Trịnh lord

Trịnh lords
Chúa Trịnh 鄭主 Trịnh clan
1545–1787
Trịnh lord 's base,painted in 17th century
Capital		Thăng Long /Đông Kinh
Languages		Vietnamese
Religion		Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism
Government		Monarchic feudal
Lords
•	1545–1570	Trịnh Kiểm (first)
•	1786–1787	Trịnh Bồng (last)
History
•	Established	1545
•	Disestablished	1787
Currency		Văn
Preceded by Succeeded by Revival Lê dynasty Mạc dynasty Tây Sơn dynasty
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The Trịnh lords (Vietnamese: Chúa Trịnh; 1545–1787), also known as Trịnh clan or House of Trịnh, were a series of rulers of Northern Vietnam (namely Đàng Ngoài) who controlled the powers of government while the Later Lê emperor was just the puppet. They have been referred to as the Vietnamese shoguns ("military commanders"). The Trịnh lords traced their descent from Trịnh Khả, a friend and advisor to the 15th-century Vietnamese Emperor Lê Lợi, and, for nearly a decade, the real power behind the throne of the Boy-Emperor Lê Nhân Tông. During the reign of the great Vietnamese Emperor Lê Thánh Tông, one of his top generals was Trịnh Văn Sái.

The Lê Emperors following Lê Hiến Tông were weak, and after the death of Lê Tương Dực (in 1516), the strong, cunning, and ambitious Mạc Đăng Dung rose to power. In 1520, fearing the ambition of Mạc Đăng Dung, the Nguyễn and the Trịnh left the capital Hanoi (then called Đông Đô) and fled south, taking the young new Emperor Lê Chiêu Tông "under their protection". This was the start of a civil war with Mạc Đăng Dung and his supporters on one side and the Trịnh/Nguyễn supporters on the other side. Thanh Hóa Province, the ancestral home to the Trịnh and the Nguyễn, was the battle ground between the two sides. After several years of warfare, Tông was assassinated in 1524 by Mạc Đăng Dung's supporters. A short time later, the resistance collapsed and both the Trịnh and the Nguyễn leaders were executed. However, this was just the end of the first phase of the civil war because in 1527 Mạc Đăng Dung usurped the throne. He killed his own puppet Emperor Lê Cung Hoàng and started a new dynasty, the Mạc dynasty. Within months the civil war broke out anew. Both the Trịnh and Nguyễn clans again took up arms in Thanh Hóa province and revolted against the Mạc. The leader of this second revolt was Nguyễn Kim. His daughter then married the new young leader of the Trịnh clan Trịnh Kiểm. Within five years, all of the region south of the Red River was under the control of the Nguyễn–Trịnh army but the two families were unable to conquer Ha Noi (known as "Thăng Long" at that time).