How Nguyễn Phúc Khoát Declined to Become Emperor
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, “Vietnam” was under the rule of a single dynasty, the Lê Dynasty, but the land was actually divided in two, with each half ruled…
Nguyễn Đăng Thịnh’s 1744 Request that Nguyễn Phúc Khoát Become Emperor
According to the official chronicles of the Nguyễn Dynasty, the Đại Nam thực lục (hereafter ĐNTL), in 1744 Nguyễn Đăng Thịnh, an official in Đàng Trong, presented a petition to…
Nguyễn Phúc Khoát, Liu Bang and the Grand Transversal
In 1744 Nguyễn Đăng Thịnh, an official in Đàng Trong, presented a letter to his ruler, Nguyễn Phúc Khoát, the “Nguyễn lord” of Đàng Trong, encouraging him to take the…