Dục Đức

Dục Đức ( 育 德 )
Prince name	Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái
Personal name	Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Chân ( 阮 福 膺 禛 )
Born	February 23, 1852
Died	July 30, 1883
Term of office	July 20, 1883 to July 23, 1883 (dismissal)
Ara designation	-
Temple name	Công Tông ( 恭 宗 )
Posthumous name	Huệ Hoàng Đế ( 惠 皇帝 )
Resting place	An Lăng ( 安陵 )
Era period	without

Emperor Dục Đức ( Hán tự : 育 德 ; * February 23, 1852 in Huế ; † July 30, 1883 ibid) was the fifth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty . On July 20, 1883, he was enthroned as emperor and held this office for three days until he was deposed on July 23, 1883. His real name was Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái, also Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Chân. Because of his short term in office, he never got around to choosing an era designation , so there is no era for his name. As an alternative, he is usually referred to as "(Kaiser) Dục Đức" after the name of his residence palace.

biography

Dục Đức was a son of Prince Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Y and a nephew of his childless predecessor Tự Đức , by whom he was adopted at the age of two. When its predecessor died, Vietnam found itself in a crisis: On the one hand it was under pressure from France , on the other hand under that of the mighty mandarins , who wanted to uphold the imperial family's claim to heaven.

Dục Đức had made himself unpopular with many: His dealings with players and artists were considered untraditional. Not even Tự Đức wanted him as his successor - this is, however, controversial. But Thiệu Trịs widow Tự Đứ and also the regents Nguyễn Văn Tường ( 阮文祥 ; 1824–1886), Tôn Thất Thuyết ( 尊 室 説 ; 1839–1913) and Trần Tiễn Thành (1813–30 November 1883) supported his coronation.

The exact course of events is controversial. One variant is the following: When reading out the will, Tự Đức's preferred candidate, Kiến Phúc , should be kept secret. However, when Dục Đức invited his unconventional friends to his enthronement on July 20, the Mandarin Tôn Thất Thuyết was so upset that he read the will in full. This led to chaos, so that the ceremony was canceled. When Dục Đức also found out that the regent Nguyễn Văn Tường had a relationship with the imperial concubine Học Phi , the situation became untenable.

Dục Đức was then found guilty of many crimes in a short-term trial and thrown in prison on July 23, where he died seven days later, possibly from starvation.

Legends

When Dục Đức died, there were only two guards on site who were ordered to take away the body of the starved emperor and bury it in an undefined location. On the way there, the coffin inexplicably tipped off the wagon. Since the Vietnamese were very superstitious at the time, the guards assumed that this was the will of the emperor and buried him here - according to a legend.

According to a related legend, a beggar later died of starvation at the site of this grave, so the Witnesses buried him next to the grave of the emperor, who was also starved to death. After a few years, Dục Đức's son, who later became Emperor Thành Thái , found his father's grave - but with two skeletons. Since he could not determine which skeleton was his father's, he took them both to Huế and buried them side by side in the tomb at An Lăng built for his father .

family

Dục Đức was married to Phan Thị Điểu (September 8, 1855-27 December 1906), who received the title Từ Minh Hoàng Hậu . He had eleven sons, only four of whom survived childhood (the title " Công " roughly corresponds to "Prince"):

• the 7th son, (Công) Bửu Lân (1879–1955), who later became Emperor Thành Thái ;
• the 9th son, (Công) Bửu Thiện, title: Tuyên Hoà Vương;
• the 10th son, (Công) Bửu Liêm, title: Hoài An Vương;
• the 11th son, (Công) Bửu Lộc (1885 [?] - 1902), Mỹ Hoá Quận Công (about: Duke of Mỹ Hoá);

and two daughters (the title " Công chúa " roughly corresponds to "Princess"):

• (Công chúa) Mỹ Lương (* 1872);
• (Công chúa) Tân Phong (* 1883).

Web links

• dynastic information