Marquis Hoài Văn Trần Quốc Toản ( vi-hantu, , born 1267, fl. 1267–1285) was a marquis 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 ...

who was well known for his active role in the second war of resistance of

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 ...

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 ...

. Although there were only a few historical records about Trần Quốc Toản, he is still 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 ...

while he participated and ultimately sacrificed himself for the country at a very young age. Today, story about Trần Quốc Toản is taught in Vietnamese schoolbooks and many places in Vietnam are named in honour of this young 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 Hoài Văn (

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 ...

: Hoài Văn hầu) Trần Quốc Toản was born in 1267 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 ...

. In 1279, the Yuan Dynasty had the 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 ...

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 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

or Champa. It was said that facing threat from the north, in October 1282, the Retired Emperor Trần Thánh Tông and the Emperor

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� ...

gathered all members of royal family, the Trần clan and officials in royal court in Bình Than to discuss about the unadvoidable war. Although being a member of the royal family, Trần Quốc Toản was not invited because the 16-year-old marquis was too young to be considered in the meeting. As a result, Marquis Hoài Văn felt so ashamed and stimulated that he crushed an orange (given to him by the Emperor in recognition of his courage and valor despite his youth) with his own hand and began to mobilize his house servants and relatives for the purpose of fighting against the Yuan Dynasty. Eventually, Trần Quốc Toản was able to form an army of over one thousand soldiers and he created himself a flag with six

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

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 ...

, in his work '' Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư'', did not have an extensive account about Trần Quốc Toản; the historian only acknowledged that Marquis Hoài Văn's troops always fought bravely against the army of the Yuan Dynasty so that they had to retreat when facing Trần Quốc Toản. In the victory of Đại Việt over Mongol general Sogetu's navy in the

Battle of Hàm Tử A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in April 1285, Marquis Hoài Văn was one of the main commanders of Đại Việt's army besides Prince Chiêu Văn

Trần Nhật Duật Prince Chiêu Văn Trần Nhật Duật (1255–1330) was the sixth son of Trần Thái Tông, first emperor of Trần Dynasty. Being younger brother of the Emperor Trần Thánh Tông, Trần Nhật Duật was one of the most important figur ...

, Prince Chiêu Thành and general

Nguyễn Khoái 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 s ...

. On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month (June 14) 1285, Trần Quốc Toản continued to fight under the command of Prince Chiêu Minh

Trần Quang Khải Prince Chiêu Minh Trần Quang Khải (1241–1294) was the third son of Trần Thái Tông, first emperor of the Trần dynasty of Vietnam. Being the younger brother of the Emperor Trần Thánh Tông and holding the position of grand ch ...

in the decisive

Battle of Chương Dương The Battle of Chương Dương (1285) was a battle between joint Cham–Vietnamese forces led by Prince Trần Quốc Tuấn and Duke Trần Quang Khải against the Mongol-led Yuan force under the Mongol general Sogetu in late June 1285. The ...

in which Sogetu's navy was almost destroyed and Kublai Khan's prince Toghon ''(Vietnamese: Thoát Hoan)'' 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 ...

to northern border. The circumstance of Marquis Hoài Văn's death was not written in Vietnamese accounts but was narrated 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 ...

''. In the words of "Story of Annam" in ''History of Yuan'', Trần Quốc Toản commanded his troops pursuing the Yuan army along their retreat route. During this period, Đại Việt and the Yuan Dynasty had a battle near the Như Nguyệt River (now the Cầu River) where Trần Quốc Toản was appointed to command the troops by the order of

(named Trần Nhật Huyên in the Yuan account) and was ultimately killed in battle. In fact, it is possible that the Yuan Dynasty confused Hoài Văn Hầu Trần Quốc Toản with Hoài Nhân Vương Trần Quốc Kiện. The person who was killed in Như Nguyệt River was Hoài Nhân Vương Trần Quốc Kiện, not Hoài Văn Hầu Trần Quốc Toản. Because the battle at Tây Kết then killed Toa Đô, Hoài Văn Hầu Trần Quốc Toản also participated and was also rewarded after the second great victory over Mongolia. Not to mention in Việt Sử Kỷ Yếu of the 3rd Mongol battle, Hoài Văn Hầu Trần Quốc Toản is also recorded as helping Nhân Huệ Vương Trần Khánh Dư fend off the attack of Ô Mã Nhi in Vân Đồn wharf. In the ensuing battle of Bạch Đằng river, Hoài Văn Hầu Trần Quốc Toản also contributed to capturing enemy general Ô Mã Nhi. After knowing the death of Trần Quốc Toản, the Emperor mourned for the marquis by his own funeral oration and posthumously entitled him as Prince Hoài Văn (Hoài Văn vương).

Legacy

Today, Trần Quốc Toản is still considered as one of the finest examples of Vietnamese patriotism, especially for the young generation. Stories about his spirit and action are taught in schoolbooks of several grades while many streets, schools and gymnasiums in Vietnam are named in honour of this young hero. Trần Quốc Toản is also the main character of several historical novels, including '' Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng'' (''The flag embroidered with six golden characters'') by

Nguyễn Huy Tưởng Nguyễn Huy Tưởng (làng Dục Tú, Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh, 6 May 1912 – 25 July 1960) was a Vietnamese revolutionary, writer and playwright. He joined the independence movement at a young age and held positions in the cultural apparatus of t ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Quoc Toan Trần dynasty princes Trần dynasty marquises Trần dynasty generals 1267 births 1285 deaths