![Baron of An-Phước logo (1943)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Baron_of_An-Ph%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc_logo_%281943%29.png)
During
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 ...
's monarchial period, the Vietnamese nobility (tước) were classified into eleven classes, with names similar to their
Chinese equivalent. These are listed here from the highest to the lowest, along with their equivalent
European titles.
Terminology
Sovereigns
![Empire of Vietnam yellow stamp - www](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Empire_of_Vietnam_yellow_stamp_-_www.khanhvanweb.com_%281945%29.jpg)
Sovereign rulers (both Emperors and Kings) in general are referred to in
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 ...
as ''Vua'' (君, 𢁨, 𢂜, 𢃊, 𤤰, 𪻟, 𪼀, , ). This term, which can also be interpreted as "
Patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
", has no equivalent in Chinese languages, but comes from the indigenous Vietnamese vernacular and therefore had to be written in Nôm when used in court documents (which were typically written in Hán, i.e.
classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
).
[Alexander Barton Woodside: ''Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century'', ]Harvard University Asia Center
The Harvard University Asia Center is an interdisciplinary research and education unit of Harvard University, established on July 1, 1997, with the goal of "driving varied programs focusing on international relations in Asia and comparative studi ...
, Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
, Cambridge, MA
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
1988, S. 10
The Vietnamese monarchs usually carried the titles ''Vua'' and ''
Hoàng Đế'' (皇帝) in parallel, with the former predominating among the general Vietnamese people and the latter at the imperial court.
Lords
Both the
Trịnh
Trịnh is a Vietnamese family name, which is also common in some countries such as Korea (Jung, Jeong). A considerable portion of families that bear the surname Trinh are ethnically Vietnamese.
Notable people
*Trịnh Như Khuê, First Cardina ...
and
Nguyễn lords
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 su ...
, who nominally ruled the country from the 16th to the 18th century under the ''
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...
'' control of 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 ...
, used the title ''Chúa'' (主, "lord" / "prince"), which is outside of the classical hierarchy of nobility, this title is considered to be higher than ''Công'' and lower than ''Vương''.
[K. W. Taylor: ''A History of the Vietnamese'', ]Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, 2013, S. 652 (Table 7).
History
The use of noble titles has existed in China since ancient times and the system of nobility used in Vietnam until 1945 dates back to the
Zhou dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
(Châu dynasty).
The system of nobility employed by the
Later Lê dynasty
Later may refer to:
* Future, the time after the present
Television
* ''Later'' (talk show), a 1988–2001 American talk show
* '' Later... with Jools Holland'', a British music programme since 1992
* ''The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts'', or ...
and later were directly based on the
Chinese system used during the
Ming dynasty
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 ...
period, this system would remain to be used in Vietnam until 1945 (as the
August Revolution
The August Revolution ( vi, Cách-mạng tháng Tám), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution launched by the Việt Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) against the Empire of Vietnam and the Empire of Japan in ...
overthrew 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, ...
), but had actually ceased in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in 1911 due to the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...
.
The noble titles of Vietnam can be divided into two categories:
(A) Six titles which exclusively reserved for princes of imperial blood were, in ancient China, these were devolved to kings and tributary princes, as well as twelve other less important titles intended for the descendants of princes of imperial blood, with a reduction of "one degree for each successive generation".
And (B) Five titles of nobility reserved for
mandarins, regardless of origin (related to the Emperor or of popular origin), to reward merits, and, more particularly, military merits. These were given the five titles of "Công" (公), "Hầu" (侯), "Bá" (伯), "Tử" (子), and "Nam" (男).
Noble titles from both category A and B are transmissible to the eldest son of the nobleman, with a decrease of one degree with each successive generation.
After the establishment of protectorates over the Nguyễn dynasty by the
French in the form of
Annam and
Tonkin
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
the terminology used in the table above (as "European equivalent") was used by the French to designate dignitaries endowed with titles of nobility.
While no protocol has regulated the matter of these designations, over 50 years of use have definitively enshrined these terms for translating Vietnamese noble titles.
Symbols
Seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
and other symbolic objects were also given to people after they received a noble title.
For example after
Léon Sogny received the title of "
Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
of An Bình" (安平男) in the year
Bảo Đại
Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...
14 (保大拾肆年, 1939) he was also given a golden seal and a ''
Kim Bài'' (金牌) with his noble title on it. The seal had the
seal script
Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of seal ...
inscription ''An Bình Nam chi ấn'' (安平男之印).
List of French people who have received a Vietnamese noble title during the French protectorate period
After the French had established two protectorates in Vietnam, and by analogy with what was done for the Mandarins, titles of nobility were awarded by the Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty to high-ranking French colonial officials.
These noble titles which, formerly giving certain rights and privileges to the Vietnamese that received them, by the 1930s were reduced to being merely a simple pension, were considered to be purely honorary for the French officers who received them.
In fact they would usually just receive a patent and a ''Kim Bài'' on which the title was engraved in
Traditional Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took at ...
.
Between the years 1885 and 1936 a total of 22 noble titles were awarded by the Vietnamese Emperor to
French people
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.
The French people, especially the nati ...
.
This group of people include a French minister, an admiral, two generals, nine governors general of Indochina, and nine senior residents of Annam.
List of senior French officials to whom a noble title had been awarded by the Imperial Court of the Nguyễn dynasty between 1885 and 1937:
See also
*
Chinese nobility
The nobility of China was an important feature of the traditional social structure of Ancient China and Imperial China.
While the concepts of hereditary sovereign and peerage titles and noble families were featured as early as the semi-mythi ...
**
Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty (1636–1912) of China developed a complicated peerage system for royal and noble ranks.
Rule of inheritance
In principle, titles were downgraded one grade for each generation of inheritance.
* Direct imperial princes with ...
*
Kazoku
The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution.
Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...
*
Korean nobility Korean monarchy existed in Korea until the end of the Japanese occupation and the defeat of Japan. After the independence and the installation of the Constitution that adopted republic system, the concept of nobility has been abolished, both formal ...
**
Styles and titles in the Joseon dynasty During the Joseon Dynasty royal titles and styles (forms of address) had been extensive and complex. The general title of the king was ''wang'' (왕, 王) until Gojong of Korea crowned himself ''hwangje'' (황제, 皇帝), or emperor, a title that ...
*
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 ...
References
Further reading
*R. B. Smith (1974). "Politics and Society in Viet-Nam during the Early Nguyen Period (1802–62)". ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', 106 (2), pp 153–69.
External links
*
{{Nobility by nation
*Nobility