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 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 H ...

. The only primary account of his life and reign was 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 which was completed in 1697 under the direction of the

Trịnh lords The Trịnh lords ( vi, Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formal title Trịnh Viceroy (; ), also known as Trịnh clan (鄭氏, ''Trịnh thị'') or the House of Trịnh, were a noble feudal clan who de facto ruled Northern Viet ...

. The chronicle described Lê Tương Dực as initially being a good emperor who reorganized the court and ruled the nation wisely. However, later during his reign, he became overly greedy, corrupt and extravagant. He was a grandson of Lê Thánh Tông and the second son of Prince Lê Tân, a younger brother of

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 ...

. His mother was Trịnh Thị Tuyên, a daughter of general Trịnh Trọng Phong. In 1509, Hiến Tông's son, Emperor

Lê Uy Mục 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 of Vietnam. He was the second son of Emperor Lê Hiến Tông and the elder half-brother of hi ...

arrested Lê Oanh during a program of purging imperial princes who were suspicious of disloyalty. Oanh fled to Thanh Hoá, the House of Lê's homeland, and gathered an army against the Emperor. With the help of his lieutenants

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 ...

and Nguyễn Hoằng Dụ, Oanh marched his army to the imperial capital and defeated the Emperor's military officers. In retaliation, Lê Uy Mục executed Oanh's elder brother, Lê Sùng. That did not prevent Oanh from decisively routing the Emperor's main army and killing Uy Mục. Oanh then proclaimed himself Emperor and designed his

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...

as Hồng Thuận (洪順). In the early years of his reign, Lê Oanh, known to later generations as Lê Tương Dực, had some achievements in reorganizing the government and fostering

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 ...

education. He also ordered the compilation of a new historical chronicle, ''Đại Việt thông giám thông khảo'', by the Minister of War

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 Susa ...

and ''Trị bình bảo phạm'' or "Rules for Maintaining Social Stability", in accordance with Neo-Confucianism. However, later in his reign, he spent extravagantly in building many colossal palaces in the 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 i ...

. The most notable of those places was one known to the Vietnamese as ''Cửu Trùng Đài'', designed by famous architect

Vũ Như Tô Vũ or Võ ( 武 or rarely 禹) is a common Vietnamese surname. Vũ is primarily used by Vietnamese who live in the north, while Võ mostly is used by Vietnamese who live in the south (from Quảng Bình Province to the south). The latinized v ...

. He also spent much time enjoying sexual activities with his concubines, many of whom were former concubines of Lê Hiến Tông and Lê Uy Mục. According to court chronicles, he ordered special ships to be built for him to travel on the

West Lake West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural ...

. He also forced his concubines to strip naked and perform dances on these ships. As the result of the emperor's luxurious lifestyle and ignorance of state affairs, the people suffered considerable hardships. Many soldiers committed to build imperial palaces died due to diseases. As the government became increasingly unpopular, many rebellions broke out. The largest of them was that of Trần Cảo, a northerner who claimed to be an heir of the House of Trần. Because of his terrible leadership, he was known as the "Pig Emperor" (''Trư Vương'', 豬王) by later historians. The name comes from the remarks of him by a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

diplomat who came to Đại Việt in 1513. In 1516, a group of imperial guards, led by general Trịnh Duy Sản, murdered Lê Tương Dực in the capital.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Tuong Duc 1495 births 1516 deaths Lê dynasty emperors 16th-century Vietnamese monarchs Vietnamese murder victims 16th-century murdered monarchs Vietnamese monarchs Murder in 1516