The Freedom of Love During the Tran Dynasty

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The Tran Dynasty is considered the most tolerant and liberal dynasty in Vietnamese history, with the freedom of love being a prominent expression.

Hung Dao Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan loved Princess Thien Thanh, even though she had been married to Trung Thanh Vuong. He secretly had a relationship with her; instead of punishing him, King Tran Thai Tong married Thien Thanh to him. Historian Ngo Si Lien regarded this as an "illegitimate marriage," while the Nguyen Dynasty's National History Bureau saw it as a "blemish," reflecting the stricter viewpoints of the Le and Nguyen periods compared to the freedoms of the Tran era.
 

Linh Tu Quoc Mau Tran Thi Dung, who helped the Tran family ascend to the royal court, had many romantic relationships before and after becoming the empress of the Ly Dynasty. After the Tran replaced the Ly, she remarried Tran Thu Do. Her two daughters with Ly Hue Tong, Princess Chieu Thanh (Ly Chieu Hoang) and Thuan Thien, both married brothers from the Tran family (Tran Canh and Tran Lieu).

Concerned that Chieu Thanh was slow to bear children, Tran Thu Do forced Tran Canh to marry Thuan Thien (who was pregnant with Tran Lieu's child), deposed Chieu Thanh, and married her to Le Phu Tran. Despite causing controversy, this led to the birth of King Tran Thanh Tong, making Tran Thi Dung the grandmother and great-grandmother of two wise kings. She not only contributed to the founding of the Tran Dynasty but also played a significant role in the resistance against the Yuan-Mongol invasions.

Historians during the Le and Nguyen periods condemned this "promiscuity," but the remarriages of Tran Thi Dung and Chieu Thanh demonstrated respect for women's legitimate desires to be wives and mothers.

Tran Khanh Du and Princess Thien Thuy, the wife of Hung Vu Vuong Tran Quoc Nghien (daughter-in-law of Hung Dao Vuong), had an affair. Although punished, Tran Khanh Du was only lightly beaten and stripped of his titles. Later reinstated, he made great contributions by sinking the supply fleet of Truong Van Ho, playing a crucial role in the resistance against the Yuan-Mongols. This indicates that women during the Tran Dynasty were quite "liberal" in matters of love.

Despite being "open-minded" in love affairs, the Tran Dynasty highly valued family unity. The Tran kings exemplified filial piety and brotherhood. In 1315, King Tran Minh Tong issued an edict forbidding "fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and servants from accusing one another," marking the first humane decree in history. This tradition continued in the Hong Duc legal code during the Le Dynasty. In 1999, the National Assembly incorporated this spirit into the 2000 Criminal Code.

During the Tran Dynasty, Confucianism had not yet dominated society, personal freedom was not restricted, and the founders of the Tran Dynasty came from the liberal fishing community. King Tran Thai Tong was not power-hungry; he once wished to abandon the throne to retreat to Yen Tu Mountain. He reigned only until the age of 40 before abdicating. Other Tran kings followed suit, with none staying on the throne beyond 40, except for Tran Nghe Tong.

The one who regarded the throne as a "worn-out shoe" inaugurated a glorious dynasty that defeated the Yuan-Mongol invaders three times. The Tran Dynasty was the most tolerant and liberal in the nation's history, with the freedom of love being just one of its many expressions.