During

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

's monarchial period, the Vietnamese nobility (tước) were classified into eleven classes, with names similar to their Chinese equivalent. These are listed here from the highest to the lowest, along with their equivalent European titles.

Terminology

Sovereigns

Sovereign rulers (both Emperors and Kings) in general are referred to in Vietnamese as ''Vua'' (君, 𢁨, 𢂜, 𢃊, 𤤰, 𪻟, 𪼀, 󰅫, 󰅻). This term, which can also be interpreted as "

Patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

", has no equivalent in Chinese languages, but comes from the indigenous Vietnamese vernacular and therefore had to be written in Nôm when used in court documents (which were typically written in Hán, i.e.

classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

).Alexander Barton Woodside: ''Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century'',

Harvard University Asia Center The Harvard University Asia Center is an interdisciplinary research and education unit of Harvard University, established on July 1, 1997, with the goal of "driving varied programs focusing on international relations in Asia and comparative studi ...

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

Cambridge, MA Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

1988, S. 10 The Vietnamese monarchs usually carried the titles ''Vua'' and '' Hoàng Đế'' (皇帝) in parallel, with the former predominating among the general Vietnamese people and the latter at the imperial court.

Lords

Both the

Trịnh Trịnh is a Vietnamese family name, which is also common in some countries such as Korea (Jung, Jeong). A considerable portion of families that bear the surname Trinh are ethnically Vietnamese. Notable people * Trịnh Như Khuê, First Cardi ...

and

Nguyễn lords Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this ...

, who nominally ruled the country from the 16th to the 18th century under the ''

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 ...

'' control of the

Revival Lê dynasty The Revival Lê dynasty ( vi, Nhà Lê trung hưng 茹黎中興; Hán-Việt: 黎中興朝 ''Lê trung hưng triều''), also called the Later Lê Restoration, was a Vietnamese dynasty that existed between 1533 and 1789. The Primal Lê dynasty ( ...

, used the title ''Chúa'' (主, "lord" / "prince"), which is outside of the classical hierarchy of nobility, this title is considered to be higher than ''Công'' and lower than ''Vương''.K. W. Taylor: ''A History of the Vietnamese'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

, 2013, S. 652 (Table 7).

History

The use of noble titles has existed in China since ancient times and the system of nobility used in Vietnam until 1945 dates back to the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

(Châu dynasty). The system of nobility employed by the

Later Lê dynasty Later may refer to: * Future, the time after the present Television * ''Later'' (talk show), a 1988–2001 American talk show * '' Later... with Jools Holland'', a British music programme since 1992 * ''The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts'', or ...

and later were directly based on the Chinese system used during the

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 ...

period, this system would remain to be used in Vietnam until 1945 (as the

August Revolution The August Revolution ( vi, Cách-mạng tháng Tám), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution launched by the Việt Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) against the Empire of Vietnam and the Empire of Japan in ...

overthrew the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

), but had actually ceased in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in 1911 due to the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of ...

. The noble titles of Vietnam can be divided into two categories: (A) Six titles which exclusively reserved for princes of imperial blood were, in ancient China, these were devolved to kings and tributary princes, as well as twelve other less important titles intended for the descendants of princes of imperial blood, with a reduction of "one degree for each successive generation". And (B) Five titles of nobility reserved for mandarins, regardless of origin (related to the Emperor or of popular origin), to reward merits, and, more particularly, military merits. These were given the five titles of "Công" (公), "Hầu" (侯), "Bá" (伯), "Tử" (子), and "Nam" (男). Noble titles from both category A and B are transmissible to the eldest son of the nobleman, with a decrease of one degree with each successive generation. After the establishment of protectorates over the Nguyễn dynasty by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

in the form of Annam and

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, includ ...

the terminology used in the table above (as "European equivalent") was used by the French to designate dignitaries endowed with titles of nobility. While no protocol has regulated the matter of these designations, over 50 years of use have definitively enshrined these terms for translating Vietnamese noble titles.

Symbols

Seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

and other symbolic objects were also given to people after they received a noble title. For example after Léon Sogny received the title of "

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

of An Bình" (安平男) in the year

Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...

14 (保大拾肆年, 1939) he was also given a golden seal and a '' Kim Bài'' (金牌) with his noble title on it. The seal had the

seal script Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of se ...

inscription ''An Bình Nam chi ấn'' (安平男之印).

List of French people who have received a Vietnamese noble title during the French protectorate period

After the French had established two protectorates in Vietnam, and by analogy with what was done for the Mandarins, titles of nobility were awarded by the Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty to high-ranking French colonial officials. These noble titles which, formerly giving certain rights and privileges to the Vietnamese that received them, by the 1930s were reduced to being merely a simple pension, were considered to be purely honorary for the French officers who received them. In fact they would usually just receive a patent and a ''Kim Bài'' on which the title was engraved in

Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took a ...

. Between the years 1885 and 1936 a total of 22 noble titles were awarded by the Vietnamese Emperor to

French people The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the na ...

. This group of people include a French minister, an admiral, two generals, nine governors general of Indochina, and nine senior residents of Annam. List of senior French officials to whom a noble title had been awarded by the Imperial Court of the Nguyễn dynasty between 1885 and 1937:

References

External links

* {{Nobility by nation *Nobility