Tự Đức

Tự Ðức (Hanoi: [tɨ˧˨ ɗɨk̚ ˧˦], chữ Hán: 嗣德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 22 September 1829 – 19 July
1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of
the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam; he ruled from 1847 to 1883.

Biography Emperor Tự Ðức

嗣德帝
Prince Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm was born on
22 September 1829. He was a son of the
emperor Thiệu Trị and succeeded his father as
emperor of Vietnam in 1847 as Tự Đức. Family
troubles, however, plagued the beginning of his
reign. Thiệu Trị had passed over his more
moderate eldest son Hồng Bảo, in favour of Tự
Ðức, known for his staunch Confucianism and
opposition to foreigners and innovation. As a
result and due to the repressive policies of the
previous emperor, there was now a great deal of
dissatisfaction with Nguyễn rule and a
legitimate royal figure for opposition to rally
around.
Portrait by L.Ruffier

Rule Emperor of Ðại Nam

Reign 5 November 1847 – 19

Cholera and natural disaster July 1883

In summer 1849, one year after Tu Duc's Predecessor Thiệu Trị

coronation, a cholera epidemic struck Vietnam Successor Dục Ðức

and Cambodia. Around 600,000 lost their lives
Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty
according to the royal archives. Military
Reign 5 November 1847 – 19
physician O'neill Barrett (1982) and the
July 1883
Vietnamese Ministry of Health (2007) estimated
that a total of two million people had been Predecessor Thiệu Trị

affected during the pandemic.[1] Historian

Successor Dục Ðức
Christopher Goscha suggests the overall death
toll of 800,000.[2]
Born 22 September 1829
Imperial City, Huế, Ðại
Unusual heavy rainy seasons were recorded
Nam
during 1847–1861, followed by a period of
Died 19 July 1883 (aged 53)
extremely dry and severe droughts between Imperial City, Huế, Ðại
Nam
1864 and 1889. Typhoons ravaged Tonkin in
1880–1881.[3] A plague of locusts devastated Burial Khiêm Lăng
[4]
Sơn Tây and Bắc Ninh provinces in 1854.
Spouse Empress Trang Ý
Nguyễn Thị Bích
more than 300
concubines

Issue None (childless)

Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái
(adoptive)
Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ
(adoptive)
Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ðăng
(adoptive)

Names

Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm (阮 福 洪 任)

Nguyễn Phúc Thì (阮 福 時)

Era name and dates

Tự Ðức (嗣 德): 1847–1883

Posthumous name

Thể thiên Hanh vận Chí thành Ðạt hiếu Thể

kiện Ðôn nhân Khiêm cung Minh lược Duệ
văn Anh Hoàng đế
世天亨運⾄誠達孝體健敦仁謙恭明略睿⽂英皇
帝

Temple name

Dực Tông (翼 宗)

House Nguyễn dynasty

Father Thiệu Trị

Mother Empress Từ Dụ

Religion Ruism, Buddhism

Conflict with Hồng Bảo and his descendants

As the eldest son of Thiệu Trị, Prince Hồng Bảo was resentful of his brother. He plotted rebellion
against Tự Ðức with a wide range of supporters: Confucians who were angered that Hồng Bảo as the
eldest son had been passed over in favour of Tự Ðức, Lê dynasty supporters, corrupt mandarins,
Catholic missionaries and Christian converts who had been persecuted by Minh Mạng and Thiệu Trị,
and peasants disgruntled with Nguyễn taxation. He never had the chance to rebel however, as he was
arrested in 1854 and scheduled to be executed. The dowager empress Từ Dụ advised him against it,
and Hồng Bảo killed himself in prison. He was buried simply without a funeral.

In 1866, Hồng Bảo's son Ðinh Ðạo rebelled against Tự Ðức. The rebellion was crushed and Tự Ðức
ordered Ðinh Ðạo, his brothers and his mother to be put to death.

Religious suppression

Emperor Tự Ðức continued the policies of his predecessors, shutting Vietnam off from the outside
world and refusing all efforts to modernize the country. Accounts of his personal life show a gentle and
educated man, but his policies brought on conflict with Europe that Vietnam could not win. He
oppressed all foreigners in Vietnam, especially the Christian community, who had tried to overthrow his
grandfather, such as in the Lê Văn Khôi revolt, calling their religion a "perverse doctrine". The Christian
mandarin Nguyễn Trường Tộ tried to convince Tự Ðức that this was a suicidal policy, but he did not
listen, confident that France was too involved with the chaos in Europe in 1848 to respond, but he was
mistaken.

Death ceremony of Portrait of Michael Hồ Théophane Vénard, Martyrdom of Augustin

Jean-Louis Bonnard. The Ðình Hy, Vietnamese French Catholic Schoeffler.
lower right corner shows mandarin official who missionary was executed
his body being cast in was martyred for his by Tự Ðức in 2/2/1861.
the water, where he was Roman Catholic
retrieved by Christians.
In the upper right corner,
Mgr Retord comes to the
ceremony.

Attempts at reforms

It was quite ironic that even during the height of Tu Duc's persecution against Catholic Christians, there
were always devout Catholic officials serving in his court, occupied among the high-ranking positions.
Among them, Nguyễn Hữu Thơ, an accomplish priest, was sent by Tu Duc to France with another
French priest, to plan the creation of a school of "Sciences, and Arts and Crafts" in Hue, but later that
project was defied by Tu Duc himself who quickly lost interest in reforms.[5] Another Catholic official,
Nguyễn Trường Tộ, had attempted forty-three times to persuade the court of Tu Duc to renovate the
kingdom and adopt the changing global order. In 1866 he was sent to Europe on the Vietnamese third
mission to recruit technicians and teachers for a Western-style school foundation in Vietnam, but that
project was also cancelled in 1867 when France annexed the rest of Cochinchina.[5]

Nguyễn Trường Tộ launched an campaign against the established-Confucian education and thinking in
Vietnam. He denounced Confucianism "the evil that has been brought on China and on our country by
the Confucian way of life." Concluding "No other country in the world has so irrational a system of
education," Nguyễn Trường Tộ advocated for a new, modernized education system followed the
European model.[6] Indeed, neither of his proposals was applied.[7]

In 2018 Lê Minh Khải claimed that he found two instances where the Tự Ðức Emperor had ordered the
Chinese edition of several classic books on science and industry from the West to be read by the
mandarins and soldiers of the country.[8] As an example he mentioned the book "Vạn Quốc Công Pháp"
(萬國公法), a Chinese translation of The Elements of International Law, first published in 1836 by
American lawyer Henry Wheaton, a book noted by many researchers to have made a profound
contribution to the ideological transformation of the ruling elites in Qing China and Japan.[8] It is noted
that the very slow adoption of the ideas from this work in the Nguyễn dynasty showed how slowly its
elites adopted Western ideas and despite learning about Western ideas they proved to be unable or
unwilling adopt them or adapt to them.[8]

Invasions by Chinese rebels and mercenaries

Tonkin or Northern Vietnam, had been ravaged by constant cholera epidemic, natural disasters, and
famines in the 1840s–1850s, was left barely administrated by the court. The mountainous parts of
Tonkin were territories of mainly indigenous Tai-speaking communities, and later Hmong, who were
autonomous and lightly submissive in relations with the court of Hue. Rebellion and pirate activities
increased. In 1857, Chinese Muslim rebels from Yunnan attacked and occupied areas near Tụ Long
mines, Tuyên Quang. Tụ Long was an important mining zone for the Vietnamese economy which
depended on copper coins in every transaction.[9]

In 1860, the Chinese Muslim rebels were driven back, but the new White Flag army invaded Tonkin and
laid Tụ Long abandoned by 1863, disrupting Vietnamese finance and the opium trade. Threats from the
White Flags mounted as violence and anarchy escalated. In 1862, Tu Duc appointed Nguyễn Bá Nghi to
fought off the White Flag rebels.[10] The White Flags made a series of devastating raids in Hưng Hóa,
Cao Bằng, Thái Nguyên, and lowland Red River Delta, made local governments there dysfunctional. In
summer 1865, the White Flags ambushed Vietnamese troops at Tuyên Quang, killing three hundred
soldiers.[9] In February 1868, the White Flags seized Lục Yên and chased the Vietnamese away. Unable
to defeat the White Flags in conventional warfare, the Vietnamese began to hire Chinese and Tai-
Zhuang mercenaries. In 1860, He Junchang, a Chinese opium merchant, had recruited his own personal
militia to protect the opium trade from the White Flags. His private army effectively drove the White
Flags away from Lào Cai, the main station along Kunming-Hanoi opium trade route.[11]

Liu Yongfu proclaimed the Kingdom of Yanling in Guangxi in 1861. In 1865, after the fall of the Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom, Liu Yongfu fled to China-Vietnam borders and founded the Black Flag Army,
consisting of Chinese and Tai-Zhuang militia.[12] The Vietnamese immediately made an alliance with the
Black Flags to fight against the White Flags. In 1868, war in Tonkin broke out between the White Flags
and the Black Flags, resulting in White Flags defeat and their forces diminished. The Vietnamese now
were harboring the Black Flags and benefiting from their good fighting and reputations.[13]

New waves of Chinese rebels invaded Vietnam in form of the Yellow Flag Army, led by Wu Yazhong and
later his lieutenant Pan Lunsi. In March 1868, thousands of Yellow Flags crossed the borders and
attacking local Vietnamese authorities and raiding grain warehouses in Cao Bằng.[14] The Yellow Flags
occupied large territories in Tonkin, and continued their operations until 1885.

European conquest

France and Spain responded to Tự Ðức's persecution with a large military expeditionary force and
attacked up from southern Vietnam in 1858–1862. The Nguyễn army fought bravely for some time, but
their antiquated weapons and tactics were no match for the French, who suffered more from the
climate and disease than from enemy resistance. The fighting around Hanoi against the Black Flag in
the 1880s[15] pirates ended with France victorious and the Qing Empire gave up its supremacy over
Vietnam and recognized France as the ruling power over the region.

Rebellions

French and Spanish force capture of

Saigon in 1859

To make matters worse, Emperor Tự Ðức had to deal with renewed internal rebellions which had
become commonplace for the Nguyễn dynasty. There were literally hundreds of small rebellions and
uprisings against Nguyễn rule. Ineffective attempts to enforce the ban on Christian missionaries were
also the biggest source of trouble, including the execution of a Spanish bishop which was used to
justify the French and Spanish invasion that led to the fall of Saigon. By an order of 1848 Tự Ðức
commanded all Vietnamese Catholic converts to renounce their religion, otherwise they would be
branded on the face with the mark of a heretic and surrender all of their rights and privileges. This
rallied most of the European powers against Vietnam, and Tự Ðức by doing this had given up any hope
of Vietnam gaining help as a victim from the outside world.

Gold lạng (Tael) of Tự Ðức

Treaties

When further rebellions broke out as the French were advancing on the capital, Tự Ðức feared that his
authority was crumbling. He preferred to make a deal with the French so that he could crush the
rebellion since while France may demand humiliating concessions, the rebels would most likely depose
and/or kill him. He signed away the southernmost of Vietnam, Cochinchina, to be a French colony and
accepted the status of a French protectorate for his country. This caused a huge uproar, and many,
such as the famous mandarin Trương Ðịnh, refused to recognize the treaty and fought on in defense of
their country, denouncing Tự Ðức for surrendering any part of their homeland.

Hoàng Diệu, who was Phan Liêm, son of Phan Phạm Thận Duật who Ðặng Huy Trứ, the
the viceroy of Hanoi, Thanh Giản was signed the Treaty of Huế reformist and the known
committed suicide in captured by French (1884) and later he for introduction of
1882 after his defensive colonel Francis Garnier joined the anti-French photography and
failure in Battle of Hanoi in 1873 and released in resistance. He was the western-model
to France. 1874 after peace treaty. private tutor of future shipbuilding into
emperor Dục Ðức and Vietnam.
Ðồng Khánh.

After the Tonkin incident (1873), Third French Republic governor of Cochinchina Marie Jules Dupré and
the Hue court official Nguyễn Văn Tường signed treaty of Saigon (1874), concluding Vietnam as a
vassal of France but allowing Vietnam's status quo in foreign relationships. But in 1876 Tu Duc sent a
delegation to Beijing, reassessing Vietnam's tributary status for the Chinese Empire. Another
Vietnamese mission in 1880 went on to pay homage to the Qing court. On 10 November 1880, the
Chinese ambassador in Paris announced that Dai Nam was still a vassal of China and rejected the
Franco-Vietnamese treaty of 1874. In the next year, the Qing sent an envoy to Vietnam to negotiate
trade relationship.[16]

Siam and Vietnam renewed their relationship in 1878. In 1880, Tu Duc welcomed an Italian trade
delegation. Frustrated of being harassed by Tu Duc, Résident-supérieur Rheinart France retaliated by
barring Vietnam from joining the Paris International Fair, and from sending envoy to congratulate
President Jules Grévy's inauguration.[17]

By September 1882, more than 200,000 Chinese troops had been sent to Northern Vietnam (Tonkin)
following Tu Duc's request of aid fighting against new French incursion.[18]

Death

Emperor Tự Ðức did not live to see the worst effects of colonialism on his country, and he was also the
last Vietnamese monarch to rule independently. A case of smallpox left him impotent so he had no
children despite a huge harem of wives he kept in his palace. He died in 1883 and, according to legend,
cursed the French with his dying breath. His adopted son, Dục Ðức, succeeded him but was deposed
by court officials after a reign of three days.[19]

Pavilion east of the tomb Pavillon and lotus pond. Portrait of Emperor Tu Pavilion east of the tomb
Duc in 1883

Family

Date of
Rank Title Name birth– Note
death

Palace lady

Second rank Consort Cần

 First rank Consort Thuần/Trung

The imperial noble consort (the same as The empress

of Nguyễn dynasty)
Consort 1828–
Võ Thị Duyên
Trung Empress Khiêm 1903

Empress dowager Trang Ý

Grand Empress dowager Trang Ý

Empress Lệ Thiên Anh (Lệ Thiên Anh Hoàng hậu- 儷

天英皇后)

Palace lady
Consort Second rank consort Chiêu Nguyễn Thị
Thiện Cẩm
First rank Consort Thiện

Palace lady

Fourth rank concubine Lượng

Second rank consort Khiêm

Consort Nguyễn Thị
Học First rank consort Học Hương

The imperial consort dowager (the title of the

emperor's mother but not the empress of the former
emperor)

Palace lady

Third rank Concubine Thận

Concubine From Lê
Mẫn Second rank Consort Cung family

Third rank concubine Mẫn

Ninth rank lady

Eighth rank lady

Nguyễn
Concubine Seventh rank lady 1830–
Nhược Thị
Lễ 1909
Bích
Sixth rank lady

Third rank concubine Lễ

Concubine From Hồ
Thận Third rank concubine Thận family

Concubine From Bùi

Fourth rank concubine Kiệm ?–1893
Kiệm family

Concubine From Nguyễn

Fifth rank concubine Tín
Tín Thanh family

From Nguyễn
Sixth rank lady
Trinh family

From Nguyễn
Eighth rank lady
Ðình family

From Nguyễn Concubine

Lady Ninth rank lady
Nhược family Lễ's sister

Trương Thị
Ninth rank lady
Ân

From Lê
Ninth rank lady
Family

And more with no informations

See also

Tự Ðức Thông Bảo

Tự Ðức Bảo Sao

References

1. Lincoln, Martha (2021). Epidemic Politics in Contemporary Vietnam: Public Health and the State.
Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-755-63618-1.

2. Goscha, Christopher (2016). Vietnam: A New history. Basic Books. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-46509-437-0.

3. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 295.

4. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 290.

5. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 304. ISBN 978-0-19005-379-6.

6. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 305.

7. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 306.

8. AN ÐẠT (19 January 2018). "Cuốn sách luật quốc tế này đã có thể góp phần thay đổi vận mệnh Việt
 Nam? Về số phận cuốn sách kinh điển đầu tiên về luật quốc tế được đưa đến Việt Nam" (https://www.lua
tkhoa.org/2018/01/cuon-sach-luat-quoc-te-nay-da-co-gop-phan-thay-doi-van-menh-viet-nam/?amp=
1) (in Vietnamese). Luật Khoa tạp chí – Sáng kiến Pháp lý Việt Nam (Legal Initiatives for Vietnam).
Retrieved 14 September 2021.

9. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. p. 31.

10. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-295-74205-2.

11. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. p. 32.

12. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. pp. 32–33.

13. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. pp. 35–37.

14. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. p. 37.

15. "South China in the Imperial Era: South China from 1800 to the fall of the Qing in 1911" (https://web.arch
ive.org/web/20100830072218/http://www.cpamedia.com/articles/20080724_03/) . CPA Media. 2008.
Archived from the original (http://www.cpamedia.com/articles/20080724_03/) on 30 August 2010.
Retrieved 9 July 2010. "[...] the Black Flags and their leader, Liu Yung-fu, were to acquire a certain
dubious legitimacy and fame in the service both of the Vietnamese king, Tu Duc, and of the latter's Qing
suzerains in their struggle against French imperialism in Tonkin."

16. Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam: from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood Press. p. 61.
ISBN 0-313-31170-6.

17. Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam: from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood Press.
p. 62. ISBN 0-313-31170-6.

18. Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam: from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood Press.
pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-313-31170-6.

19. Bruce M. Lockhart, William J. Duiker Historical Dictionary of Vietnam 2010. p. 154 "A younger brother
and adopted son of Emperor Tự Ðức, he 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"
Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-
313-31170-6. OCLC 42296168 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42296168) .

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