Trần Thừa ( Hán tự: 陳承, 1184–1234) was the head of the Trần clan and a high-ranking mandarin during the reign of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. After the overthrow of the Lý dynasty by

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 ...

, Trần Thừa's second son Trần Cảnh was enthroned as

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 Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First 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 Thá ...

. Being the Emperor's father, Trần Thừa was honoured by the title

Retired Emperor Retired Emperor, Grand Emperor, or Emperor Emeritus is a title occasionally used by the monarchical regimes in the Sinosphere for former emperors who had (at least in name) abdicated voluntarily to another member of the same clan, usually their s ...

and given the

temple name Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dyna ...

Trần Thái Tổ ( 陳太祖) after his death. He was thus the first retired emperor of the Trần dynasty and the only one who had not held the throne. __TOC__

History

Trần Thừa was born in 1184 as the first son of Trần Lý who made his great fortune by fishing in Lưu Gia village (now Hưng Hà,

Thái Bình Thái Bình City () is a city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Thái Bình Province. The city is located 110 km from Hanoi. The city area is 67.7 square km, with a population of 210,000 people (2006). History ...

). 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 restored 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 the 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

after the death of

, and by then Trần clan's position began to rise in the royal court. Trần Tự Khánh was renowned as a skilled general in battle, and he had a significant part in pacifying many revolts in the country, so the Emperor since entrusted him with the role of Regent and his brother Trần Thừa was also nominated for the position of court servant in December 1216. As a result, power in royal court gradually fell into the hands of the Trần clan. After the death of Trần Tự Khánh in 1223, Trần Thừa was appointed for the highest military position in the royal court while his cousin

took charge of the royal guard. In October 1224, Lý Huệ Tông decided to cede the throne to his daughter, the Princess Chiêu Thánh, now the Empress Regnant

. 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, Trần Thủ Độ arranged a marriage between Chiêu Hoàng and

Trần Cảnh 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 ...

, the eight-year-old son of Trần Thừa. With Trần Cảnh being the Empress Regnant's husband, Trần Thủ Độ was finally able to overthrow the Lý dynasty by making Lý Chiêu Hoàng pass the throne to Trần Cảnh, now

, in 1225. After the coronation of his son, Trần Thừa acted as Regent of the Emperor but it was Trần Thủ Độ who decided both military and civil activities in royal court. In October 1226, Trần Thừa was honoured by the title

as Trần Thái Tổ, the first retired emperor of the Trần dynasty. Unlike other retired emperors of the Trần dynasty, who usually co-ruled with the reigning emperor, Trần Thái Tổ only held the honorary title of Retired Emperor while grand chancellor Trần Thủ Độ took charge of restoring order in the royal court and put down the tough revolt of

Nguyễn Nộn 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 ...

and

Đoàn Thượng Duan ( zh, c=段, p=Duàn; ; vi, Đoàn) is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin that can be found in China, Vietnam and Korea. Notable people Mainland China * Duan Sui (died 386), a ruler of the Xianbei state Western Yan * Duan Ye (died ...

. Thái Tổ died on January 18 of the

Lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...

, 1234 at the age of 51, and was buried in Thọ Lăng with the

posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments ...

Khai Vận Lập Cực Hoằng Nhân Ứng Đạo Thuần Chân Chí Đức Thần Vũ Thánh Văn Thùy Dụ Chí Hiếu Hoàng Đế.

Family

Trần Thái Tổ had one wife whose family name was Lê but given name was unknown. He had four sons and two daughters: * Prince An Sinh

Trần Liễu Prince Yên Sinh Trần Liễu (1211–1251) was the elder brother of the Trần Thái Tông, the first emperor of Trần Dynasty. Initially, Trần Liễu was honoured by his younger brother with the title King Hiển (Vietnamese: Hiển Ho ...

who was father of Prince 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 ...

* Trần Cảnh who became

, the first emperor of the Trần dynasty * Prince Khâm Thiên

Trần Nhật Hiệu 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 ...

* Prince Hoài Đức Trần Triệt who was son of another wife of Trần Thái Tổ. He was initially forsaken by Thái Tổ and only received the title Prince Hoài Đức in 1232 by an order of Trần Thái Tông. * Princess Thụy Bà * Princess Thiên Thành

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * , - style="text-align: center;" , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Thua 1184 births 1234 deaths T Lý dynasty generals