Trần Phế Đế (6 March 1361 – 6 December 1388),

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...

Trần Hiện, was the tenth emperor of the Trần dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1377 to 1388. After his father's death in

Battle of Đồ Bàn A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in January 1377, Phế Đế was enthroned as Đại Việt Emperor by the Retired Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông who acted as Phế Đế's regent during his reign. Fearing the rise of

Hồ Quý Ly Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, born 1336) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and a mili ...

in royal court, Phế Đế tried to reduce his power but Hồ Quý Ly already got ahead of this plot by a defamation campaign against the Emperor which ultimately made Nghệ Tông decide to dethrone Phế Đế in December 1388. Phế Đế was downgraded to Prince Linh Đức and forced to commit suicide and his supporters in royal court were purged by Hồ Quý Ly faction. The death of Phế Đế marked the last step of Hồ Quý Ly's power seizing from Trần clan.

Background

Phế Đế (''Deposed Emperor'') was born in 1361 as Trần Hiện, second child of the Prince Cung Tuyên Trần Kính, then Emperor Trần Duệ Tông, and his wife Lady Lê, then Queen Gia Từ. Initially, Duệ Tông wanted to make his first son Prince Chương Vũ Trần Vĩ

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the w ...

but Trần Vĩ soon died during Duệ Tông's reign so Prince Kiến Đức Trần Hiện became the first in line of successor. In January 1377, after the

in which Duệ Tông and seventy percent of his troops were killed by Champa's army, the Retired Emperor Nghệ Tông decided to cede the vacant throne to Prince Kiến Đức. After the coronation, Phế Đế changed the era name to Xương Phù (昌符, 1377–1388).

As emperor

Although being the Emperor of Đại Việt, Phế Đế was only a ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legall ...

'' ruler because it was Nghệ Tông who still held the real power. According to '' Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', Phế Đế was actually worse than his father, he had a weak and ignorant character which was profited by

in his gradual control of royal court. After the major defeat of Duệ Tông at

Đồ Bàn Tu () is a Chinese surname, and the 279th family name in Hundred Family Surnames ( 百家姓). Tu (涂 or 凃) is another Chinese surname. Origin From one of the characters in the name of the ancient city of Zoutu. The legendary emperor Yellow Em ...

, Champa's force continued to attack Đại Việt several times, unable to stop Chế Bồng Nga's troops, Trần's rulers even decided to hide royal treasure and worshiping objects, on Mount Thienkien and the Kha-lang Caves,Maspero, G., 2002, The Champa Kingdom, Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., fearing that Chế Bồng Nga's troop might capture the royal palace in Thăng Long. Besides the threat from Champa, Phế Đế and his regent Nghệ Tông also had to face with many inside revolts ignited by famine and Chế Bồng Nga's stimulation. In May 1380, Trần's army under the command of Hồ Quý Ly had the first victory over Champa's troops in Thanh Hóa. After this point, general Đỗ Tử Bình resigned from the position of highest commander of Tran army and thus Hồ Quý Ly began to hold all civil and military power in royal court. Despite another victory by the troops of general Nguyễn Đa Phương in February 1382, Trần Dynasty had to suffer a severe attack from Chế Bồng Nga in June 1383 which made Nghệ Tông fled from capital Thăng Long in spite of the begging advice to stay from his mandarins. This decision of Nghệ Tông was heavily criticized by the historian

Ngô Sĩ Liên Ngô Sĩ Liên (吳士連) was a Vietnamese historian of the Lê dynasty. He was the principal compiler of the ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam and the oldest official historical record of ...

in his work ''Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư'' as a "coward decision". In the northern border,

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

also began to expose their ambition of invading southern kingdoms like Đại Việt and Champa. Facing the unstoppable rise of Hồ Quý Ly in royal court, Phế Đế plotted with minister Trần Ngạc to reduce Hồ Quý Ly's power but Hồ Quý Ly already got ahead of this plot by a defamation campaign against the Emperor which ultimately made Nghệ Tông decide to dethrone and downgrade Phế Đế to Prince Linh Đức in December 1388. Some loyal generals of Phế Đế tried to bring troops in royal palace to overturn this decision but they were stopped by Phế Đế himself soon before his forced suicide by the order of Nghệ Tông. On December 27 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 only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...

, 1387, Nghệ Tông passed the throne to his youngest son Trần Ngung, now Trần Thuận Tông, who was only eleven. In the meantime, Hồ Quý Ly faction purged Phế Đế's supporters so that Hồ Quý Ly became the most powerful man in royal court. After the coronation, Thuận Tông had Phế Đế buried at An Bài Mountain.

Family

Trần Phế Đế had one wife, Queen Quang Loan, who was Nghệ Tông's daughter, and one son, Prince Thuận Đức.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * , - style="text-align: center;" , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tran Phe De Phe De 1361 births 1388 deaths 14th-century Vietnamese monarchs Vietnamese Buddhists Suicides in Vietnam Vietnamese monarchs