Trần Cảo (陳暠, d. after 1525) or Trần Cao (陳高), was an early 16th-century Vietnamese rebel leader. Cảo born in Dưỡng Chân, Thuỷ Đường (present day Thuỷ Nguyên, Hải Phòng).Thien Do ''Vietnamese Supernaturalism: Views from the Southern Region'' 2012 Page 54 "In 1516. Trần Cảo led an uprising in support of his claim to be a descendant of a Trần king and also a reincarnation of the god Indra. His army managed to capture the capital briefly and forced the Lê king to flee south.145 Trần Cảo's first base ..."

Early life

Details of Cảo's early life are unknown except that he was a low-ranking mandarin of Lê Dynasty and he claimed himself the descendant of 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 ...

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 ...

and related with mother 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 ...

, empress Quang Thục.

Rebellion

In March 1516, Cảo proclaimed himself "Đế Thích giáng trần" (''"incarnation of Śakra"'') and recruited fighters at Quynh Lam Pagoda in Đông Triều, a religious site reputed to have miraculous powers. After shaving their heads, he marched them unopposed, ten thousand strong, through the Kinh Bac districts of Que Duong and Tiên Du down to the plains of

Gia Lâm ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth Mi ...

to Từ Liêm in Sơn Tây Province. In May 1516, Cảo's force captured

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 ...

and forced emperor

Lê Chiêu Tông Lê Chiêu Tông ( 黎昭宗, 4 October 1506 – 18 December 1526; also called Lê Y, 黎椅 or 黎譓) was an emperor of the Lê dynasty of Vietnam who ruled from 1516 to 1526. He was the son of Lê Sùng and nephew of the preceding king ...

flee to Tay Do. Thereafter, the Lê loyalists attacked and recaptured Thăng Long and made Cảo retreat back to his Hai Duong-Kinh Bac border stronghold. Then, a long war was resulted between the Lê loyalists and Cảo's rebels. Before 1525, the year of Trần Cảo rebellion's ultimate defeat, Cảo unexpectedly gave his commanding post to his son, Tran Cung (or Tran Thang), and then became a monk. From this point on, no further information was recorded about Trần Cảo.

References

* *
''Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu''
(Complete history record of Great Viet), part Kỷ thực lục, book XVI.

Early life

Rebellion

References

Further reading