia
Trần Nghệ Tông given name
Trần Phủ (陳暊), was the eighth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1370 to 1372. Nghệ Tông was credited with the re-establishment of Trần clan's ruling in Đại Việt from Hôn Đức Công
who kept the throne in nearly two years after the decease of Trần Dụ Tông
. However, Nghệ Tông was proved to be an inefficient ruler during his reign as emperor and afterward as retired emperor from 1372 to his death at 1394. As the Retired Emperor who oversaw the ruling of his three consecutive successors, Duệ Tông
, Phế Đế
and Thuận Tông
, Nghệ Tông was responsible for the rising in royal court of Đỗ Tử Bình who brought Emperor Duệ Tông to his death and Hồ Quý Ly who ultimately overthrew the Trần Dynasty to found his own dynasty. Nghệ Tông also witnessed many defeats of Đại Việt in the struggle with Champa
including Đồ Bàn Battle when Emperor Duệ Tông was killed in action or several attacks by king of Champa Chế Bồng Nga
in Thăng Long
, capital of Đại Việt. After the decease of Nghệ Tông, the Trần Dynasty fell into the situation of completely chaos and survived for only six more years before Hồ Quý Ly took the throne in 1400.
and Royal Concubine Lê who was the younger sister of Queen Hiến Từ. Under the reign of his eldest brother, Emperor Hiến Tông
(1329–1341) and his younger brother, Emperor Dụ Tông
(1341–1369), Trần Phủ was entitled as Prince Cung Định (Vietnamese
: Cung Định Vương). When Dương Nhật Lễ
took over the throne in 1369, Prince Cung Định became the Emperor's father-in-law as Nhật Lễ married his daughter.
During his two years of reigning, Emperor Nhật Lễ enraged the royal court and Trần clan's members by his irresponsible attitude with the throne and his effort of changing his family name back to Dương which meant the ending of the Trần Dynasty. As a result, there were several plots trying to overthrow and kill Nhật Lễ, one of them was led by Prince Cung Định himself after the advice of his brother Prince Cung Tuyên Trần Kính, his sister Princess of Thiên Ninh Trần Ngọc Tha and the respected Marquis of Chương Túc Trần Nguyên Đán. Ultimately, Prince Cung Tuyên succeeded in re-establishing the ruling of Trần clan when the mandarin Ngô Lai persuaded Nhật Lễ to surrender and return the throne to Trần clan.
Prince Cung Định was enthroned on November 15 of Lunar calendar
, 1370 as the Emperor Nghệ Tông and decided to change the era name to Thiệu Khánh (紹慶), Dương Nhật Lễ was downgraded to Duke of Hôn Đức (Hôn Đức Công). Subsequently, Nhật Lễ killed Ngô Lai and was beaten to death with his son by an order from Nghệ Tông.
After the coronation, Nghệ Tông tried to restore the order of royal court which was heavily damaged during the reign of Dụ Tông and Nhật Lễ but the progress came very slowly, partially because he did not have enough competent mandarins like Chu Văn An
who died in 1370 or Trần Nguyên Đán who kept away from the court. Nghệ Tông faced his first failure in March 1371 when king of Champa Chế Bồng Nga
commanded troop attacked directly Thăng Long
, the capital of Đại Việt, after the petition of Nhật Lễ's mother. Unable to confront with the strong and well-organized opponent, the royal court of the Trần Dynasty had to flee from Thăng Long and let the capital be violently looted by Chế Bồng Nga's army. Two months after the Champa's assault, Nghệ Tông appointed Hồ Quý Ly for one of the highest position in royal court, this was the evidence for the Emperor's confidence in Hồ Quý Ly who had two aunts entitled as consorts of Minh Tông and married the Princess of Huy Ninh, Nghệ Tông's younger sister. The Emperor also chose Đỗ Tử Bình, another notorious official in future, for the position of military counsellor in April 1372.
On November 9 of Lunar calendar, 1372, Nghệ Tông decided to cede the throne to his younger brother, Prince Cung Tuyên Trần Kính who now became the Emperor Trần Duệ Tông
, and held the title Retired Emperor to co-rule the country with the Emperor as the tradition of the Trần Dynasty.
After the death of the Emperor, the Retired Emperor in May 1377 passed the throne to Duệ Tông's eldest prince, Prince Kiến Đức Trần Hiện, now Trần Phế Đế. By the historical records, Phế Đế was actually worse than his father, he had a weak and ignorant character which was profited by Hồ Quý Ly in his gradual control of royal court. During his reign, the military power was concentrated in the hand of Đỗ Tử Bình who was incapable to deal with many attacks from Champa's army. As a result, Nghệ Tông even decided to hide money in Lạng Sơn
in fearing that Chế Bồng Nga's troop might assault and destroy the royal palace in Thăng Long.
In 1380, Hồ Quý Ly had a minor victory over the troop of Chế Bồng Nga in Thanh Hóa, as a result, Đỗ Tử Bình had to give up his control of Đại Việt army to Hồ Quý Ly. However, in June 1383, Chế Bồng Nga opened a major campaign against Đại Việt, this time Trần Nghệ Tông was so afraid of the ennemy that he escaped from Thăng Long ignoring advice from the royal court. This coward decision of Nghệ Tông was heavily criticized by the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên
in his work Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư. In the northern border, the Ming Dynasty
also began to expose their ambition of invading southern kingdoms like Đại Việt and Champa.
Fearing the rise of Hồ Quý Ly in royal court, the Emperor Phế Đế tried to reduce his power but Hồ Quý Ly already got ahead of this plot by a defamation campaign against the Emperor which ultimately made Nghệ Tông decide to dethrone Phế Đế in December 1388. Phế Đế was downgraded to Prince Linh Đức and forced to commit suicide while his supporters in royal court were swept by Hồ Quý Ly's side. From now on it was Hồ Quý Ly who held the highest position and power in royal court.
On December 27 of Lunar calendar, 1387, Nghệ Tông passed the throne to his youngest son Trần Ngung, now Trần Thuận Tông
, who was only eleven, the Retired Emperor also entitled Hồ Quý Ly's daughter as the new queen of Thuận Tông. After another defeat of Đại Việt's army under the command of Hồ Quý Ly by Champa, in November 1389 Nghệ Tông appointed Trần Khát Chân for the position of general who conduct all military operations against Chế Bồng Nga's troop. Only a few months after taking charge of the position, Trần Khát Chân had a decisive victory over Champa on January 23, 1390 which resulted in the death of Chế Bồng Nga and thus the stable situation in southern border of Đại Việt.
Trần Nghệ Tông deceased on December 15 of Lunar calendar, 1394 at the age of 73 and left royal court in the total control of Hồ Quý Ly. As a result, the Trần Dynasty survived for only six years before Hồ Quý Ly overthrew it and established his own reign, the Hồ Dynasty.
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese names generally consist of three parts: a family name, a middle name, and a given name, used in that order. The "family name first" order follows the system of Chinese names and is common throughout the Sinosphere , but is different from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese names in having a...
Trần Phủ (陳暊), was the eighth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1370 to 1372. Nghệ Tông was credited with the re-establishment of Trần clan's ruling in Đại Việt from Hôn Đức Công
Dương Nhật Lễ
Hôn Đức Công , given name Dương Nhật Lễ , was the emperor of Đại Việt from 1369 to 1370. Although not coming from the Trần clan, Dương Nhật Lễ was ceded the throne of the Trần Dynasty by an edict of Emperor Trần Dụ Tông shortly before his death...
who kept the throne in nearly two years after the decease of Trần Dụ Tông
Trần Dụ Tông
Trần Dụ Tông , given name Trần Hạo , was the seventh emperor of the Trần Dynasty, and reigned over Đại Việt from 1341 to 1369...
. However, Nghệ Tông was proved to be an inefficient ruler during his reign as emperor and afterward as retired emperor from 1372 to his death at 1394. As the Retired Emperor who oversaw the ruling of his three consecutive successors, Duệ Tông
Trần Duệ Tông
Trần Duệ Tông , given name Trần Kính , was the ninth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1373 to 1377. Duệ Tông succeeded the throne from his brother Trần Nghệ Tông who was credited with the re-establishment of Trần clan's ruling in Đại Việt from Hôn Đức Công...
, Phế Đế
Trần Phế Đế
Trần Phế Đế , given name Trần Hiện , was the tenth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1377 to 1388. After his father's death in Battle of Đồ Bàn in January 1377, Phế Đế was enthroned as Đại Việt Emperor by the Retired Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông who acted as Phế Đế's regent during his...
and Thuận Tông
Trần Thuận Tông
Trần Thuận Tông , given name Trần Ngung , was the eleventh emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1378 to 1398. He was chosen to succeed to this position by his father, the Retired Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông, after Nghệ Tông decided to dethrone and force Trần Phế Đế to commit suicide...
, Nghệ Tông was responsible for the rising in royal court of Đỗ Tử Bình who brought Emperor Duệ Tông to his death and Hồ Quý Ly who ultimately overthrew the Trần Dynasty to found his own dynasty. Nghệ Tông also witnessed many defeats of Đại Việt in the struggle with Champa
Champa
The kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
including Đồ Bàn Battle when Emperor Duệ Tông was killed in action or several attacks by king of Champa Chế Bồng Nga
Che Bong Nga
Po Binasuor, or Chế Bồng Nga, Che Bunga ruled Champa from 1360 - 1390 CE...
in Thăng Long
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, capital of Đại Việt. After the decease of Nghệ Tông, the Trần Dynasty fell into the situation of completely chaos and survived for only six more years before Hồ Quý Ly took the throne in 1400.
Background
Nghệ Tông was born in 1321 as Trần Phủ, third son of the Emperor Minh TôngTrần Minh Tông
Trần Minh Tông , given name Trần Mạnh , was the fifth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who ruled Đại Việt from 1314 to 1329. After ceding the throne to his son Trần Hiến Tông, Minh Tông held the title of Thái thượng hoàng for 29 years...
and Royal Concubine Lê who was the younger sister of Queen Hiến Từ. Under the reign of his eldest brother, Emperor Hiến Tông
Trần Hiến Tông
Trần Hiến Tông , given name Trần Vượng , was the sixth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1329 to 1341. Enthroned by Minh Tông when he was only a ten-year-old boy, Hiến Tông ruled Đại Việt with the regent of the Retired Emperor Minh Tông during his thirteen years of reign...
(1329–1341) and his younger brother, Emperor Dụ Tông
Trần Dụ Tông
Trần Dụ Tông , given name Trần Hạo , was the seventh emperor of the Trần Dynasty, and reigned over Đại Việt from 1341 to 1369...
(1341–1369), Trần Phủ was entitled as Prince Cung Định (Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
: Cung Định Vương). When Dương Nhật Lễ
Dương Nhật Lễ
Hôn Đức Công , given name Dương Nhật Lễ , was the emperor of Đại Việt from 1369 to 1370. Although not coming from the Trần clan, Dương Nhật Lễ was ceded the throne of the Trần Dynasty by an edict of Emperor Trần Dụ Tông shortly before his death...
took over the throne in 1369, Prince Cung Định became the Emperor's father-in-law as Nhật Lễ married his daughter.
During his two years of reigning, Emperor Nhật Lễ enraged the royal court and Trần clan's members by his irresponsible attitude with the throne and his effort of changing his family name back to Dương which meant the ending of the Trần Dynasty. As a result, there were several plots trying to overthrow and kill Nhật Lễ, one of them was led by Prince Cung Định himself after the advice of his brother Prince Cung Tuyên Trần Kính, his sister Princess of Thiên Ninh Trần Ngọc Tha and the respected Marquis of Chương Túc Trần Nguyên Đán. Ultimately, Prince Cung Tuyên succeeded in re-establishing the ruling of Trần clan when the mandarin Ngô Lai persuaded Nhật Lễ to surrender and return the throne to Trần clan.
Prince Cung Định was enthroned on November 15 of Lunar calendar
Lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...
, 1370 as the Emperor Nghệ Tông and decided to change the era name to Thiệu Khánh (紹慶), Dương Nhật Lễ was downgraded to Duke of Hôn Đức (Hôn Đức Công). Subsequently, Nhật Lễ killed Ngô Lai and was beaten to death with his son by an order from Nghệ Tông.
As emperor
Nghệ Tông took the absolute power when he was 49 and already had experience within the royal court, however according to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the Emperor lacked an important quality of a good ruler which is the decisiveness and thus led the Trần Dynasty step by step fall into the hand of his officials.After the coronation, Nghệ Tông tried to restore the order of royal court which was heavily damaged during the reign of Dụ Tông and Nhật Lễ but the progress came very slowly, partially because he did not have enough competent mandarins like Chu Văn An
Chu Van An
Chu Văn An was a Confucian, teacher, physician and high-ranking mandarin of the Trần Dynasty in Đại Việt.- Biography :...
who died in 1370 or Trần Nguyên Đán who kept away from the court. Nghệ Tông faced his first failure in March 1371 when king of Champa Chế Bồng Nga
Che Bong Nga
Po Binasuor, or Chế Bồng Nga, Che Bunga ruled Champa from 1360 - 1390 CE...
commanded troop attacked directly Thăng Long
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, the capital of Đại Việt, after the petition of Nhật Lễ's mother. Unable to confront with the strong and well-organized opponent, the royal court of the Trần Dynasty had to flee from Thăng Long and let the capital be violently looted by Chế Bồng Nga's army. Two months after the Champa's assault, Nghệ Tông appointed Hồ Quý Ly for one of the highest position in royal court, this was the evidence for the Emperor's confidence in Hồ Quý Ly who had two aunts entitled as consorts of Minh Tông and married the Princess of Huy Ninh, Nghệ Tông's younger sister. The Emperor also chose Đỗ Tử Bình, another notorious official in future, for the position of military counsellor in April 1372.
On November 9 of Lunar calendar, 1372, Nghệ Tông decided to cede the throne to his younger brother, Prince Cung Tuyên Trần Kính who now became the Emperor Trần Duệ Tông
Trần Duệ Tông
Trần Duệ Tông , given name Trần Kính , was the ninth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1373 to 1377. Duệ Tông succeeded the throne from his brother Trần Nghệ Tông who was credited with the re-establishment of Trần clan's ruling in Đại Việt from Hôn Đức Công...
, and held the title Retired Emperor to co-rule the country with the Emperor as the tradition of the Trần Dynasty.
As retired emperor
By nature Duệ Tông was an arrogant and hard-headed ruler who ignored the advice from mandarins about the power of Champa's army, therefore right after the enthronement he began to prepare a military campaign in the southern border against Chế Bồng Nga's troop. Another factor that reinforced the Emperor's decision was the refusal of Chế Bồng Nga to pay tribute for Đại Việt, afterwards historical books reveal that actually king of Champa did send fifteen trays of gold to Đại Việt but Đỗ Tử Bình kept the gold for himself while reported to royal court that there was not any tribute from Champa. After some skirmishes caused by Champa, Duệ Tông began his decisive campaign in December 1376 in which the Emperor personally commanded with the assistance of Hồ Quý Ly and Đỗ Tử Bình. Eventually, the campaign was ended by a disastrous defeat of Đại Việt's army in Đồ Bàn Battle when the Emperor with many high-ranking madarins and generals of the Trần Dynasty were killed by Champa's force. On the contrary, Hồ Quý Ly and Đỗ Tử Bình survived because Quý Ly, who took charge of logistics, and Tử Bình, who commanded the rearguard, both ran away from the battle instead of trying to rescue the Emperor. Afterwards, Đỗ Tử Bình was only dismissed to the position of plain soldier by the order of Nghệ Tông while Hồ Quý Ly even did not have to face with any charge.After the death of the Emperor, the Retired Emperor in May 1377 passed the throne to Duệ Tông's eldest prince, Prince Kiến Đức Trần Hiện, now Trần Phế Đế. By the historical records, Phế Đế was actually worse than his father, he had a weak and ignorant character which was profited by Hồ Quý Ly in his gradual control of royal court. During his reign, the military power was concentrated in the hand of Đỗ Tử Bình who was incapable to deal with many attacks from Champa's army. As a result, Nghệ Tông even decided to hide money in Lạng Sơn
Lang Son
Lạng Sơn , sometimes Langson, is a city in far northern Vietnam, is the capital of Lang Son province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Road 1A.-History:...
in fearing that Chế Bồng Nga's troop might assault and destroy the royal palace in Thăng Long.
In 1380, Hồ Quý Ly had a minor victory over the troop of Chế Bồng Nga in Thanh Hóa, as a result, Đỗ Tử Bình had to give up his control of Đại Việt army to Hồ Quý Ly. However, in June 1383, Chế Bồng Nga opened a major campaign against Đại Việt, this time Trần Nghệ Tông was so afraid of the ennemy that he escaped from Thăng Long ignoring advice from the royal court. This coward decision of Nghệ Tông was heavily criticized by the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên was an historian of the Lê Dynasty. He is best known for being the principal compiler of the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam and the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains today...
in his work Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư. In the northern border, the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
also began to expose their ambition of invading southern kingdoms like Đại Việt and Champa.
Fearing the rise of Hồ Quý Ly in royal court, the Emperor Phế Đế tried to reduce his power but Hồ Quý Ly already got ahead of this plot by a defamation campaign against the Emperor which ultimately made Nghệ Tông decide to dethrone Phế Đế in December 1388. Phế Đế was downgraded to Prince Linh Đức and forced to commit suicide while his supporters in royal court were swept by Hồ Quý Ly's side. From now on it was Hồ Quý Ly who held the highest position and power in royal court.
On December 27 of Lunar calendar, 1387, Nghệ Tông passed the throne to his youngest son Trần Ngung, now Trần Thuận Tông
Trần Thuận Tông
Trần Thuận Tông , given name Trần Ngung , was the eleventh emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1378 to 1398. He was chosen to succeed to this position by his father, the Retired Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông, after Nghệ Tông decided to dethrone and force Trần Phế Đế to commit suicide...
, who was only eleven, the Retired Emperor also entitled Hồ Quý Ly's daughter as the new queen of Thuận Tông. After another defeat of Đại Việt's army under the command of Hồ Quý Ly by Champa, in November 1389 Nghệ Tông appointed Trần Khát Chân for the position of general who conduct all military operations against Chế Bồng Nga's troop. Only a few months after taking charge of the position, Trần Khát Chân had a decisive victory over Champa on January 23, 1390 which resulted in the death of Chế Bồng Nga and thus the stable situation in southern border of Đại Việt.
Trần Nghệ Tông deceased on December 15 of Lunar calendar, 1394 at the age of 73 and left royal court in the total control of Hồ Quý Ly. As a result, the Trần Dynasty survived for only six years before Hồ Quý Ly overthrew it and established his own reign, the Hồ Dynasty.
Family
Trần Nghệ Tông had one wife, Lady Huệ Ý, who died before his coronation and was posthumously entitled as Queen Thục Đức. The Emperor had five sons and one daughter:- Prince Ngự Câu Trần Húc (?–1381) who was killed by Trần Phế Đế
- Trần Thúc Ngạn
- Prince Trang Định Trần Ngạc (?–1391) who was killed by an order of Hồ Quý Ly, Trần Ngạc's son was Trần Quý Khoáng who was afterward enthroned as Emperor of the Later Trần Dynasty
- Prince Giản Định Trần Ngỗi (?–1409) who was afterward the Emperor Giản Định of the Later Trần Dynasty
- Prince Chiêu Định Trần Ngung (1378–1398) who became the Emperor Trần Thuận TôngTrần Thuận TôngTrần Thuận Tông , given name Trần Ngung , was the eleventh emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1378 to 1398. He was chosen to succeed to this position by his father, the Retired Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông, after Nghệ Tông decided to dethrone and force Trần Phế Đế to commit suicide...
- Princess Thiên Huy Trần Thục Mỹ