Trần Duệ Tông
Encyclopedia
Trần Duệ Tông given name
Trần Kính (陳曔), 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
. During his short-lived reign, Duệ Tông had to witness the rising of Hồ Quý Ly in royal court and several consecutive attacks in Đại Việt from Chế Bồng Nga
, king of Champa
. In 1377 Duệ Tông decided to personally command a major military campaign against Champa, this campaign was ended by the disastrous defeat of Trần's army in Battle of Đồ Bàn where Duệ Tông himself was killed in action with many other high-ranking mandarins and generals of Đại Việt. Duệ Tông's death was one of the main events that led to the collapse of Trần Dynasty in 1400.
and Royal Consort Đôn Từ, he was younger brother of three emperors Hiến Tông
, Dụ Tông
and Nghệ Tông
and was entitled as Prince Cung Tuyên. During the reign of Dương Nhật Lễ
, it was Prince Cung Tuyên who supported his brother Prince Cung Định Trần Phủ
overthrow Nhật Lễ to regain the power for Trần clan, Prince Cung Tuyên was also the most important figure of this plot who personally prepared soldiers and arms for Prince Cung Định, or Trần Nghệ Tông from 1370.
Because of Prince Cung Tuyên's essential role in helping the Emperor to take over the power, Nghệ Tông decided to cede the throne to his younger brother, now Trần Duệ Tông in 1373 and held the title Retired Emperor. After the coronation, Duệ Tông changed the era name to Long Khánh (隆慶, great joy, 1373–1377).
On the other hand, Duệ Tông had some activities to improve the domestic situation after the chaos during Dụ Tông and Nhật Lễ's reigns such as establishing the royal examination in February 1374 or re-organizing army and the administrative system. In royal court the Emperor appointed Hồ Quý Ly, whose cousin is the Queen Gia Từ, for the position of military counsellor and Trần Nguyên Đán for the position of controlling the northern border.
Another factor that reinforced the Emperor's decision for the decisive military campaign Champa 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, official responsible for the southern border, kept the gold for himself while reported to royal court that there was not any tribute from Champa. In December 1376, Duệ Tông personally commanded an army of 12.000 Đại Việt soldiers operating towards Champa while Hồ Quý Ly took charge of the campaign's logistics and Đỗ Tử Bình conducted the reargoard. On January 23 of Lunar calendar, 1377, Duệ Tông's army arrived at Thị Nại near the capital of Champa Đồ Bàn. In a plot of luring the opponent to his trap in Đồ Bàn, Chế Bồng Nga had a small mandarin pretend to surrender who made Duệ Tông believe that Champa's army had fled from the empty capital. The next day, Duệ Tông led his army directly to the ambush that Chế Bồng Nga prepared for him. As a result, Trần army was heavily defeated in this Battle of Đồ Bàn where the Emperor himself was killed in action with many other high-ranking mandarins, generals and seventy percent of his troops. On the contrary, Hồ Quý Ly and Đỗ Tử Bình survived because they 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.
Nghệ Tông had four children:
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 Kính (陳曔), 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
Trần Nghệ Tông
Trần Nghệ Tông , given name Trần Phủ , 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...
who 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...
. During his short-lived reign, Duệ Tông had to witness the rising of Hồ Quý Ly in royal court and several consecutive attacks in Đại Việt from Chế Bồng Nga
Che Bong Nga
Po Binasuor, or Chế Bồng Nga, Che Bunga ruled Champa from 1360 - 1390 CE...
, king of 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...
. In 1377 Duệ Tông decided to personally command a major military campaign against Champa, this campaign was ended by the disastrous defeat of Trần's army in Battle of Đồ Bàn where Duệ Tông himself was killed in action with many other high-ranking mandarins and generals of Đại Việt. Duệ Tông's death was one of the main events that led to the collapse of Trần Dynasty in 1400.
Background
Duệ Tông was born in 1337 as Trần Kính, eleventh child of the Retired 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 Consort Đôn Từ, he was younger brother of three emperors 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...
, 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...
and Nghệ Tông
Trần Nghệ Tông
Trần Nghệ Tông , given name Trần Phủ , 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...
and was entitled as Prince Cung Tuyên. During the reign of 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...
, it was Prince Cung Tuyên who supported his brother Prince Cung Định Trần Phủ
Trần Phú
Trần Phú was the first general secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party, later renamed to Communist Party of Vietnam. He was born on May 1, 1904, at the village an An Tho, now part of An Dan Commune, Tuy An District, where his father, Tran Van Pho, was as teacher...
overthrow Nhật Lễ to regain the power for Trần clan, Prince Cung Tuyên was also the most important figure of this plot who personally prepared soldiers and arms for Prince Cung Định, or Trần Nghệ Tông from 1370.
Because of Prince Cung Tuyên's essential role in helping the Emperor to take over the power, Nghệ Tông decided to cede the throne to his younger brother, now Trần Duệ Tông in 1373 and held the title Retired Emperor. After the coronation, Duệ Tông changed the era name to Long Khánh (隆慶, great joy, 1373–1377).
As emperor
According to Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư, although having an active part in the overthrown of Dương Nhật Lễ, Trần Duệ Tông was indeed 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. Duệ Tông officially announced his plan of attacking Champa in December 1373 while there were several revolts rising right in Đại Việt.On the other hand, Duệ Tông had some activities to improve the domestic situation after the chaos during Dụ Tông and Nhật Lễ's reigns such as establishing the royal examination in February 1374 or re-organizing army and the administrative system. In royal court the Emperor appointed Hồ Quý Ly, whose cousin is the Queen Gia Từ, for the position of military counsellor and Trần Nguyên Đán for the position of controlling the northern border.
Another factor that reinforced the Emperor's decision for the decisive military campaign Champa 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, official responsible for the southern border, kept the gold for himself while reported to royal court that there was not any tribute from Champa. In December 1376, Duệ Tông personally commanded an army of 12.000 Đại Việt soldiers operating towards Champa while Hồ Quý Ly took charge of the campaign's logistics and Đỗ Tử Bình conducted the reargoard. On January 23 of Lunar calendar, 1377, Duệ Tông's army arrived at Thị Nại near the capital of Champa Đồ Bàn. In a plot of luring the opponent to his trap in Đồ Bàn, Chế Bồng Nga had a small mandarin pretend to surrender who made Duệ Tông believe that Champa's army had fled from the empty capital. The next day, Duệ Tông led his army directly to the ambush that Chế Bồng Nga prepared for him. As a result, Trần army was heavily defeated in this Battle of Đồ Bàn where the Emperor himself was killed in action with many other high-ranking mandarins, generals and seventy percent of his troops. On the contrary, Hồ Quý Ly and Đỗ Tử Bình survived because they 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.
Family
Trần Nghệ Tông had two wives:- Lady Lê, who was entitled as Queen Gia Từ after the coronation of Duệ Tông.
- A consort who was daughter of Trần Liêu.
Nghệ Tông had four children:
- Prince Chương Vũ Trần Vĩ
- Trần Hiện (1361–1388), who eventually became Trần Phế ĐếTrần Phế ĐếTrần 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...
- Trần Nguyên Diệu
- Trần Nguyên Hy