Prince Chiêu Minh Trần Quang Khải (1241–1294) was the third son of
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 ...
,
first emperor of the
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 ...
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 ...
. Being the younger brother 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, Th ...
and holding the position of grand chancellor of the Trần dynasty for many years, Trần Quang Khải was one of the most important figures of the Trần family and the royal court during the reigns of emperors Thánh Tông and
Nhân Tông. In the second war of resistance 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 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...
, Trần Quang Khải and
Trần Hưng Đạo were two key commanders of the Đại Việt army who helped the Emperor defeat the troops of
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the ...
's son prince
Toghan. Besides his military and administrative activities, Prince Chiêu Minh was also a famous poet and was credited as the creator of the ''
dance of flowers''. Today, Trần Quang Khải is still considered one of the most famous historical figures of the Trần dynasty and is worshiped in several temples in Vietnam.
Background
Prince Chiêu Minh (
Vietnamese: Chiêu Minh vương) Trần Quang Khải was born in 1241 as the third son of 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 ...
and the
Queen Thuận Thiên.
Besides his elder brother 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, Th ...
, Trần Quang Khải had two other famous younger brothers, Prince Chiêu Quốc (Chiêu Quốc vương)
Trần Ích Tắc who was broadly known not only for his intelligence
but also for his notorious defection to the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
side during the second
Mongol invasion of Đại Việt and Prince Chiêu Văn (Chiêu Văn vương)
Trần Nhật Duật who fought side by side with him in the war against the Yuan dynasty.
History
In royal court and military activities
In 1261, at the age of only 20, Trần Quang Khải was appointed by Thánh Tông as minister instead of his elder brother Prince Tĩnh Quốc (Tĩnh Quốc Đại vương)
Trần Quốc Khang because the Emperor considered Quốc Khang not capable for an important position in royal court.
After the death of two grand chancellors:
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 1264
and
Trần Nhật Hiệu in 1269,
Prince Chiêu Minh was promoted to this position in 1271 and thus became the most important official in the royal court.
When
Trần Nhân Tông succeeded Thánh Tông in 1278, Trần Quang Khải continued to take charge of administrative activities as grand chancellor while
Trần Hưng Đạo was chosen as the grand commander of the Đại Việt army in 1283 to prepare for the threat from the Yuan dynasty.
In 1279, the Yuan dynasty had the decisive victory over 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 ...
in
Battle of Yamen which marked the end of the Song dynasty and the total control of
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the ...
over
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
As a result, Kublai Khan began to pursue his attempt to take over the southern countries like
Đại Việt
Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), was a Vietnamese monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day Hanoi. Its early name, Đại Cồ Việt,(ch ...
or
Champa
Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...
. In December 1284, the second Yuan invasion of Đại Việt began under the command of Kublai Khan's prince Toghan. Đại Việt was attacked from two directions, Toghan himself conducted the infantry invasion from the northern border while Yuan's navy under general
Sogetu advanced from the southern border through
Champa
Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...
's territory.
It was Trần Quang Khải who conducted the Đại Việt army carrying the mission of stopping Toa Đô's troops before he could meet Toghan's troops as Yuan's plan.
In the beginning, Trần Quang Khải had to retreat under pressure from Sogetu's navy and the defection of the governor of Nghe An, the southern border province.
However, the Trần dynasty began to change the situation after the victory of the Đại Việt army commanded by
Trần Nhật Duật, Prince Chiêu Thành,
Trần Quốc Toản and
Nguyễn Khoái over Sogetu's troops in
Battle of Hàm Tử. On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month (June 14) 1285, Trần Quang Khải fought the decisive battle in
Chương Dương where Yuan's navy was almost destroyed and therefore the balance in battlefield shifted definitively in favor of the Trần dynasty.
Ten days after Sogetu was killed and Trần's Emperor Nhân Tông and Retired Emperor Thánh Tông returned to capital Thăng Long on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month (July 19), 1285.
After the Mongol invasions, Trần Quang Khải kept the position of grand chancellor until his death on July 3 of Lunar calendar, 1294. Despite the inherited hatred from their fathers Trần Cảnh and Trần Liễu, Trần Quang Khải and Trần Hưng Đạo were famous for their close relation which kept the royal court and Trần family united during not only the war but also the peaceful period afterwards.
As scholar
Like his brothers Trần Nhật Duật and Trần Ích Tắc, Trần Quang Khải was not only a capable official but also a well-known scholar. Prince Chiêu Minh had a collection of poems named '' Lạc đạo tập'',[ his most famous poem might be ''Tụng giá hoàn kinh'' (]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 ...
: 從 駕 還 京) which was composed on the occasion of Đại Việt's victory over the Mongol army:
As '' Nam quốc sơn hà'' by Lý Thường Kiệt, ''Tụng giá hoàn kinh'' was considered one of the finest example for Vietnamese patriotic literature during feudal era. Besides his poems, Trần Quang Khải and his brother Trần Nhật Duật were credited as creators of '' dance of flowers'' (''múa bài bông''), a traditional dance which is still preserved in Nam Định
Nam Định () is the capital city of Nam Định province in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam.
History
From August 18–20 of each year, there is a festival held in Nam Định called the Cố Trạch. This celebration honors Gener ...
. Prince Chiêu Minh could also speak languages of minority people in Đại Việt.[
]
Family
Trần Quang Khải had a son named Prince Văn Túc (Văn Túc vương) Trần Đạo Tái who was also famous for his literature and since most favoured by the Emperor Trần Nhân Tông amongst other cousins. Trần Quang Khải also had a famous great grandson, Marquis Chương Túc (Chương Túc hầu) Trần Nguyên Đán,[ who was minister during the reign of the Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông and maternal grandfather of Nguyễn Trãi, a famous scholar and official who served the ]Lê dynasty
The Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (, chữ Hán: 朝後黎, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Đại Việt (; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, h ...
.
Legacy
Most cities in Vietnam have named major streets after him.
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Quang Khai
Trần dynasty princes
Trần dynasty generals
Trần dynasty officials
13th-century Vietnamese poets
1241 births
1294 deaths
13th-century Vietnamese monarchs
Vietnamese male poets
Thái úy
Writers from Hanoi