Ly Chieu Hoang is the second daughter of King Ly Hue Tong and Queen Tran Thi Dung. She is also the 9th and last Emperor of the Ly Dynasty (1010 – 1225). Since she was young, Ly Chieu Hoang has been caught up in the power struggle between the two Lyrans – Tran dynasties, and she has endured many sufferings throughout her life.
According to the Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, Ly Chieu Hoang ascended to the throne in October 1224, when she was only 6 years old. Due to her young age, the affairs of state were handled by Queen Tran Thi Dung. At that time, Tran Thu Do, the commander-in-chief and uncle of Queen Tran Thi Dung, who held the greatest power in the court back then, arranged for his 8-year-old nephew, Tran Canh, to enter the palace to serve as the Chief Secretary, responsible for accompanying Ly Chieu Hoang.
With a playmate like Tran Canh, Ly Chieu Hoang became fond of him and they often played and teased each other. The Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu recorded: “One day, when Canh, who was 8 years old at that time, had to hold the water for bathing, he went into the inner court for the task. Chieu Hoang liked that, so she would call Canh to play together every night. When she saw Canh in a dark place, she would come and tease him, either by grabbing his hair or standing on his shadow.
One day, when Canh was holding the water, Chieu Hoang washed her face and splashed water on Canh’s face, then laughed and teased him. When Canh brought the towel, she threw it at him…”
Seeing the close relationship between them, Tran Thu Do discussed with his sister-in-law, Queen Tran Thi Dung, to carry out a “palace coup” by boldly bringing all of the royal relatives and favorites into the forbidden palace.
Later, Tran Thu Do ordered his troops to seal the city gates and the palace gates, and stationed guards to enforce strict security. Officials tried to enter the court to pay respects to the king, but were not allowed. The royal palace was sealed off, and the Ly courtiers had no reaction, as they did not dare to make any moves when the Tran family held the Queen and other queens as hostages. Then, Tran Thu Do immediately announced: “The King already has a husband.” That’s how Ly Chieu Hoang and Tran Canh became husband and wife.
Originally, the above quotes were just innocent jokes between children, but in the eyes of someone with evil intentions, they became the fate that pushed the world to change power.
And then, what must come will come. In the winter of At Dau in that year, a decree was issued to pass the throne to her husband. There is a passage in the Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu that records: “Alas, I am a queen, lacking in talent and virtue, without anyone to help, enemies are swarming like bees, how can I bear the heavy burden of the throne? I wake up early and stay up late, fearing that I am not capable enough, I always think of finding a kind gentleman to help with politics, pleading day and night, hoping for the best,…”
Now, I have reflected on it alone and realized that only Tran Canh is a person of extraordinary talent, truly a virtuous and gentlemanly man, with an awe-inspiring presence, having both literary and martial talents, thinking deeply day and night, considering things for a long time. Therefore, I pass on the precious throne to facilitate the will of the heavens and to fulfill my duty as a wife.
I hope that we can unite with all our efforts to help govern the country and enjoy the blessings of peace. Therefore, I announce this to the world, so that everyone knows.”
On the 11th day of the 12th month in Mau Dan, Ly Chieu Hoang took off her imperial robe and invited Tran Canh to ascend to the throne.
An Unfortunate Life
It was thought that passing the throne to her husband, becoming the Empress Chieu Thanh, would open up a new chapter of happiness for the young princess in the forbidden palace. But… that was the beginning of an unfortunate “fate”.
At the age of 14, Chieu Thanh gave birth to a son named Tran Trinh, but unfortunately, he passed away shortly after. Four years later, under the pressure of Tran Thu Do, who was then the Prime Minister, fearing that there would be no heir, he forced the king to marry Lady Thuan Thien. Unfortunately, at that time, Thuan Thien was already the wife of Tran Lieu (the brother of King Tran Thai Tong) and was three months pregnant.
This incident led the king to want to leave the palace and go to Mount Yen Tu at the residence of Phu Van, as Tran Lieu rebelled. However, afterwards, the rebellion was quickly crushed, and the king returned to the capital, and everything returned to normal. Only one person endured the pain, and that was Chieu Thanh.
The Tran family stripped her of the position of empress and demoted her to princess. For 20 years of misery, Chieu Thanh became a princess for the second time, holding within her a sorrowful and desolate heart in the forbidden palace.
One might think that she would live with coldness and neglect for the rest of her life, but fate brought a different turn. In Mau Ngo 1258, King Tran Thai Tong issued a decree to give her in marriage to Le Tan (also known as Le Phu Tran). He was a great general who had made significant contributions in the first war against the Mongol invasions. There is a passage in the Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu that says: “I owe my current position to your military prowess. You should strive to enjoy future fortune.”
So, in the life of Chieu Thanh, from being a princess to becoming a queen, then being demoted to a princess, and now to be given in marriage to a renowned general. It was said in the Chronicles of the Vietnamese that, “Under the Tran Dynasty, the king is just a child playing, but the couple’s relationship is seen here again.”
Although she agreed to marry Le Phu Tran when she was already 40 years old, Chieu Thanh still possessed youthful beauty. After one year of marriage, she gave birth to a son named Le Tong (also known as Le Phu Hien, later changed his name to Tran Binh Trong). Then a daughter named Minh Khue was born and was later bestowed the title of Princess Ung Thuy.
It can be said that even though it came late, happiness seemed to smile upon Chieu Thanh. Despite numerous ups and downs, she finally found a place of belonging and experienced the joys and sorrows of motherhood.
In Mau Dan 1278, she went to visit her ancestral village of Co Phap to attend the ancestral memorial ceremony and passed away there. It is said that she lived to be 60 years old, but her hair was still as black as night, her lips were as red as lipstick, and her cheeks still glowed with the color of peach blossoms.
The people built a temple in her honor on the outskirts of Bang forest, west of Tho Lang Thien Duc. The temple is called Long Mieu Dien, commonly known as the Dragon Temple. She is only worshiped separately in a small temple, not together in the Ly Bat De Temple because of the “serious offense”. Getting married and then giving the throne to her husband, she was accused of a “serious offense,” seen as being unfilial for destroying the Ly dynasty and handing the throne to someone else.
Legend has it that “an eight-lined poem that was composed, once composed, becomes immortal.” This means that the Ly dynasty has lasted for eight generations, lost the kingdom, and became immortal in the same way.
In the historical records, from the perspective of the feudal era, the burden on the small and lonely shoulders of a woman is even heavier. The Vietnamese Legal History wrote: “…She is a negative aura that is present in the world, completely contrary to normalcy,… shameless and debauched from the start, taking a husband without an appropriate match…”. The act of Chieu Thanh marrying Le Phu Tran was also considered a crime: “Chieu Thanh happily married, but couldn’t even compare to an ordinary commoner woman in terms of ethics,… marrying a commoner as her husband, Phu Tran is a commoner marrying a queen; that mother is sister and wife, that sister is sister and wife, that wife is wife and husband, that king is me and you, truly it is no better than holding animals”.
All the grievances fell upon the slender and desolate shoulders of the petite woman. However, oh, the fate of a woman, obeying the superior’s command is indeed a natural course. From the age of 7, she had to hold the precarious throne, with an empty heart reaching its roots, but she had no wise person to guide her, no assistant to the generals, and the decline of the Ly dynasty from the reign of King Ly Cao Tong led her to ruin, and the people’s hearts turned cold.
It is said that when King Ly Thai Tong first obtained the world, he went to Co Phap and played at the Phu Dong pagoda. There was a divine person who wrote a poem on a pagoda column that said:
“A bowl of virtuous water
Transforms due to worldly fate
The double light illuminates the blessings
The sun shines down on the mountain, casting no shadow.”
Only after the Ly dynasty ended did they realize that the poem was true. Starting from King Ly Thai Tong, there were eight generations. The Vietnamese historian, Ngô Sĩ Liên, said that Hue Tong’s name is Sam – the sun shining on the mountain with no shadow, and the Ly dynasty was granted by the heavenly order, losing the kingdom was also granted by the heavens.
Chieu Hoang’s life had to endure many hardships and humiliations. After relinquishing the throne to her husband, stepping back to become the queen, then being demoted to princess, her husband marrying her sister, feeling so desperate that she wanted to become a nun, but her ex-husband came to convince her to marry a servant as a reward.
Is there any pain greater than that? Until now, the folklore still passes down a folk verse as a reproach to King Tran:
“Blame the gentleman for his heart of silver
Playing with flowers and then selling them!”
We do not know the true affection between Tran Canh and Chieu Hoang, but those two instances of “infidelity” not only caused her a silent heartbreak but also made later generations “mock” her, considering it a rare situation in history. However, marrying her former husband to a great lord was also her destiny, and that turn allowed her to find happiness in the second half of her life.
The image of Ly Chieu Hoang, first as a princess with an ever-changing fate, then as the first queen of Vietnam, left a deep nostalgia for future generations. There, the posterity looks through the lens of history to understand more about the destiny of a princess.
She was the only empress in over 1000 years of the existence of the feudal system in Vietnam, also the only woman in history to be appointed as a Crown Prince and stay in the position for the shortest time (less than a day). Chieu Hoang was the shortest-reigning monarch among the Ly kings. She was the only person in history to be a princess twice and a princess of two different dynasties. Moreover, she and Tran Canh were the only couple in history who both became kings.
Historical upheavals may have pushed Chieu Hoang into many different paths, but when mentioning her, posterity immediately recalls that she marked the end of the Ly dynasty, from Ly Thai To (1010) to Chieu Hoang in At Dau year (1225), a total of 216 years.
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