The First Vietnamese King to Abdicate in Favor of His Daughter: An Enigmatic Figure in History

In the year 1224, King Ly Hue Tong of the Ly dynasty found himself without a male heir. Under pressure from the ambitious Tran Thu Do, the king was compelled to abdicate his throne in favor of his eight-year-old daughter, Princess Lieu. She became known as Ly Chieu Hoang, the first and only female monarch of the Ly dynasty.

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King Ly Hue Tong (1194-1226), the eighth emperor of the Ly Dynasty, reigned from 1210 to 1224. His birth name was Ly Sam or Ly Hao Sam, and he was born in the capital city of Thang Long, Dai Viet.

Ly Chieu Hoang, or Empress Chieu Hoang, was the female monarch of Dai Viet and the last emperor of the Ly Dynasty.

Ly Hue Tong’s life was filled with sorrow and misfortune. The Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu chronicles describe his reign during a tumultuous era: “The king encountered a chaotic period, with bandits rampant everywhere. He suffered from a severe illness and failed to ensure the continuity of the Ly Dynasty by having a male heir.”

Born into a time of disorder, Ly Hue Tong, even as a crown prince, had to flee for his life multiple times due to the infighting within the court and the power struggles among regional warlords. On top of that, he witnessed conflicts within his family between his mother, Queen Dam, and his wife, Tran Thi Dung.

Throughout his life, the king was plagued by poor health and was often bedridden. In late 1216, he suffered a severe illness, and despite the efforts of the best physicians in the land, they could not cure him.

The reins of power were handed over to Tran Tu Khanh, who successfully suppressed the warlords Du Bi, Ly Bat, and Ha Cao. Following Tran Tu Khanh’s death in 1223, his power passed to his cousin, Tran Thu Do.

Ly Hue Tong did not have a son, and under pressure from Tran Thu Do, he was forced to abdicate in favor of his eight-year-old daughter, Princess Chieu Thanh, who became Ly Chieu Hoang.

Ly Hue Tong later became a monk at the Bat Thap Pagoda, taking the dharma name Hue Quang Dai Su. He was the first monarch in the history of Vietnamese feudalism to renounce the world and become a monk. He passed away in 1226 at the age of 33.

In 1225, Ly Chieu Hoang, under the arrangement of Tran Thu Do, ceded the throne to Tran Canh (Tran Thai Tong), marking the end of the Ly Dynasty’s over 200-year rule over Dai Viet.

According to the Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, a later scholar interpreted the king’s name, Sam, to mean ‘the sun setting behind the mountain’ in Chinese characters. Thus, it was foretold that with Ly Hao Sam, the sun of the Ly Dynasty would set.

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