Prince of Bảo Nghĩa Trần Bình Trọng ( Hán tự: 陳平仲) (1259–1285) was a general of the

Trần Dynasty The Trần dynasty, ( Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳）also known as the House of Trần, was a Vietnamese dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of Đại Việt from 1225 to 1400. The dynasty was founded when emperor Trần Thá ...

well known for his heroic action in the war of Dai Viet against the second

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

. After the capture of Trần Bình Trọng by the army of the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

, Kublai Khan's prince Toghan attempted to convince the Đại Việt general to surrender by telling him about the situation of the Trần Dynasty, saying that Trần Bình Trọng would get a minister's post in China. However, the general rejected his proposition, and thus, Toghan had him executed. Today, he is widely known as an example of patriotism in

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 ...

. The story about Marquis Bảo Nghĩa is taught in Vietnamese textbooks and many places in Vietnam are named in honour of this national hero.

History

According to ''

Từ điển Bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam ''Từ điển bách khoa Việt Nam'' (Literally ''Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Vietnam'') is a state-sponsored Vietnamese language encyclopedia that was published in Vietnam in 2005. It is the first state encyclopedia of the Socialist Republic o ...

'', Marquis Bảo Nghĩa (

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

: Bảo Nghĩa hầu) Trần Bình Trọng was born in 1259 during the reign of the Emperor

Trần Thánh Tông Trần Thánh Tông (October 12, 1240 – July 3, 1290), personal name Trần Hoảng (), was the second emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1258 to 1278. After ceding the throne to his son Trần Nhân Tông, Thán ...

. Trần Bình Trọng descended from a family which was origin from the Emperor

Lê Đại Hành 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 ...

but married Princess Thụy Bảo of the Trần Dynasty while his father and grandfather were officials under the Emperor

Trần Thái Tông Trần Thái Tông (17 July 1218 – 5 May 1277), personal name Trần Cảnh or Trần Nhật Cảnh, temple name Thái Tông, was the first emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigned Đại Việt for 33 years (1226–58), being Retired Emperor ...

, therefore he was granted the royal family name Trần. In 1279, the Yuan Dynasty won a decisive victory over the

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

at the

Battle of Yamen The naval Battle of Yamen () (also known as the Naval Battle of Mount Ya; ) took place on 19 March 1279 and is considered to be the last stand of the Song dynasty against the invading Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Although outnumbered 10:1, the Yua ...

which marked the end of the Song Dynasty and resulted in the total control of Kublai Khan over China. As a result, Kublai Khan began to expose his attempt to take over the southern countries like

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 ...

or Champa. In December 1284, the second Yuan's invasion of Đại Việt was opened under the command of Kublai Khan's prince Toghan. Đại Việt was attacked in two directions, Toghan himselft conducted the infantry invaded from the northern border while Yuan's navy under general Sogetu advanced from the southern border through Champa's territory. In the beginning of the war, the Retired Emperor Thánh Tông and the Emperor Nhân Tông had to retreat from

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 ...

under the pressure of Yuan army. Grand commander of Đại Việt army

Trần Hưng Đạo Trần Hưng Đạo (; 1228–1300), real name Trần Quốc Tuấn (陳國峻), also known as Grand Prince Hưng Đạo (''Hưng Đạo Đại Vương'' - 興道大王), was a Vietnamese royal prince, statesman and military commander of Đạ ...

decided to appoint general Trần Bình Trọng to take charge of holding back the Yuan army so that two Emperors could retreat safely to

Thiên Trường Thiên is a Vietnamese word which can refer to: * Thiền, a Vietnamese version of Zen Buddhism People * Lê Hoàng Thiên * Mẫu Thượng Thiên * Quốc Thiên * Thiên Y A Na * Thừa Thiên (empress) * Thuận Thiên (Trần dynasty empress) ...

. In a battle near Đà Mạc (or Thiên Mạc) in February 1285, Trần Bình Trọng's troops were defeated and the general was captured by the army of prince Toghan. After the capture, prince Toghan considered Marquis Bảo Nghĩa a talented general so he tried to convince Trần Bình Trọng to surrender and tell him about the situation of the Trần Dynasty. Refusing to co-operate, Trần Bình Trọng kicked off the gold and treasure that they offered. He was asked about the prospect of being a Prince for the Yuan Dynasty, he answered by a phrase which became famous in

History of Vietnam The history of Vietnam can be traced back to around 20,000 years ago, as the first modern humans arrived and settled on this land, known as the Hoabinhians, which can be traced to modern-day Negritos. Archaeological findings from 1965, which are ...

: Trần Bình Trọng was killed afterwards in the same year at the age of 26. The death of Marquis Bảo Nghĩa was mourned by every member of Trần family and royal court, the Emperor posthumously entitled him as Prince Bảo Nghĩa (Bảo Nghĩa vương). The account of Battle of Đà Mạc and the capture of Trần Bình Trọng also appeared in the historical book of the Yuan Dynasty, the ''

History of Yuan The ''History of Yuan'' (''Yuán Shǐ''), also known as the ''Yuanshi'', is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' of China. Commissioned by the court of the Ming dynasty, in accordance to political ...

''. There was a difference between "Story of Annam" in ''History of Yuan'' and ''Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư'' about the date of the event at Đà Mạc, the Vietnamese work dated the battle in February while the exact day of the battle in the Chinese book was January 21 of

Lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...

. According to modern historian Lê Mạnh Thát, the Chinese book might be more accurate in this case because most of the original historical records of the Trần Dynasty were destroyed by the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

during the fourth Chinese domination over Vietnam so maybe Ngô Sĩ Liên committed an error in copying this event.

Legacy

Today, Trần Bình Trọng is still considered as one of the finest example of Vietnamese patriotism, especially through his famous phrase. Stories about his spirit and action are taught in schoolbooks of several grades while a main street in Hanoi and many other places in Vietnam are named in honour of this national hero. Trần Bình Trọng is also a subject for several literature and theatre works such as the novel '' Bên bờ Thiên Mạc'' (''On the riverside of Thiên Mạc'') by Hà Ân.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Binh Trong Trần dynasty princes Trần dynasty generals Trần dynasty marquises 1259 births 1285 deaths