Trần Thuận Tông (1378 – April 1399), given name Trần Ngung, was the eleventh emperor 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 Thái T ...

who reigned 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 ...

from 1388 to 1398. He was chosen to succeed to this position by his father, the Retired Emperor

Trần Nghệ Tông Trần Nghệ Tông ( vi-hantu, 陳藝宗, December 1321 – 15 December 1394), given name Trần Phủ (陳暊), was the eighth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Vietnam from 1370 to 1372. Biography As prince Nghệ Tông was born in 132 ...

, after Nghệ Tông decided to dethrone and force

Trần Phế Đế Trần Phế Đế (6 March 1361 – 6 December 1388), 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, Ph� ...

to commit suicide. Although holding the position emperor for ten years and retired emperor for one more year, Thuận Tông's reign was totally under the control of Nghệ Tông and

Hồ Quý Ly Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, born 1336) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and a milit ...

. It was Hồ Quý Ly who obliged Thuận Tông to change the capital from Thăng Long 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 ...

, Hồ Quý Ly was also responsible for the resignation of Thuận Tông as emperor and his death afterward. Only one year after Thuận Tông's death, the Trần dynasty collapsed while Hồ Quý Ly established his own dynasty, the

Hồ dynasty The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡； Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hồ triều, chữ Hán:'' 胡朝) was a short-lived Vietnamese dynasty consisting of the reigns of two monarchs, Hồ Quý Ly (胡季犛) in 1400–01 and his second so ...

Background

Thuận Tông was born in 1378 as Trần Ngung, youngest son of the Retired Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông, and his wife, the Queen Thục Đức. After the dethronement and forced suicide of

in December 1387, Prince Chiêm Định Trần Ngung, only ten at that time, was chosen by his father for the position of successor as Trần Thuận Tông. The new

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 o ...

under Thuận Tông's reign was Quang Thái (光泰, 1388–1398).

As emperor

Although being the Emperor of Vietnam, Phế Đế only reigned in name because it was Nghệ Tông and Hồ Quý Ly who held the real power. In January 1389, Thuận Tông married the eldest daughter of Hồ Quý Ly as Queen Thánh Ngâu. Less than one year from Thuận Tông's coronation, Chế Bồng Nga continued to attack Đại Việt in October 1389. Under the command of Hồ Quý Ly, Đại Việt's army suffered a heavy defeat in Thanh Hóa which made Hồ Quý Ly fled from the battle and left the position for his subordinate.Maspero, G., 2002, The Champa Kingdom, Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., After this event, Hồ Quý Ly resigned from the military leader and general Trần Khát Chân was appointed by Nghệ Tông to take charge of stopping Champa. In January 1390, Trần Khát Chân had a decisive victory over Champa which resulted in the death of Chế Bồng Nga and thus the stable situation in southern border of Đại Việt. At home, Trần's dynasty also had to face with several revolts ignited by famine and Chế Bồng Nga's stimulation. In December 1389, the revolt led by monk Phạm Sư Ôn even attacked Thăng Long and forced Nghệ Tông and Thuận Tông flee to

Bắc Giang Bắc Giang () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Bắc Giang Province. Its name, deriving from that of the Province Sino-Vietnamese, means "north of the river." The location is very convenient for transportation: it is 50 km north ...

before general Phụ Thế brought his troops from the front line with Champa back to pacify the revolt and kill Phạm Sư Ôn. During the reign of Thuận Tông, Hồ Quý Ly gradually eliminated all opponents in the royal court such as Nguyễn Đa Phương, who was forced to commit suicide in 1389, Prince Trang Định Trần Ngạc, who was killed by order of Quý Ly in 1391 or Trần Nhật Chương who was killed after Nghệ Tông's decision in 1392. Trần Nghệ Tông deceased on December 15 of Lunar calendar, 1394 at the age of 73 and left the royal court in the total control of Hồ Quý Ly. He began to reform the administrative and examination systems of the Trần dynasty and eventually obliged Thuận Tông to change the capital from Thăng Long to

in January 1397. On March 15 of Lunar calendar, 1398, under pressure of Hồ Quý Ly, Thuận Tông, had to cede the throne to his three-year-old son Trần An, now

Trần Thiếu Đế Trần Thiếu Đế ( vi-hantu, 陳少帝, 1396–?), was the twelfth and the last emperor of the Trần dynasty who reigned over Vietnam from 1398 to 1400. Biography Trần Thiếu Đế's name (𤇼 / Yên) was suggested by ''Khâm định Vi� ...

, and held the title Retired Emperor at age 20. According to the '' Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư'', actually Hồ Quý Ly wanted to overthrow Thuận Tông but before his death, Nghệ Tông made Quý Ly promise him supporting the Emperor therefore Hồ Quý Ly decided to force Thuận Tông resign before taking over the throne from the new emperor. Finally, Hồ Quý Ly ordered a general to kill Thuận Tông in 1399 and buried the Retired Emperor in Yên Sinh Lăng. Two powerful figures in the royal court—Trần Khát Chân and Trần Hãng—were also killed not long after the death of Thuận Tông and the Trần dynasty collapsed in 1400 when Hồ Quý Ly established his own dynasty, the

Family

Trần Thuận Tông had one wife, Queen Thánh Ngâu who was Hồ Quý Ly's daughter and one son, Crown Prince Trần AnHis given name (An, 𤇼) was suggested by authors of ''

Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục The ''Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục'' ( vi-hantu, 欽定越史通鑑綱目, lit. "The Imperially Ordered Annotated Text Completely Reflecting the History of Viet") was a history of Vietnam commissioned by the emperor Tự Đ� ...

'', the official historical book of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

, because they could not find the exact Chinese character for this sovereign. who became the emperor

, the last emperor of the Trần dynasty.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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