Từ Dụ or Từ Dũ ( vi-hantu, 慈裕, 20 June 1810 – 22 May 1901), born Phạm Thị Hằng, was a Vietnamese empress, the wife of

Thiệu Trị Thiệu Trị (, vi-hantu, wikt:紹, 紹wikt:治, 治, lit. "inheritance of prosperity"; 6 June 1807 – 4 November 1847), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông or Nguyễn Phúc Tuyền, was the third emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. He was th ...

and mother of

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, :wikt:嗣, 嗣:wikt:德, 德, , 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, and the country's la ...

Life

Hằng was a daughter of mandarin . She was granted the title Empress Dowager Từ Dụ (, vi-hantu, 慈裕皇太后) after

ascended the throne. Tự Đức died in 1883. Three regents, Nguyễn Văn Tường,

Tôn Thất Thuyết Tôn Thất Thuyết ( 尊室説; 12 May 1839 in Huế – 1913 in Longzhou), Courtesy name Đàm Phu (談夫), was the regent and leading mandarin of Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam's Nguyễn dynasty. Thuyết later led the Cần Vươn ...

and Trần Tiễn Thành, declared

Dục Đức Dục Đức (, ; born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái, 23 February 1852 – 6 October 1883), was Emperor of Vietnam for three days, from 20 to 23 July 1883. He was the fifth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and father of Emperor Thành Thái, who rule ...

, the eldest adoptive-son of Tự Đức, as the new emperor. Three days later, they deposed Dục Đức and enthroned Hiệp Hòa. Từ Dụ was elevated to the position of one of the "Tam Cung" (三宮) together with Trang Ý and Học phi.Chapuis, p. 15. Từ Dụ played a significant role in the dethronement of Hiệp Hòa, whom was a pro-French emperor, and enthroned

Kiến Phúc Kiến Phúc (, 12 February 1869 – 31 July 1884) was a child emperor of Vietnam, who reigned for less than 8 months, 1883–1884, as the 7th emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. Biography Born in 1869, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng, he ...

. In 1885, she was granted the title Grand Empress Dowager Từ Dụ (, vi-hantu, 慈裕太皇太后). Tôn Thất Thuyết decided to launch the Cần Vương movement against French colonists. "Tam Cung" fled to Tomb of Tự Đức together with Emperor

Hàm Nghi Emperor Hàm Nghi (, vi-hantu, lit. "entirely right", 3 August 1871 – 14 January 1944), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch (), also Nguyễn Phúc Minh, was the eighth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty. He reigned for only one ...

. Thuyết decided to take them to a mountain base at Tân Sở, and then went to

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 ...

to hide, asylum and seek reinforcements. "Tam Cung" refused, and came back to state capital

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 ...

.''

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 ...

'', Quyển 2, Cận kim thời đại, Chương 14 She was granted the title Great Grand Empress Dowager Từ Dụ (, vi-hantu, 慈裕太太皇太后) by

Thành Thái Thành Thái (, vi-hantu, 成泰; 14 March 1879 – 20 March 1954) born Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân (阮福寶嶙), was the son of Vietnamese Emperor Dục Đức and Empress Dowager Từ Minh. He reigned as emperor for 18 years, from 1889 t ...

in 1889. She died in 1901, and was given the posthumous name ''Empress Nghi Thiên''.

Legacy

A hospital in

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

was named after her.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tu Du 1810 births 1901 deaths People from Tiền Giang province Nguyễn dynasty empresses dowager 19th-century Vietnamese women 19th-century Vietnamese people 20th-century Vietnamese women 20th-century Vietnamese people Nguyễn dynasty posthumous empresses