Prince Yên Sinh Trần Liễu (1211–1251) was the elder brother of the

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 ...

, the first emperor of

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 ...

. Initially, Trần Liễu was honoured by his younger brother with the title King Hiển (

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 ...

: Hiển Hoàng) but he was downgraded to Prince Yên Sinh after the short-lived revolt in fury of losing his pregnant wife, Princess Thuận Thiên, to the Emperor under the pressure of Imperial Regent

Trần Thủ Độ Prince Trung Võ Trần Thủ Độ ( vi-hantu, 陳守度, 1194–1264) was a general and leader of the Trần clan during the reign of Lý Huệ Tông and Lý Chiêu Hoàng of Vietnam. Trần Thủ Độ was credited for overthrowing the Lý dy ...

. Besides this event, Trần Liễu was well known in the

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 ...

for being the father of

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 ...

, commander-in-chief of the

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 ...

army during the second and third war of resistance against the

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 ...

Background

Trần Liễu was born in 1211 as the first son of Trần Thừa and grandson of Trần Lý, the head of the Trần clan in Lưu Gia village. During the troubled time under the reign of

Lý Cao Tông Lý Cao Tông (6 July 1173 – 15 November 1210), born Lý Long Trát, courtesy name Long Cán, was the seventh emperor of the Lý dynasty, ruled Đại Việt for 35 years. He identified himself with Buddha, similar with Angkorian Khmer Empire c ...

, the Crown Prince Lý Sảm sought refuge in Trần Lý's family and decided to marry his beautiful daughter Trần Thị Dung, younger sister of Trần Thừa, in 1209. Afterward, it was the Trần clan who helped Lý Cao Tông and Lý Sảm restore the throne in

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 ...

, therefore the Emperor appointed several members of the Trần clan for high positions in the royal court such as

Tô Trung Từ Tô Trung Từ (chữ Hán: 蘇忠詞, ?-1211) was a high ranking general near the end of the Lý dynasty in the History of Vietnam, and attempted to usurp the Lý dynasty during his reign of the dynasty's royal court. He was born in Lưu Gia villa ...

who was uncle of Trần Thị Dung, or Trần Tự Khánh who was Trần Thừa's younger brother. In 1211 the Crown Prince Lý Sảm was enthroned as

Lý Huệ Tông Lý Huệ Tông (chữ Hán: 李惠宗; born Lý Sảm 李旵; July 1194 – 3 September 1226) was the emperor of Vietnam from 1211 to 1224, the penultimate leader of the Lý dynasty. During Lý Huệ Tông's rule, many members of the Trần famil ...

after the death of

, by then the Trần clan's position began to rise in royal court. During this time, Trần Liễu was entitled by Lý emperor as Prince Phụng Càn (Phụng Càn vương) and married to Princess Thuận Thiên who was elder sister of Empress Regnant

Lý Chiêu Hoàng Lý Chiêu Hoàng ( vi-hantu, 李昭皇, September 1218 – 1278), personal name Lý Phật Kim (李佛金) later renamed to Lý Thiên Hinh (李天馨), was the ninth and last sovereign of the Lý dynasty, empress of Đại Việt f ...

. In October 1224, Lý Huệ Tông decided to cede the throne to his second daughter, the Princess Chiêu Thánh, now the Empress Regnant Lý Chiêu Hoàng. Chiêu Hoàng was only six at that time so every important decision in the royal court was made by the Trần clan. Profiting from this circumstance,

arranged a marriage between Chiêu Hoàng and Trần Cảnh, the eight-year-old son of Trần Thừa and the younger brother of Trần Liễu. With Trần Cảnh being the Empress Regnant's husband, Trần Thủ Độ was finally able to overthrow Lý Dynasty by making Lý Chiêu Hoàng pass the throne to Trần Cảnh, now

, in 1225.

History

In August 1228 Trần Thái Tông appointed Trần Liễu for the position of prime minister (''Thái úy'') of the royal court. He was promoted to Regent of the Emperor in 1234 and was honoured by the Emperor with the title King Hiển (Hiển Hoàng) which was criticized by the historian

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 ...

as an over-merit and origin of Trần Liễu's revolt afterwards. However, in 1236 Trần Liễu committed a serious guilt in royal palace when he violated a former concubine of Lý Dynasty, therefore he was downgraded to Prince Hoài (Hoài vương). According to '' Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư'', Thái Tông and his wife the Empress Chiêu Thánh did not have their first son for a while, this situation in the royal family made grand chancellor Trần Thủ Độ worried because he had profited the same circumstance of the Emperor Lý Huệ Tông to overthrow the Lý Dynasty. Therefore, in 1237 Trần Thủ Độ decided to force Trần Liễu to give up his wife Princess Thuận Thiên for the Emperor when she had been already pregnant with Trần Liễu for three months. After the royal marriage, Thuận Thiên was entitled the new empress of the Trần Dynasty while Chiêu Thánh was downgraded to princess. In the fury of losing his pregnant wife, Trần Liễu rose a revolt against the royal family, meanwhile, Thái Tông felt awkward about the situation and decided to become a monk in Yên Tử Mountain. Finally Trần Thủ Độ successfully persuaded Thái Tông to return to the throne and Trần Liễu had to surrender after judging that he could not stand with his fragile force. All soldiers who participated in this revolt were killed. Trần Thủ Độ even wished to behead Trần Liễu but was stopped by Thái Tông. After the revolt, Trần Liễu was granted land in Yên Sinh (now Yên Hưng District, Quảng Ninh) and thus had the title Prince Yên Sinh (Yên Sinh vương or An Sinh vương, 安生王). He died in April 1251 at the age of 40. Before his death, Trần Liễu made his son King Hưng Đạo

Trần Quốc Tuấn 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 ...

promise to revenge for him by taking over the throne but King Hưng Đạo did not keep this promise for the interest of Trần Dynasty.

Family

Trần Liễu had two wives. The first was Princess Thuận Thiên whom Trần Liễu was forced to give up for his brother Thái Tông. The second wife of Trần Liễu was Lady Thiện Đạo who was entitled as Mother of the Nation (Quốc mẫu), her given name Nguyệt afterwards was made as

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

by an order of the Emperor for the purpose of honouring Trần Liễu and his wife. Besides his natural son

Trần Quốc Khang Prince Tĩnh Quốc Trần Quốc Khang (1237–1300) was the first prince of the Emperor Trần Thái Tông, the eldest brother of Trần Thánh Tông and princes Trần Quang Khải, Trần Ích Tắc and Trần Nhật Duật. Although a son ...

who was Prince Tĩnh Quốc of Thái Tông, Trần Liễu had four children: * Trần Tung, who eventually became Tuệ Trung Thượng Sĩ, one of the most significant Buddhist masters of medieval Vietnam. * Prince Vũ Thành Trần Doãn who tried to defect with his family to

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 ...

after the death of Trần Liễu but was arrested in the border. * Prince Hưng Đạo

, commander in chief of

army during the second and third war of resistance against

. * Empress Nguyên Thánh Thiên Cảm (元聖天感皇后) Trần Thị Thiều, empress of

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 ...

and natural mother of

Trần Nhân Tông Trần Nhân Tông (7 December 1258–16 December 1308), personal name Trần Khâm, temple name Nhân Tông, was the third emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1278 to 1293. After ceding the throne to his son Tr� ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Lieu Trần dynasty princes Lý dynasty princes 1211 births 1251 deaths