Trần Ích Tắc ( vi-hantu, 陳益稷, Chen Yiji, 1254–1329), or Prince Chiêu Quốc (

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 ...

: Chiêu Quốc vương / 昭國

王 is a Chinese character encountered in East Asian languages. It was grouped with as Radical 96 in the ''Kangxi'' radicals. It may also refer to: * kings, in reference to non-Chinese states * the early Chinese sovereigns of the Xia, Shang, and ...

), was a prince of

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 ...

, the fifth son 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and 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 grand chancellor

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 ...

. Before the invasion of Vietnam by 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 ...

, Trần Ích Tắc was the most famous prince of Trần Thái Tông, known for his intelligence and broad knowledge. The mansion of Prince Chiêu Quốc in

Thăng Long Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the capital and second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red and Black Rivers). As a municipality, Hanoi consists of 12 urban districts, 17 rural d ...

was also a renowned school of the capital. In the beginning of the Yuan-Tran war, Trần Ích Tắc surrendered to

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 prince Toghan and thus became the highest-ranking official of the Trần dynasty to do so. However, later the Tran dynasty was ultimately able to defeat the Yuan invasion, partly because of the Tran dynasty's proficiency in gunpowder. The Tran and Yuan later restored diplomatic and trade relations, and Tran Ich Tac's name was restored over time—as a diplomat who solidified Tran-Yuan relations. The Yuan dynasty supported Trần Ích Tắc to become king of Annam but were unable to, so he continued to live in

Ezhou Ezhou ( zh, s= ) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hubei Province, China. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 1,079,353, of which 695,697 lived in the core Echeng District. The Ezhou - Huanggang built-up (''or metro'') area w ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

, China, where he lived the rest of his days. According to official Vietnamese records and

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 ...

, the Chinese leader

Chen Youliang Chen Youliang (; 1320 – 3 October 1363For those cross-referencing the Mingshi, in the old Chinese calendar refers to the year 1363 CE, refers to 8月29日 or 29 August, and refers to 10月3日 or 3 October.) was the founder and first ...

(陈友谅；Trần Hữu Lượng), founder of

Chen Han Chen Han, officially the Great Han, was a short-lived rebel state that existed in China during the Red Turban Rebellion, in the final phase of the Yuan dynasty. It was founded in Jiangxi in 1360 by General Chen Youliang, who had been ruling ...

in China, was the son of Trần Ích Tắc.

Biography

Trần Ích Tắc was born in 1254 as the fifth son of the Emperor

, he was entitled Prince Chiêu Quốc in May 1268. Besides his elder brother the Emperor

, Prince Chiêu Quốc had two other famous brothers who were grand chancellor Prince Chiêu Minh (Chiêu Minh Vương)

and Prince Chiêu Văn (Chiêu Văn Vương)

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

, both Trần Quang Khải and Trần Nhật Duật were important generals of the Trần dynasty during the second Mongol invasion of Đại Việt. Although Trần Quang Khải was a famous poet and Trần Nhật Duật was well known for his knowledge, the most famous son of the Retired Emperor Thái Tông before the war was Trần Ích Tắc. It was said that Prince Chiêu Quốc was not only intelligent but also fond of learning; besides a broad knowledge of history, art, literature, Trần Ích Tắc was also a skilled player of

cuju ''Cuju'' or ''Ts'u-chü'' ( zh, t=蹴鞠, p=cù jū) is an ancient Chinese football game, that resembles a mix of basketball, association football and volleyball. FIFA cites cuju as the earliest form of a kicking game for which there is docume ...

and

xiangqi Xiangqi (; ), commonly known as Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. Xiangqi is in the same family of games as shogi, janggi, chess, Western ches ...

. The palace of Prince Chiêu Quốc in

was renowned as a school in the capital where educated many scholars including some future prominent officials of the Trần dynasty such as

Mạc Đĩnh Chi Mạc Đĩnh Chi (; 1272–1346) was a renowned Vietnamese Confucian scholar who was the highest-scoring graduate in the palace examinations at the age of only twenty-four. He served three Trần dynasty emperors—first Trần Anh Tông until ...

or Bùi Phóng. In 1279, the Mongol-led

won 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 the

Battle of Yamen The Battle of Yamen (), also known as the Battle of Yashan (), was a naval battle which took place in southern China on 19 March 1279. It is considered to be the last stand of the Song dynasty against the invading forces of the Mongol-led Yuan ...

, marking the end of the Song dynasty and the total control of

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 return his attention to southern countries like

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 was launched under the command of Kublai Khan's son prince Toghan. Đại Việt was attacked in two directions. Toghan himself conducted the infantry across the northern border while the Yuan navy under general Sogetu advanced from the south through

's territory. In order to avoid the pressure of Yuan's force, the Retired Emperor Thánh Tông and the Emperor Nhân Tông decided to retreat from Thăng Long to

Thanh Hóa Thanh Hóa () is the capital of Thanh Hóa Province. The city is situated in the east of the province on the Ma River (Sông Mã), about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of capital Hanoi and 1560 kilometers (969 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh Cit ...

on March 1 of

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 on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...

1285. In the same month, Prince Chiêu Quốc Trần Ích Tắc, Marquis Văn Chiêu (Văn Chiêu hầu) Trần Lộng and several officials of the Trần dynasty surrendered to prince Toghan. According to '' Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư'', Thái Tông presaged the defection to the north of Trần Ích Tắc before his birth. Trần Ích Tắc also soon revealed his purpose of fighting his elder brother for the throne even by foreign intervention. Therefore, on this occasion, Prince Chiêu Quốc decided to defect to the Yuan side with the hope that they would help him take the position of Emperor of Đại Việt. The defection of Trần Ích Tắc and several high-ranking official of Trần royal court did have an adverse impact for the Trần dynasty in the beginning of the war of resistance, but Trần clan and royal court were still united by the effort of the Retired Emperor, the Emperor and other important figures like

Trần Hưng Đạo Trần Hưng Đạo (; 1228–1300), real name Trần Quốc Tuấn (陳國峻), also known as Grand Prince Hưng Đạo (''Hưng Đạo Đại Vương'' – 興道大王), was a Vietnamese royal prince, statesman and military commander of Đại ...

, Trần Quang Khải, Trần Nhật Duật. The harmony of them was one of the main factors that led to the victory of the Trần dynasty over the Mongols' second invasion. Right after the failed attempt in 1285, the Yuan dynasty began to prepare for the third major campaign against Đại Việt with the pretext of helping Trần Ích Tắc return as king of Annam. Their 1287 campaign was eventually ended by the Battle of Bạch Đằng on March 8 of Lunar calendar 1288, where the Yuan navy was almost destroyed by the troops of Trần Hưng Đạo. In 1289, the Trần Emperor issued an order in which the family name of every defected member of Trần clan was changed to Mai ( 枚), for example Trần Lộng (陳弄) was renamed as Mai Lộng (枚弄). Being the only defected prince of Trần clan, Trần Ích Tắc was exempted from this order but he was called in historical accounts of the Trần dynasty by the name "Ả Trần", literally meant "the woman named Trần" to sarcastically criticize Ích Tắc "was as coward as a woman". After the defeat of the Yuan dynasty in their third invasion of Đại Việt, Trần Ích Tắc continued his life in

, and often appeared in provincial authority when Đại Việt ambassador went to China. Once he met the ambassador Nguyễn Đại Phạp (阮代乏) who was once a scribe in the palace of Trần Ích Tắc's brother, Prince Chiêu Đạo (Chiêu Đạo vương / 昭道王). When Trần Ích Tắc showed his scorn about the profession of Nguyễn Đại Phạp in the past, the ambassador of Đại Việt said: "Things changed. Đại Phạp, once a mere scribe for Prince Chiêu Đạo, now became an ambassador, just like the Mandarin �ch Tắc once a prince of the Emperor, now became a defector" ("Việc đời đổi thay, Đại Phạp trước vốn là tên biên chép cho Chiêu Đạo vương, nay là sứ giả, cũng như Bình chương xưa kia là con vua, nay lại là người đầu hàng giặc"). It seemed that Trần Ích Tắc felt ashamed after that event and he did not appear anymore when Đại Việt ambassador was there. He died in 1329 in foreign soil far from his homeland. In 1354

, the founder of the rebel

regime in the late Yuan dynasty tried to mobilise support from Đại Việt. However, the Emperor

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 ...

refused to help him because the Trần dynasty needed to concentrate their force in the southern border against Champa. In the account about this event,

claimed that the Chinese leader

(陈友谅；Vietnamese: Trần Hữu Lượng), founder of

in China, was the son of Trần Ích Tắc.

Works

* ''Củng cực lạc ngâm tập'' (拱極樂吟集)

References

Reading

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trần Ích Tắc 1254 births 1329 deaths Pretenders to the Vietnamese throne Trần dynasty princes Yuan dynasty government officials People from Hanoi