Trần Thái Tông

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Trần Thái Tông, (Hán tự: 陳太宗), born name: Trần Cảnh (陳煚), July 17, 1218-May 4, 1277) was the first emperor of the Trần Dynasty, seated on the throne for 33 years (1226-1258), being Grand emperor for 19 years.

Biography

Trần Thái Tông’s given name was Trần Cảnh (陳煚). He was born in 1218 at the end of the Lý Dynasty. Trần Thủ Độ, his uncle, prepared the ground for his marriage to Queen Lý Chiêu Hoàng, the last queen of the Lý Dynasty, who later abdicated to make him the founder of the Trần Dynasty in 1226.

His step to throne in particular and the replacement of the Trần Dynasty over the Lý Dynasty in general was mostly thanks to the efforts of Trần Thủ Độ, Trần Cảnh uncle. At that time, Trần Thủ Độ was the front commander of citadels of the Lý Dynasty. Trần Cảnh's father, Trần Thừa, was also an official in Lý dynasty like Trần Thủ Độ. He had been "Nội thị khán thủ," one of the most important officials in the Lý Dynasty.

During the time when he was seated on throne, Trần Thái Tông used three era names: Kiến Trung (1225-1232), Thiên Ứng Chính Bình (1232-1250) and Nguyên Phong (1251-1258).

He commanded the armies but failed to protect his capital from the first Mongol invasion of Vietnam in 1257. He agreed to send tribute every 3 years to the court of the Mongol Empire.

Learned in both Confucianism and Buddhism, he ruled the country wisely and authored several profound works on Buddhism, the most famous of which is Khoa Hu Luc (Instructions on Emptiness), a Zen manual. A prodigious writer, he left behind a substantial number of works; however, only a small number survive.

Trần Thái Tông led the Đại Việt people to victory against the first invasion of the Nguyên Mông army. Then he gave up the throne to his son, crown prince Trần Hoảng (Trần Thánh Tông).

Progeny

No ancient book tells any exactly how many, but we know that his sons were, Trần Trịnh ^[1] (died prematurely), Tĩnh Quốc Vương Trần Quốc Khang ^[2], Trần Hoảng, Chiêu Minh Vương Trần Quang Khải, Trần Nhật Vĩnh, Chiêu Quốc Vương Trần Ích Tắc, Chiêu Văn Vương Trần Nhật Duật, Chiêu Đạo Vương Trần Quang Xưởng, princesses Thiên Thành (wife of Hưng đạo Vương Trần Quốc Tuấn), Thiều Dương, Thuỵ Bảo, An Tư.

Relation with Trần Liễu

Trần Liễu was Trần Thái Tông's elder brother. In 1237, Trần Thái Tông and Chiêu Thành empress still did not have any son to maintain the continuity of his king family, due to Trần Thịnh's premature death.

At that time, Princess Thuận Thiên, Trần Liễu’s wife, had been pregnant Quốc Khang for 3 months. Trần Thủ Độ and princess Thiên Cực (his wife) advised the emperor to arrogate that pregnancy to himself to maintain the continuity of the king family. Taking that advice, the emperor gave injunction to make princess Thuận Thiên empress Thuận Thiên, and make Chiêu Hoàng down to princess. Because of this, Trần Liễu took his army to Cai River to rebel. This incident embarrassed Trần Thái Tông and he left the capital for Yên Tử mountain. Only after taking advices of Trần Thủ Độ and Phù Vân Buddhist priest, he came back to the capital. Two weeks later, Trần Liễu surrendered. Trần Thủ Độ intended to behead him, but Trần Thái Tông covered him by his body, so that Trần Thủ Độ could not do anything. After that, he gave him his territory, consisting of Yên Phụ, Yên Dưỡng, Yên Sinh, Yên Hưng, Yên Bang. Due to the name of his territory, Liễu is also called Yên Sinh Vương.

Notes

References

• Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư.

External links

• Vietnamese Wikipedia