Empress Thuận Thiên (Lý Oánh 李莹) (1216–1248) was the second empress of

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: triều Trần, chữ Hán: ikt:朝ikt:陳, 朝wikt:陳, 陳), officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was a List ...

, she succeeded her younger sister Empress Chiêu Thánh in 1237 by an arrangement of

Trần Thủ Độ Prince Trung Vũ 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. He was the chief mastermind between the overthrowal the L� ...

in which Prince Hoài

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

was forced to give up his 3-month pregnant wife Princess Thuận Thiên to the Emperor

Trần Thái Tông Trần Thái Tông (17 July 1218 – 5 May 1277), Vietnamese name, 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 R ...

. Thuận Thiên was born in the royal family of the

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...

as the first child of the Emperor

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 fami ...

and Lady Thuận Trinh

Trần Thị Dung National Matriarch Linh Từ ( Vietnamese: Linh Từ Quốc mẫu, chữ Hán: 靈慈國母) Trần Thị Dung (1193 /sup>–1259) was the last empress and the last empress mother of the Lý dynasty. She was entitled by the Emperor Lý H ...

with whom she witnessed the turbulent time of the Late Lý and Early Trần Dynasty. She was mother of four princes including the second emperor of the Trần Dynasty

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, Th ...

and grand chancellor 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 cha ...

Biography

Thuận Thiên was born as Lý Ngọc Oanh, entitled as Princess Thuận Thiên, the first child of the Emperor

and his wife Lady Thuận Trinh

. Thuận Thiên was born not in royal palace but in Cửu Liên Marsh (now

Yên Mỹ District Yên Mỹ ən˧˧:miʔi˧˥is a former Huyện, rural district of Hưng Yên province in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam. History Yên Mỹ was the Huyện, district-level administrative unit what was established at the latest in the Red ...

Hưng Yên Hưng Yên () is a city in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam. It is the old capital of Hưng Yên Province and is a third-graded city according to Vietnam's urban classification table. History Hưng Yên city was originally the expansion ...

) in June 1216 when Lý Huệ Tông and Lady Thuận Trinh escaped capital Thăng Long to the garrison of general

Trần Tự Khánh Marquis Chương Thành Trần Tự Khánh (1175 – 3 January 1224) was a general of the Lý dynasty during the reigns of Lý Cao Tông and Lý Huệ Tông. He was son of Trần Lý, head of the Trần clan, and brother of Trần Thừa and Trầ ...

, Trần Thị Dung's brother, in order to avoid the intention of killing Lady Thuận Trinh by Empress Mother Đàm who always distrusted her as a member of the powerful Trần clan. Thuận Thiên had a younger sister, Princess Chiêu Thánh, who ultimately became the Empress Regnant

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 ...

, the last emperor of the

. During the reign of Huệ Tông and Chiêu Hoàng, Thuận Thiên married to Prince Phụng Càn (

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

: Phụng Càn vương)

who was her cousin. In 1226, the Trần clan took over the throne of the Lý Dynasty and created the

, as a result the Empress Regnant Lý Chiêu Hoàng was downgraded to Empress Chiêu Thánh of the Emperor

while Chiêu Hoàng and Thuận Thiên's father, Lý Hiển Tông was forced by grand chancellor

to commit suicide in 1226. According to ''Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư'', Thái Tông and his wife the Empress Chiêu Thánh did not have their first son for a while, this situation in royal family made grand chancellor Trần Thủ Độ worried because he had profited the same circumstance of the Emperor Lý Huệ Tông to overthrow the Lý dynasty. Therefore, in 1237 Trần Thủ Độ decided to force Trần Liễu to give up his wife Princess Thuận Thiên for the Emperor when she had been already pregnant with

Trần Quốc Khang Prince Tĩnh Quốc Trần Quốc Khang (1237–1300) was the first prince of the Emperor Trần Thái Tông, the eldest brother of Trần Thánh Tông and princes Trần Quang Khải, Trần Ích Tắc and Trần Nhật Duật. Although a son ...

for three months. After the royal marriage, Thuận Thiên was entitled the new empress of the Trần Dynasty while Chiêu Thánh was downgraded to princess. In the fury of losing his pregnant wife, Trần Liễu rose a revolt against the royal family, meanwhile Thái Tông felt awkward about the situation and decided to become a monk in Yên Tử Mountain. Finally Trần Thủ Độ successfully persuaded Thái Tông to return to the throne and Trần Liễu had to surrender after judging that he could not stand with his fragile force. All soldiers who participated in this revolt were killed, Trần Thủ Độ even wanted to behead Trần Liễu but was stopped by Thái Tông. Vietnamese historians in feudal era such as

Ngô Sĩ Liên Ngô Sĩ Liên (吳士連) was a Vietnamese historian of the Lê dynasty. Biography Ngô Sĩ Liên was the main compiler of the '' Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', a chronicle of the history of Vietnam and a historical record of an Annamese ...

Phan Phu Tiên Phan Phu Tiên (chữ Hán: 潘孚先, 1370–1482), was a Vietnamese scholar-official and historian. He was charged by Lê Nhân Tông with writing the annals of the preceding Tran dynasty.Joseph Nguyen Huy Lai La tradition religieuse spirituell ...

often criticized decisions of Trần Thủ Độ and Trần Thái Tông in this event and considered it as origin for the downfall of the Trần Dynasty afterwards during the reign of

Trần Dụ Tông Trần Dụ Tông ( vi-hantu, 陳裕宗, 22 November 1336 – 25 May 1369), given name Trần Hạo (陳暭), was the seventh emperor of the Trần dynasty, and reigned over Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietna ...

. Empress Thuận Thiên died in June 1248 at the age of 32. She was posthumously entitled as Empress Mother Hiển Từ Thuận Thiên (Hiển Từ Thuận Thiên Hoàng thái hậu).

Clan

With her first husband Trần Liễu, Thuận Thiên had two children, Prince Vũ Thành Trần Doãn, who unsuccessfully tried to escape to the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

after the death of her mother, and Prince Tĩnh Quốc

. Empress Thuận Thiên also gave birth for Trần Thái Tông two princes,

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

Trần Hoảng Trần (陳) or Tran is the second most common Vietnamese surname after Nguyen. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. History The Tran ruled the Trần dynasty, a golden era in Vietnam, and successfully repelled the Mongol ...

, who eventually became the Emperor

, and Prince Chiêu Minh

who was grand chancellor in royal court of the Trần Dynasty for many years.

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thuan, Thien 1216 births 1248 deaths Lý dynasty princesses Trần dynasty empresses Trần dynasty princesses 13th-century Vietnamese women 13th-century Vietnamese people People from Hưng Yên province