This article lists the monarchs of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. Under the

emperor at home, king abroad Emperor at home, king abroad was a system of conducting relations between states within the Chinese cultural sphere. Rulers of lesser regimes would adopt the title of ''emperor'' (皇帝; or other equivalents) and/or other imperial titles domes ...

system used by later

dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...

, Vietnamese monarchs would use the title of ''

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

'' (皇帝, Hoàng đế; or other equivalents) domestically, and the more common term ''sovereign'' (𤤰, Vua), ''king'' (王, Vương), or ''his/her (Imperial) Majesty'' (陛下, Bệ hạ) elsewhere.

Overview

Some Vietnamese monarchs declared themselves kings (''vương'') or emperors (''hoàng đế''). Imperial titles were used for both domestic and foreign affairs, except for diplomatic missions to China where Vietnamese monarchs were regarded as kingship or prince. Many of the Later Lê monarchs were figurehead rulers, with the real powers resting on feudal lords and princes who were technically their servants. Most Vietnamese monarchs are known through their

posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary Personal name, name given mainly to revered dead people in East Asian cultural sphere, East Asian culture. It is predominantly used in Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. ...

s or

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 dynas ...

s, while the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

, the last reigning house is known through their

era names A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin 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 of rule, a t ...

Titles

Vietnamese titles

Vietnamese monarchs used and were referred to by many titles, depending on each ruler's prestige and favor. Except for legendary rulers and the Sinitic-speaking Zhao dynasty and the Early Ly dynasty, the most popular and common Vietnamese designation for ruler, ''vua'' 𪼀 (lit. sovereign, chieftain), according to Liam C. Kelley, is "largely based on a pure semantic association based on the benevolent feature associated to the 'father' (but, on the other hand, the image of the father may also be terrifying, strict, or even mean)." Because there is no elaborated Chinese character or any attempt to standardize the Sino-Vietnamese

Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

script to render ''vua,'' the title was rendered in different ways. ''Vua'' in Ancient Vietnamese (10th–15th centuries) is attested in the 14th-century Buddhist literature

Việt Điện U Linh Tập ''Việt Điện U Linh Tập'' ( vi-hantu, 粵甸幽靈集 or 越甸幽靈集 ) is a collection of Vietnamese history written in chữ Nho compiled by Lý Tế Xuyên in 1329. The English "Viet Realm" (or "Yue Territory") derives from alternat ...

as ''bùgài'' (布蓋) in Chinese or ''vua cái'' (great sovereign in Vietnamese), in 15th-century Buddhist scripture ''Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh'' as ''sībù'' (司布); in

Middle Vietnamese Vietnamese () is an Austroasiatic language spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the official language. It belongs to the Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is spoken natively by around 86 million people, and ...

(16th–17th centuries) as ''ꞗua'' or ''bua''; becoming ''vua'' in Early Modern Vietnamese (18-19th centuries) such as recorded by

Alexis-Marie de Rochon Alexis-Marie de Rochon, known as Abbé Rochon, was born in Brest, France on 21 February 1741, and died in Paris on 5 April 1817. He was a French astronomer, physicist and traveller. He worked on lens design and crystal optics, inventing the Ro ...

's ''A Voyage to Madagascar and the East Indies''. ''Vua'' is not found in any Vietnamese dynastic records which all were written in the lingua franca

Chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

through. According to Mark Alves, Vietnamese ''vua'' was seemingly a loan word borrowed from the

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...

form of title ''Wáng'' (王, king), ''*‍ɢʷaŋ'', to Proto-Viet-Muong. Frédéric Pain, however, insists that ''vua'' is from a completely indigenous Vietic lexicon, derived from

sesquisyllabic Primarily in Austroasiatic languages (also known as Mon–Khmer), in a typical word, a minor syllable, presyllable, or sesquisyllable, is a reduced (minor) syllable followed by a full tonic or stressed syllable. The minor syllable may be of the for ...

proto-Vietic ''*k.bɔ.'' p. 15 While the monarch was commonly referred vernacularly as ''vua,'' Vietnamese royal records and official ceremonial titles have used ''hoàng đế'' (emperor) or ''vương'' (king), which are Vietnamese renditions of Chinese royal titles ''Huángdì'' and ''Wáng'', since the time of

Đinh Bộ Lĩnh Đinh Bộ Lĩnh (924–979; ), real name allegedly Đinh Hoàn ( 丁桓), was the founding emperor of the short-lived Đinh dynasty of Vietnam, after declaring its independence from the Chinese Southern Han dynasty. He was a significant figur ...

. They were employed to show the Vietnamese monarchs' credence, and the latter was used in tributary relations with the Chinese empires without being considered a Chinese subject. Buddhism exerted influence on a number of Vietnamese royal titles, such as when the late 12th-century devout Buddhist king

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 co ...

(r. 1176–1210) demanded his courtiers to refer him as ''phật'' (Buddha). His great-grandfather and predecessor

Lý Nhân Tông Lý Nhân Tông (22 February 1066 – 15 January 1128), personal name Lý Càn Đức, temple name Nhân Tông was the fourth emperor of the Lý dynasty, ruling the empire of Đại Việt from 1072 until his death in 1128. Succeeding his fat ...

(r. 1072–1127), a great patronizer of the Buddhist sangha, in his stelae inscription erected in 1121, compared himself and his accomplishments with ancient rulers of the Indian subcontinent near the time of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

, particularly king

Udayana Udayana, (Devanagari: उदयन) also known as Udayanācārya (Udyanacharya, or Master Udayana), (circa 975 - 1050 CE) was an Indian philosopher and logician of the tenth century of the Nyaya school who attempted to devise a rational theolog ...

and emperor

Aśoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was Emperor of Magadha from until his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynasty. His empire covered a large pa ...

Cham titles

Cham rulers of the former kingdom of Champa in present-day Central and Southern Vietnam used many titles, mostly derived from Hindu Sanskrit titles. There were prefix titles, among them, ''Jaya'' and ''Śrī'', which ''Śrī'' (His glorious, His Majesty) was used more commonly before each ruler's name, and sometimes ''Śrī'' and ''Jaya'' were combined into ''Śrī Jaya'' onarch name Royal titles were used to indicate the power and prestige of rulers: ''raja-di-raja'' (king of kings), ''maharajadhiraja'' (great king of kings), ''arddharaja'' (vice king/junior king). After the fall of

Vijaya Vijaya may refer to: Places * Vijaya (Champa), a city-state and former capital of the historic Champa in what is now Vietnam * Vijayawada, a city in Andhra Pradesh, India People * Prince Vijaya of Sri Lanka (fl. 543–505 BC), earliest recorde ...

Champa and the Simhavarmanid dynasty in 1471, all Sanskrit titles disappeared from Cham records, due to southern Panduranga rulers styled themselves as ''Po'' (native Cham title, which also means "King, His Majesty, Her Majesty"), and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

gradually replaced

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

in post-1471 Champa.

Ancient period

Hồng Bàng period

According to tradition there were eighteen of the

Hùng king Hùng king (2879 BC – 258 BC; Chữ Hán: 雄王; (雄王) or ''vua Hùng'' (𤤰雄); ''Vương'' means "king" and ''vua'' means "monarch; could mean emperor or king") is the title given to the ancient Vietnamese rulers of the Hồng Bàng dy ...

s of the Hồng Bàng period, known then as Văn Lang at that time, from around 2879 BC to around 258 BC. Following is the list of 18 lines of Hùng kings as recorded in the book ''

Việt Nam sử lược ( vi-hantu, 越南史略, , lit. "Outline History of Vietnam"), was the first history text published in the Vietnamese language and the Vietnamese alphabet. It was compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Kim. It covered the period from ...

'' by

Trần Trọng Kim Trần Trọng Kim (; chữ Hán: 陳仲金, Kanji pronunciation: ''Chin Jūkin''; ; 1883 – December 2, 1953; courtesy name Lệ Thần (, chữ Hán: 隸臣) was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the sho ...

Thục dynasty (257–207 BC)

Triệu dynasty (204–111 BC)

There is still a debate about the status of the Triệu dynasty (Zhao dynasty): traditional Vietnamese historians considered the Triệu dynasty as a local Vietnamese dynasty while modern Vietnamese historians typically consider the Triệu dynasty as a Chinese dynasty.Yoshikai Masato, "Ancient Nam Viet in historical descriptions",
Southeast Asia: a historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor
', Volume 2, ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 934.

1st, 2nd, 3rd Chinese domination period (111 BC - 939 AD)

Trưng Sisters (40–43)

Mai rebellions (713–723)

Phùng rebellions (766–791)

Early Lý dynasty (544–602)

Đào Lang Vương is not officially considered as emperor of Early Lý dynasty as he was a self-claimed emperor.

Autonomous period (866–938) & Independent period (938–1407)

Tĩnh Hải quân Tĩnh Hải quân or Jinghai Circuit ( Chinese: 靜海軍, pinyin: Jìnghǎi Jūn) (literally "Peaceful Sea Army"), also known as Annan or An Nam (), was an administrative division of the Tang dynasty of China administered by Chinese governors, ...
(866–938)

At this time, the Khúc leaders still held the title of Jiedushi, hence they are not official kings of Vietnam.

Ngô dynasty (939–965)

Interregnum (965-968)

Warring states period

The throne of Ngô dynasty was upsurged by Dương Tam Kha, the brother-in-law of Ngô Quyền and this led to anger among those who were loyal to Ngô dynasty. The local warlords decided to make the rebellions to claim the throne.

State of Đại Cồ Việt (968–1054) & State of Đại Việt (1054–1400, 1427–1804)

Đinh dynasty (968–980)

Early Lê dynasty (980–1009)

Later Lý dynasty (1009–1225)

Trần dynasty (1225–1400)

State of Đại Ngu (1400–1407)

Hồ dynasty (1400–1407)

Fourth Chinese domination period (1407–1428)

Later Trần dynasty (1407–1414)

Second independent period (1428–1802)

Later Lê dynasty – Early period (1428–1527)

Northern and Southern dynasty (1533–1592)

Northern dynasty – Mạc dynasty (1527–1592)

Southern dynasty – Revival Lê dynasty – Warlord period (1533–1789)

Tonkin – Trịnh lords (1545–1787)

Trịnh Kiểm never declared himself as Lord during his rule, his titles were posthumously given by his descendants. Hence he is not considered as an official Trịnh Lord.

Cochinchina – Nguyễn lords (1558–1777)

Nguyễn Phúc Dương was established by Tây Sơn leaders (

Nguyễn Nhạc Nguyễn Nhạc ( vi-hantu, 阮岳, born 1743, died 1793) was the founder of the Tây Sơn dynasty, reigning from 1778 to 1788. From 1778 to 1788, Nguyễn Nhạc proclaimed himself Emperor Thái Đức ( vi-hantu, 泰德). In 1788 after his ...

Nguyễn Huệ Emperor Quang Trung (; vi-hantu, 光中, 1753 – 16 September 1792) or Nguyễn Huệ ( vi-hantu, 阮惠), also known as Nguyễn Quang Bình ( vi-hantu, 阮光平), or Hồ Thơm (chữ Hán: 胡𦹳) was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn dy ...

and

Nguyễn Lữ Nguyễn Lữ ( vi-hantu, 阮侶; died 1787), also known by the title of Đông Định vương (東定王, "king of Eastern Conquering"), was one of the Tây Sơn brothers who formed short-lived Tây Sơn dynasty of Vietnam. Biography Lữ had t ...

) as a puppet Nguyễn Lord for their political purpose during Tây Sơn uprising. Hence he is sometimes not considered as an official Nguyễn lord.

Tây Sơn dynasty (1778–1802)

Nguyễn Nhạc dropped his emperor title in 1788 after his younger brother – Nguyễn Huệ – declared himself as Emperor.

Empire of Dai Nam (1802–1883), Annam and Tonkin Protectorates (1883–1945), and Empire of Vietnam (1945)