Trần Dụ Tông

From 1341 to his death in 1357, the Senior Emperor Minh Tông acted as a regent for his son Dụ Tông, who thus reigned only in name.[4] According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the young Emperor Dụ Tông was very intelligent and was completely focused on managing both civil and military matters of Đại Việt. For that reason, Dụ Tông in his first era Thiệu Phong (1341–1357) was well respected in the royal court even if it was the Senior Emperor who ruled the country.[2] In 1349 Dụ Tông entitled a daughter of Prince Huệ Túc Trần Đại Niên as his queen, and she became Queen Nghi Thánh.[5] However, historical books recorded that the Emperor was impotent and that he was only cured after many unusual treatments including using medicine made from a killed young boy and incest with Dụ Tông's own sister, princess Thiên Ninh.[6]

In this era, the royal court of Trần Dynasty began to face troubles such as the death of several important and experienced mandarins, the failure of some military campaigns against Lan Xang and Champa[7][8] and the proliferation of many natural disasters in Đại Việt.[2] For only a short period, Đại Việt suffered many disasters, which caused a time of economic dearth and ignited several revolts against the royal court. A temporary peace was only re-established when Trương Hán Siêu, a capable mandarin, was appointed to restore order in regions affected by unrest.[9]

In 1353, Minh Tong attempted an expedition against the Champa king Tra Hoa Bo De in support of Che Mo's claim to the throne as the son of Che Anan. The expedition was aborted and Che Mo died soon after.[10]^: 91

After the death of Minh Tông in 1357, Dụ Tông ascended to the throne and he decided to change the era from Thiệu Phong to Đại Trị (1358–1369).[11] With the death of a capable ruler like Minh Tông, the royal court led by Dụ Tông began to fall into chaos, especially as several able officials such as Nguyễn Trung Ngạn and Trương Hán Siêu died while others such as Chu Văn An became discontented. After the Emperor's refusal of his famous Thất trảm sớ (Petition of beheading seven corrupt officials),[12] Chu Văn An decided to leave the royal court, which was now full of corrupt mandarins and bad cohorts.[13]

At that time, the situation in China was very complicated with the struggle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang, both of whom tried to mobilise support from Đại Việt. However, Dụ Tông maintained a neutral attitude to concentrate his army along the southern border against Champa.[14] Despite his effort, Champa's forces still posed concerns for Đại Việt's border and launched several skirmishes[15] while many revolts were taking place and causing diversions in Đại Việt.[13]

While being modest and diligent under the regency of Minh Tông, the independent reign of Emperor Dụ Tông saw extravagant spending on the building of several luxurious palaces and other pleasurely indulgences.[13][16] Dụ Tông introduced theatre, which was considered at the time to be a shameful pleasure, in the royal court.[12] Hierarchy and order were completely discarded by the Emperor, and he had the princes and princesses of the royal family do trivial tasks such as folding paper fans in the market. During official audiences, when Dụ Tông felt happy, he would step off the throne to dance with his ministers.[12] One time, the Emperor was so drunk that he fell into a pool of water and caught a disease that was only cured after a long period of treatment.[15][17] The Emperor died on 25 May of the Lunar calendar, 1369, at the age of 33 following a reign of twenty-eight years. He did not have any posthumous name and was buried in Phụ Tomb.[17]