Dục Đức

Dục Ðức (chữ Hán: 育德, IPA: [zùkp ɗɨ́k]; born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái, 23 February 1852 – 6 October
1883), was Emperor of Vietnam for three days, from 20 to 23 July 1883. He was the fifth emperor of
the Nguyễn dynasty and father of Emperor Thành Thái, who ruled from 1889 to 1907.

Early life Emperor Dục Ðức

育德帝
Dục Ðức was born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái and at
age 17 was renamed Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Chân (阮
福膺禛). He was the second son of Nguyễn
Phúc Hồng Y, the fourth brother of Emperor Tự
Ðức. He and his two cousins, Chanh Mong (later
Emperor Ðồng Khánh) and Duong Thien (Kiến
Phúc), sons of Tự Ðức's twenty-sixth brother
Thien Thai Vuong, were adopted by the Tomb of Dục Ðức in Huế
[1][2][3]
emperor, who had no children of his own.
Emperor of Ðại Nam
[4]
Reign 20 July 1883 – 23 July

After Tự Ðức's death, his three regents, Nguyễn 1883

Văn Tường, Tôn Thất Thuyết and Tran Tien Predecessor Tự Ðức
Thanh, declared the thirty-one-year-old Dục
Successor Hiệp Hòa
Ðức would succeed him. This move was
evidently controversial. Historian Pham Van Son Regent Tôn Thất Thuyết,
and others write that Tự Ðức had determined Nguyễn Văn Tường &
Dục Ðức too decadent to rule, and amended his Trần Tiễn Thành

will to name Kiến Phúc as his successor instead. Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty
However, the Tam Cung, an alliance of powerful Reign 20 July 1883 – 23 July
palace women, favored Dục Ðức, and convinced 1883
the regents to alter the will and appoint him
Predecessor Tự Ðức
Emperor.[2][3][4]
Successor Hiệp Hòa
Reign and death
Born 23 February 1852
Imperial City, Huế, Ðại
Nam

Died 6 October 1883 (aged

31)
Imperial City, Huế, Ðại
Nam

Burial An Lăng (安陵)

 Spouse Empress Từ Minh

Issue 19 including 11 sons and

8 daughters
Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân

Names

Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái (阮福膺 )

Era dates

Tự Ðức (嗣德)(remain unchanged)

Posthumous name

Khoan nhân Duệ triết Tĩnh minh Huệ hoàng

đế (寬仁睿哲靜明惠皇帝)

Temple name

Cung Tông (恭宗)

Empress Minh Huệ,

wife of Dục Ðức and
biological mother of House Nguyễn Phúc
Thành Thái
Father Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Y
Dục Ðức ruled for only three days before he was (son of Thiệu Trị)
deposed and sentenced to death by the same
Mother Trần Thị Nga
regents who had enthroned him. The reasons
are unclear. Pham Van Son wrote that Dục Ðức Religion Ruism, Buddhism
so embarrassed the court with his debauchery
at the coronation that Tôn Thất Thuyết revealed the incriminating sections of Tự Ðức's will. The court
quickly ruled to execute him with poison for violating the mourning rules and buried him in an unmarked
grave, a notably disproportionate sentence. Other contemporary historians make no mention of this
episode and say that Dục Ðức was not executed but rather was left to die in captivity, a likelier
sequence of events considering that he lived for another three months.[3] The true motivation for the
overthrow may have been political; the regents may have feared Dục Ðức would strip them of the power
they enjoyed under the weak Tự Ðức.[4]

With Dục Ðức in captivity, the regents named his 34-year-old uncle Hiệp Hòa, Tự Ðức's half-brother, as
emperor. They may have skipped over Dục Ðức's adoptive brothers to mitigate the backlash from the
court women who had favored Dục Ðức.[4] Open protest of the regents' actions came from one senior
official, Phan Ðình Phùng, but he was quickly arrested and stripped of his position.[4] During his brief
reign, Hiệp Hòa similarly tried to rein in the regents' influence, but failed; he in turn was soon deposed
and sentenced to die.[1] Modern Vietnamese histories generally regard emperors from Dục Ðức to Bảo
Ðại as puppets controlled by the French colonialists.[5]
After several more years of turmoil, Dục Ðức's young son Thành Thái was installed as emperor in 1889.
He constructed a mausoleum and shrine complex for his father in Huế known as the Tomb of Dục Ðức.
This eventually became a family tomb, housing Thành Thái and various other members of the Nguyễn
dynasty.[6]

References

1. Bruce M. Lockhart, William J. Duiker Historical Dictionary of Vietnam 2006 p113 "Dục Ðức (1852–1884). Emperor
(r. 1883) under the Nguyén dynasty." Page 154 "A younger brother and adopted son of Emperor Tự Ðức, [Hiép
Hoa] succeeded his nephew Dục Ðức after the latter was deposed by court officials in 1883. Hiép Hoa attempted
to wrest power back from these officials, but he was not strong enough"

2. Corfield, Justin J. (2008). The history of Vietnam. Westport, Conn., USA: Greenwood Press. pp. xvii, 21–22.
ISBN 978-0-313-34193-9. OCLC 182857138 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/182857138) .

3. Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The last emperors of Vietnam : from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Westport, Conn., USA: Greenwood
Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-313-31170-3. OCLC 231866735 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/231866735) .

4. Taylor, K. W. (2013). A History of the Vietnamese (https://books.google.com/books?id=P2HP31kOSA4C&pg=PA47

4) . Cambridge University Press. p. 474. ISBN 978-0521875868. Retrieved July 25, 2013.

5. Far-sighted sovereigns in Việt Nam Thế Giới Publishers (Hanoi, Vietnam) - 2004 "All emperors, from Dục Ðức to
Bảo Ðại, were puppets controlled by the French colonialists. In the wake of the August 1945 Revolution the last
king of the Nguyễn dynasty, Bảo Ðại, proclaimed his abdication in front of 50,000 inhabitants of ..."

6. Tomb of Dục Ðức (http://vietnamdiscoveries.com/en/hue/place/architecture/tomb-of-duc-duc-128.html)

Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215537/http://vietnamdiscoveries.com/en/hue/place/architecture/
tomb-of-duc-duc-128.html) 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine "Tomb of Dục Ðức (An Lăng) is a relic of
relics of the ancient capital of Hue, is the burial place of Dục Ðức emperor, the fifth emperor of the Nguyen
dynasty."

External links