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Vietnam – Later Le Dynasty (1428-1527)
Thai Tong – Emperor: 1434-1442
Bronze Dai Bao Thong Bao Cash Token 25mm, Struck 1434-1442
Reference: B 30.6, H 25.11, T 052
Chinese Symbols.
Long leg Dai.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 Lê Thái Tông (黎太宗 22 December 1423 – 28 August 1442), birth name Lê Nguyên Long (黎元龍), was the emperor of Vietnam, the second monarch of the House of Lê from 1433 till his early death nine years later.
Lê Thái Tông was the second son of Lê Lợi. Although his mother died when he was at a young age, he was considered as bright and capable as his father was. When Lê Lợi became sick in 1433, he summoned his closest advisors (Lê Sát, Trịnh Khả, Pham Van Sao, Nguyễn Trãi, Tran Nguyen Han, and Le Ngan) to name Lê Thái Tông as his heir to the throne. At the time Lê Thái Tông was only ten years old. Upon Lê Lợi’s death, Lê Sát assumed the regency of Vietnam.
Lê Sát ruled Vietnam more for himself than for the young emperor. He eliminated many of his rivals by various means and tried to further solidify his power base within the government. Lê Thái Tông became increasingly unhappy with his regent’s actions and sought support from rival factions. He struck an alliance with Trịnh Khả, who had been exiled to a distant locality due to not getting along well with Lê Sát. One of his first acts upon officially taking the throne in 1438 was to bring Trịnh Khả back and installed him as the head of the Palace Guards – against Lê Sát’s strong objections. A few months later, Lê Sát was accused of lacking in virtue and usurping the power which belonged solely to the emperor. The erstwhile Grand Chancellor was then arrested, tried and executed shortly after.
In spring 1440, an ethnic chief named Hà Tông Lai rebelled in Thu Vật sub-prefecture in Tuyên Quang (Northwest Đại Việt). Lê Thái Tông launched and personally led a campaign against Hà Tông Lai. After only one week of fighting, the young emperor emerged victorious as Hà Tông Lai was beheaded and his son Tông Mậu was arrested. Not long after that, in 1440 another ethnic chief named Nghiễm broke loyalty with the court and gathered troops in the Gia Hưng prefecture, also in the nation’s northwest area. Lê Thái Tông again personally led troops to the northwest. The imperial armies defeated Nghiễm, who subsequently presented the emperor with a buffalo as a clue of submission. That satisfied the emperor enough and he ordered the army to retreat, partly due to the fact that the weather was excessively hot causing difficulties to his troops.
In the early part of 1441, Đại Việt’s official history recorded that Nghiễm again took arms against the court. Lê Thái Tông made a third campaign to the northwest with his troops. Under the direct command of the emperor, the imperial hosts defeated a Laotian army having come to assist Nghiễm. They also captured two of Nghiễm’s sons Sinh Tượng and Chàng Đồng. The campaign resulted in Nghiễm permanently submissing to the authority of the imperial court. Those military successes caused Thái Tông to be assessed by Vũ Quỳnh, high-ranking minister and court annalist during the reign of Lê Tương Dực, as a “heroic emperor”.
Although Lê Thái Tông proved to be a capable emperor, his one flaw was his desire for women, and the imperial court was soon filled with intrigue as he shifted his affections from one concubine to another. His first wife was the daughter of Lê Sát, his second wife was the daughter of Le Ngan, his third wife was Duong thi Bi, who gave birth to his first son Nghi Dân. He soon transferred his affections to Ngo Thi Ngoc Dao and Nguyễn Thị Anh. This last young woman gave birth to his third son (and immediate heir) Lê Nhân Tông. However, Ngo Thi Ngoc Dao would give birth to his most widely known son, Lê Thánh Tông.
On 4 August 1442, the Emperor paid a visit to the eastern part of the country and paid a visit to Lệ Chi Viên, or Lychee Garden belonging to the Confucian scholar Nguyễn Trãi, located in Đại Lai, Gia Bình, Bắc Ninh Province.
A concubine of Trãi, Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ, was chosen to tend to the Emperor during the royal stay. The young emperor became very sick suddenly and quickly died. The next morning Trãi was accused of killing the Emperor, and together with members of his family was executed.
In 1464, Emperor Lê Thánh Tông issued a royal proclamation to vindicate Trãi, saying that he was wholly innocent in the death of Lê Thái Tông and praised him by stating that “Trai’s spirit shines like a star”. The surviving son of Trãi, Nguyễn Anh Vũ was made an officer for the Royal Court.
Despite the vindication Trãi was considered guilty by some historians and scholars, because of his relationships with Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ. On the basis that killing an Emperor is an unforgivable sin, Lê Quý Đôn in the 18th century stated that Nguyễn Trãi should not be considered as a meritorious official despite his great contributions for country and the royal court during reign of Emperor Lê Thái Tổ.
Some reports by Ngô Sĩ Liên, Phan Huy Chú and Quốc sử quán (National History School under Nguyễn Dynasty) also wrote that Trãi might be innocent in the death of the Emperor but not Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ. Other scholars suggest that Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ may have been an innocent victim of Nguyễn Thị Anh the emperor’s wife. Other scholars suggest that the emperor became sick and died of natural causes.
The Lê dynasty, also known as Later Lê dynasty (Vietnamese: Hậu
Lê triều Hán tự: 後黎朝 or Vietnamese: nhà Hậu Lê Hán tự: 家後黎 was the
longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê
dynasty is divided into two historical periods – the Early period (Lê sơ triều,
Hán tự: 黎初朝; 1428–1527) before usurpation by the Mạc dynasty (1527–1683), in
which emperors ruled in their own right, and the restored period or Revival Lê (Lê
Trung hưng triều, Hán tự: 黎中興朝; 1533–1789), in which figurehead emperors reigned
under the auspices of the powerful Trịnh family. The Restored Lê period is
marked by two lengthy civil wars: the Lê–Mạc War (1533–1592) in which two
dynasties battled for legitimacy in northern Vietnam and the Trịnh–Nguyễn War
(1627–1672) between the Trịnh family in Tonkin and the Nguyễn lords of the
South.
The dynasty officially began in 1428 with the enthronement of Lê Lợi after he
drove the Ming army from Vietnam. The dynasty reached its peak during the reign
of Lê Thánh Tông and declined after his death in 1497. In 1527, the Mạc dynasty
usurped the throne; when the Lê dynasty was restored in 1533, the Mạc fled to
the far north and continued to claim the throne during the period known as
Southern and Northern Dynasties. The restored Lê emperors held no real power,
and by the time the Mạc dynasty was finally eradicated in 1677, actual power lay
in the hands of the Trịnh lords in the North and Nguyễn lords in the South, both
ruling in the name of the Lê emperor while fighting each other. The Lê dynasty
officially ended in 1789, when the peasant uprising of the Tây Sơn brothers
defeated both the Trịnh and the Nguyễn, ironically in order to restore power to
the Lê dynasty.
The Lê dynasty continued the nam tiến expansion of Vietnam’s borders
southwards through the domination of the Kingdom of Champa and expedition into
today Laos and Myanmar, nearly reaching Vietnam’s modern borders by the time of
the Tây Sơn uprising. It also saw massive changes to Vietnamese society: the
previously Buddhist state became Confucian after the preceding 20 years of Ming
rule. The Lê emperors instituted many changes modeled after the Chinese system,
including the civil service and laws. Their long-lasting rule was attributed to
the popularity of the early emperors. Lê Lợi’s liberation of the country from 20
years of Ming rule and Lê Thánh Tông’s bringing the country into a golden age
was well-remembered by the people. Even though the restored Lê emperors’ rule
was marked by civil strife and constant peasant uprisings, few dared to openly
challenge their power for fear of losing popular support. The Lê dynasty also
was the period Vietnam saw the coming of Western Europeans and Christianity in
early 16th-century.
Cash was a type of coin of China and East Asia, used from the 4th century BC until the 20th century AD. Originally cast during the Warring States period, these coins continued to be used for the entirety of Imperial China as well as under Mongol, and Manchu rule. The last Chinese cash coins were cast in the first year of the Republic of China. Generally most cash coins were made from copper or bronze alloys, with iron, lead, and zinc coins occasionally used less often throughout Chinese history. Rare silver and gold cash coins were also produced. During most of their production, cash coins were cast but, during the late Qing dynasty, machine-struck cash coins began to be made. As the cash coins produced over Chinese history were similar, thousand year old cash coins produced during the Northern Song dynasty continued to circulate as valid currency well into the early twentieth century.
In the modern era, these coins are considered to be Chinese “good luck coins”; they are hung on strings and round the necks of children, or over the beds of sick people. They hold a place in various superstitions, as well as Traditional Chinese medicine, and Feng shui. Currencies based on the Chinese cash coins include the Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn.
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