Trịnh Sâm (, 9 February 1739 – 13 September 1782) ruled northern

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 ...

from 1767 to 1782 AD. He ruled with the title "Tĩnh Đô Vương" () and was one of the last of the powerful

Trịnh lords Trịnh is a Vietnamese family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full na ...

. Trịnh Sâm defeated the ancient enemy of the northern state, the

Nguyễn lords The Nguyễn lords (, 主阮; 1558–1777, 1780–1802), also known as the Nguyễn clan (; ), were Nguyễn dynasty's forerunner and a feudal noble clan ruling southern Đại Việt in the Revival Lê dynasty. The Nguyễn lords were membe ...

in the south. The Trịnh line was separate from the royal

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 ...

, and the officially recognized emperor was Lê Hiển Tông (1740–1786), who continued to occupy the royal throne in Thăng Long (modern-day

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

), but without real power.

Early reign

Trịnh Sam was given rule over northern

by his father

Trịnh Doanh Trịnh Doanh (4 December 1720 – 15 February 1767) ruled northern Vietnam (Tonkin) from 1740 to 1767 (he ruled with the title ''Minh Đô Vương''). Trịnh Doanh was the third son of Trịnh Cương, and belonged to the line of Trịnh lords w ...

in 1767. Five years after he took power, the Tây Sơn rebellion started in the south. During his lifetime, the Tây Sơn rebels focused all their efforts against the Nguyễn lords, specifically against Nguyễn Phuc Thuan who had gained the throne as a young boy. As the Tây Sơn rebellion gained strength, the Trịnh saw the Nguyễn weakening month by month.

Trịnh–Nguyễn War

Trịnh Sâm mobilized the royal (Trịnh) army, and on November 15, 1774, it crossed the river into Nguyễn territory, re-igniting the

Trịnh–Nguyễn War The Trịnh–Nguyễn Civil War (; chữ Hán: 鄭阮紛爭, lit. Trịnh–Nguyễn contention) was a 17th and 18th-century lengthy civil war waged between the two ruling families in Vietnam, the Trịnh lords of Đàng Ngoài and the Nguy� ...

. With the Nguyễn army divided and weak, the Trịnh army captured

Phú Xuân Phú Xuân (富春) was the historic capital of the Nguyễn lords, the Tây Sơn dynasty, and later became the Nguyễn dynasty's capital (renamed Huế). History In 1306, the King of Champa Chế Mân offered Vietnam two Chăm prefectures, Ô ...

(modern-day

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

) in February 1775. The army continued south capturing more Nguyễn lands and defeating some of the forces of the Tây Sơn. In the summer of 1775, one of the leaders of the Tây Sơn, Nguyễn Nhac, made a formal alliance with Trịnh Sam against the Nguyễn. Trịnh Sam agreed and gave Nguyễn Nhac a formal title as well as "regalia". The Trịnh army then withdrew back to

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

, left a small army in Phú Xuân.

Later life

For the remainder of Trịnh Sâm's life, the Trịnh allowed emperor

Gia Long Gia Long (Chữ Hán, Chữ hán: 嘉隆) ( (''Hanoi, North''), (''Ho Chi Minh City, South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh (阮暎), was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynas ...

(Nguyễn Ánh), the last surviving member of the Nguyễn lords, to make repeated attempts to re-take the south. The Tây Sơn brothers were too busy fighting the Nguyễn loyalists to worry about the Trịnh in the north. In 1782 as Trịnh Sâm was dying, he tried to leave control over Vietnam to his son (from his favorite consort or wife, Đặng Thị Huệ, who led the harem when he died — her position was only inferior to that of his deceased primary consort Hoàng Thị Ngọc Khoan), Trịnh Cán, but his older son, Trịnh Khải (whose mother was the high-born unloved Dương Thị Ngọc Hoan, who was only able to share the bed of Trịnh Sâm through treachery) organized an army and fought against his half-brother. Although he was successful, this civil war fatally divided the Trịnh at a critical time when the Tây Sơn (under Nguyễn Huệ) were gaining control over the south.

In popular culture

* '' Đêm hội Long Trì'', a 1989 Vietnamese movie produced by Vietnam Feature film Studio and starring by Thế Anh as Trịnh Sâm.

References

Sources