Lê Uy Mục (chữ Hán: 黎威穆; 5 May 1488 – 1 December 1509), also called Lê Tuấn (黎濬), was the eighth emperor of the later

Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known as Later Lê dynasty ( vi, Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. He was the second son of Emperor

Lê Hiến Tông Lê Hiến Tông ( chữ Hán: 黎憲宗, 10 August 1461 – 24 May 1504) was the 6th emperor of Vietnam's Lê dynasty reigning over Đại Việt from 1497 to 1504. He promulgated the legal code of his father Lê Thánh Tông (1442–1497) i ...

and the elder half-brother of his direct predecessor, Emperor

Lê Túc Tông Lê Túc Tông (黎肅宗; 6 September 1488 – 30 December 1504) was, from 17 July until 30 December 1504, the 7th emperor of the later Lê dynasty of Vietnam. Biography According to the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the official historic ...

. Lê Uy Mục was portrayed in

Đại Việt Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), often known as Annam ( vi, An Nam, Chữ Hán: 安南), was a monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day ...

's historical annals as an arrogant and ruthless monarch. His reign oversaw the beginning of the decline of the Đại Việt empire, having been prosperous and powerful during the able reigns of

Lê Thánh Tông Lê Thánh Tông (黎聖宗; 25 August 1442 – 3 March 1497), personal name Lê Hạo, temple name Thánh Tông, courtesy name Tư Thành, was an emperor of Đại Việt, reigning from 1460 to 1497, the fifth and the longest-reigning empe ...

, Lê Hiến Tông and Lê Túc Tông. Annalists during the

Revival Lê dynasty The Revival Lê dynasty ( vi, Nhà Lê trung hưng 茹黎中興; Hán-Việt: 黎中興朝 ''Lê trung hưng triều''), also called the Later Lê Restoration, was a Vietnamese dynasty that existed between 1533 and 1789. The Primal Lê dynasty (1 ...

recorded him as having killed many people including his grandmother and two of his ministers, as well as many imperial princes. He also wasted his energy in excessive drinking and sexual activities. It was alleged that some

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

ambassadors, having examined the emperor Lê Uy Mục's aggressive physical appearance, labelled him as Demon King (''Quỷ vương,'' 鬼王). In 1504, Uy Mục arrested his cousin

Lê Oanh Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...

, son of Hiến Tông's younger brother Lê Tân. Oanh eventually escaped southwards to

Thanh Hóa Thanh Hóa () is the capital of Thanh Hóa Province. The city is situated in the east of the province on the Ma River (Sông Mã), about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Hanoi and 1560 kilometers (969 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City. Thanh ...

, the homeland of the imperial house. Here, Oanh organized a rebellion against the government. After hard fighting, rebel forces approached the imperial capital

Thăng Long Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

and killed the emperor, ending a short reign of only 4 years.

was enthroned as Emperor Lê Tương Dực, who later turned to be another unpopular monarch.

Biography

Childhood

The only primary source about Lê Uy Mục's life was contained in the

Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư The ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' ( vi-hantu, 大越史記全書; ; ''Complete Annals of Đại Việt'') is the official national chronicle of the Vietnamese state, that was originally compiled by the royal historian Ngô Sĩ Liên under ...

, the official historical chronicle of Đại Việt during the Lê dynasty. The chronicle was first compiled in 1479 by

Ngô Sĩ Liên Ngô Sĩ Liên (吳士連) was a Vietnamese historian of the Lê dynasty. He was 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 chronicler in the court of

, Uy Mục's grandfather. After 1479, the works were continually supplemented by other Đại Việt's chroniclers. Parts including details about Lê Uy Mục was added by the minister

Vũ Quỳnh Vũ Quỳnh (chữ Hán: 武瓊; Bình Giang, Hải Dương 1452–1516) was a Vietnamese scholar-official and writer. He is best known for his work with Kiều Phú collecting the ''Lĩnh Nam chích quái''.George Edson Dutton, Jayne Susan W ...

in 1511. According to the chronicle, Uy Mục's real name was Lê Tuấn (黎濬). He was born on 5 May 1488 during the reign of his grandfather Lê Thánh Tông. He was the second son of Crown Prince Lê Tranh and Lady Nguyễn Thị Cận. His mother was originally a maid of Consort Nguyễn Kính Phi. She died after giving birth to him and he was adopted by Consort Nguyễn Kính Phi. Because his mother was a maid, during his childhood he was always be looked down on by his grandmother, Empress Trường Lạc. In 1496, Emperor Lê Thánh Tông died, probably being poisoned by Empress Trường Lạc. Lê Tuấn's father Lê Tranh ascended to the throne, known to chroniclers as Emperor

. In early 1499, several government ministers including Lê Vĩnh and Lê Năng Nhượng persuaded Hiến Tông to choose an heir in order to maintain the dynasty's and the nation's security and sustainability. Hiến Tông agreed, but he despised his two eldest sons, Lê Tuân and Lê Tuấn, for being intellectually and morally unsuited for the throne. The emperor eventually designed his third son, Lê Thuần (mothered by Consort Nguyễn Hoàn) as Crown Prince. In 1504, Emperor Lê Hiến Tông died at the age of 44. Crown Prince Lê Thuần was enthroned as Emperor

. Having reigned for only six months, Túc Tông felt critically ill in December 1504. Realising that he could not pass the disease, Túc Tông designated his elder brother Lê Tuấn as his successor. On 12 January 1505, Túc Tông died at the age of 17. Lê Tuấn's grandmother, who had become Grand Empress Dowager Trường Lạc since the death of Hiến Tông, despised Tuấn's origin as son of a maid. She preferred another prince in royal family. With the help from Nguyễn Kính Phi and Nguyễn Nhữ Vy, finally he could become the next emperor of

, Emperor Lê Uy Mục, in 1505.

Reign

Lê Uy Mục was portrayed by

Neo-Confucianist Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) in th ...

chroniclers as being deeply contrasted to his predecessors Lê Thánh Tông, Lê Hiến Tông and Lê Túc Tông, who closely followed Neo-Confucianist principles in governing the nation. In 1505, Uy Mục ordered his servants to assassinate his grandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Trường Lạc. The Grand Empress Dowager was killed at the age of 65. Also, he launched a bloody purge to kill all of the officials serving in the royal court who did not support him to become the emperor, such as Đàm Văn Lễ,

Nguyễn Quang Bật Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this s ...

and also one of the supported officials, Nguyễn Nhữ Vy. He investigated all of the princes in the royal family and killed anyone who was considered as dangers for his position. He also ordered to massacre the

Cham people The Cham (Cham: ''Čaṃ'') or Champa people (Cham: , ''Urang Campa''; vi, Người Chăm or ; km, ជនជាតិចាម, ) are an Austronesian ethnic group. From the 2nd century to 1832 the Cham populated Champa, a contiguous territo ...

who served as slaves for government officials. He spent almost every night in the palace drinking with beauties, and whenever he got drunk, he killed these ladies. The power fell into consort kin. People from Nguyễn clan of Nguyễn Kính Phi, Nguyễn clan of Lady Nguyễn Thị Cận and Trần clan of Empress

Trần Thị Tùng Trần (陳) or Tran is a common Vietnamese surname. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. It is derived from the common Chinese surname Chen. History The Tran ruled the Trần dynasty, a golden era in Vietnam, and succe ...

were saucy but had a lot of power. They made much corruption, riffled poverty of people and also killed a lot of people including court officials and normal people. During his era, many people became afraid of his despotic rule.

Dethronement

Prince

, after escaping from the bloody purge, together with a group of officials - notably

Nguyễn Văn Lang Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this s ...

plotted again the despotic ruler. They launched a coup since November 1509. Emperor Lê Uy Mục knew that, he killed Lê Oanh's parents but still lost in the battle. The Emperor was deposed and requested to suicide. He died on December 1, 1509, and was buried at the tomb of An lăng. Prince Lê Oanh became the successor, Emperor

Lê Tương Dực Lê Tương Dực (Han: 黎襄翼; 16 July 1495 – 8 May 1516), birth name Lê Oanh (黎瀠), reigned from 1509 to 1516, was the ninth emperor of the later Lê dynasty of Đại Việt. The only primary account of his life and reign was the Đạ ...

Family

* Father:

* Mother: Lady Nguyễn Thị Cận * Adoptive mother: Nguyễn Kính Phi * Consort(s) : # Empress

of Trần clan (威穆皇后陳氏) # Consort Trần Thị Trúc, younger sister of Empress

# Royal Consort Lê thị

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Le 1488 births 1509 deaths Lê dynasty emperors 16th-century Vietnamese monarchs 16th-century murdered monarchs Vietnamese murder victims Vietnamese monarchs Murder in 1509