The Trn Dynasty (Nh Trn, , Trn Triu) was a Vietnamese dynasty that ruled Vietnam (then known

wn as i Vit) from 1225 to 1400. The dynasty was founded in 1225 when king Trn Thi Tng ascended to the throne after his uncle Trn Th orchestrated the overthrow of the L Dynasty. The dynasty ruled for a total of 175 years, ending in 1400 when king Thi u , then five years old, was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his maternal grandfather H Qu Ly. Among other things, the Trn Dynasty are noted for defeating three Mongol invasions, most notably in the decisive Battle of B ch ng River, in 1288.

HISTORY
Origin and foundation The founder of the Trn clan in i Vit was Trn Kinh, a man of Tc Mc village (now M Lc, Nam nh) who lived by fishing. After three generations in i Vit, Trn clan became a rich and powerful family under Trn L who was Trn Kinh's grandson. During the troubled time under the reign of L Cao Tng, the Crown Prince L Sm sought refuge in the family of Trn L and decided to marry his beautiful daughter Trn Th Dung in 1209. Afterward, it was the Trn clan who helped L Cao Tng and L Sm restore the throne in Thng Long; therefore, the Emperor appointed several members of the Trn clan for high positions in the royal court such as T Trung T, who was an uncle of Trn Th Dung, or Trn T Khnh and Trn Tha, who were Trn L's sons. In 1211 the Crown Prince L Sm was enthroned as L Hu Tng after the death of L Cao Tng. By that time the Tr n clan's position began to rise in the royal court. Having been mentally ill for a long time, the Emperor L Hu Tng ultimately decided to cede the throne of the L Dynasty to crown princess L Chiu Hong in October of the lunar calendar, 1224. Ascending to the throne at the age of only six, L Chiu Hong ruled under the total influence of the commander of the royal guard Trn Th . Even the Empress Regnant's servants were chosen by Trn Th ; one of them was his 7-year-old nephew Trn Cnh. When Trn Cnh informed Trn Th that the Empress Regnant seemed to have affection towards him, the leader of the Trn clan immediately decided to take this chance to carry out his plot to overthrow the L Dynasty and establish a new dynasty ruled by his own clan. First Tr n Th moved the whole Trn clan to the royal palace and arranged a secret marriage between L Chiu Hong and Trn Cnh there, without the appearance of any mandarin or member of the L royal family. After that, he announced the fait accompli to the royal court and made L Chiu Hong cede the throne to her new husband on the grounds that she was incapable of holding office, so Tr n Cnh was

chosen as her successor. As a result, the 216-year reign of the L Dynasty was ended and the new Trn Dynasty was created on the first day of the twelfth lunar month (Gregorian: December 31), 1225. Early Trn After the collapse of the L Dynasty, Trn Th was still afraid that the newly established Trn Dynasty might be overthrown by its political opponents. He therefore continued to ruthlessly eliminate members of the L royal family. First the former emperor L Hu Tng in the tenth lunar month of 1226, then other members of the L royal family were massacred by the order of Tr n Th in the eighth lunar month of 1232. Trn Thi Tng was enthroned when he was only an eight-year-old boy and there were several rebellions in i Vit at that time, so Trn Th had to devote all of his efforts to consolidating the rule of Thi Tng in the royal court and over the country. Right after the coronation of the Emperor in 1226, Nguyn Nn and on Thng rose in revolt in the mountainous region of Bc Giang and Hi Dng. By both military and diplomatic measures such as sending an army and by awarding two leaders of the revolt the title of Prince (Vng), Trn Th was able to put down this revolt in 1229. According to i Vit s k ton th, Thi Tng and his wife, the Empress Chiu Thnh, did not have their first son for some time. This situation worried the grand chancellor Trn Th because he had profited from similar circumstances with the Emperor L Hu Tng in overthrowing the L Dynasty. Therefore in 1237 Trn Th decided to force Prince Hoi Trn Liu, Thi Tng's elder brother, to give up his wife Princess Thun Thin for the Emperor when she had been pregnant with Trn Quc Khang for three months. After the royal marriage, Thun Thin was entitled the new empress of the Trn Dynasty while Chiu Thnh was downgraded to princess. Furious at losing his pregnant wife, Trn Liu rose in revolt against the royal family. Meanwhile Thi Tng felt awkward about the situation and decided to become a monk in Yn T Mountain in Qung Ninh. Finally Trn Th successfully persuaded Thi Tng to return to the throne and Trn Liu had to surrender after judging that he could not stand with his fragile force. All soldiers who participated in this revolt were killed; Trn Th even wanted to behead Trn Liu but was stopped by Thi Tng Mongol invasions In 1257 the Trn Dynasty was faced with the first Mongol invasion of i Vit. At the beginning of the war, the i Vit army suffered several defeats by an overwhelming force which had already conquered a vast area in Asia. Several high-ranking officials of the Trn Dynasy were so fearful that Prince

Khm Thin Trn Nht Hiu, the younger brother of Thi Tng, even suggested to the Emperor that they might escape from i Vit to the Song Dynasty. Thanks to the firm faith of Emperor Thi Tng, grand chancellor Tr n Th , and the talented generals such as Prince Hng o Trn Quc Tun and L Ph Trn, the Trn Dynasty was able to drive back the invasion and ultimately reestablished the peace in i Vit in the twelfth lunar month of 1257 In the twelfth lunar month of 1284, the second Yuan invasion of i Vit was launched under the command of Kublai Khan's prince Toghan. i Vit was attacked from two directions, with Toghan himself conducting an infantry invasion from the northern border while the Yuan navy under general Sogetu advanced from the southern border through the territory of Champa. Initially, Trn Thnh Tng and Trn Nhn Tng had to order the army to retreat to avoid the pressure from the Yuan force when Prince Chiu Minh Tr n Quang Khi commanded his troops to try to stop Sogetu's fleet in the province of Ngh An. Meanwhile several high-ranking officials and members of the royal family of the Trn Dynasty defected to the Yuan side, including Thnh Tng's own brother, Prince Chiu Quc (Trn ch Tc) and Trn Kin, who was the son of Prince Tnh Quc (Trn Quc Khang). To ensure the safety of Thnh Tng and Nhn Tng during their retreat, Princess An T was offered as a present and diversion for prince Toghan while Marquis Bo Ngha (Trn Bnh Trng) was captured and later killed in the Battle of Mc while defending the two emperors. At the southern border, Trn Quang Khi also had to retreat under the pressure of Sogetu's navy and the defection of the governor of Nghe An. This critical situation for the Trn Dynasty began to change after their victory at the Battle of Hm T in the fourth lunar month of 1285, where the troops commanded by Trn Nht Dut, Prince Chiu Thnh, Trn Quc Ton, and Nguyn Khoi were finally able to defeat the fleet of general Sogetu. On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month of 1285, Trn Quang Khi fought the decisive battle in the Chng Dng where the Yuan navy was almost destroyed and the balance in the battlefield tilted definitively in favor of the Trn Dynasty. Ten days later Sogetu was killed and the Trn Emperor Nhn Tng and Retired Emperor Thnh Tng returned to the capital, Thng Long, on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, 1285. In the third lunar month of 1287, the Yuan Dynasty launched their third invasion of i Vit. This time, unlike the second invasion, commander in chief Prince Hng o (Trn Quc Tun) assured the Emperor that i Vit's army could easily break the Yuan military campaign. This invasion was indeed ended one year later by a disastrous defeat of the Yuan navy at the Battle of Bch ng on the eighth day of the third lunar month, 1288. Besides Trn Quc Tun, other notable generals of the Trn Dynasty during this time were Prince Nhn Hu Trn Khnh D who destroyed the logistics convoy of the Yuan navy at the

Battle of Vn n or general Phm Ng Lo who took charge of ambushing prince Toghan's retreating troops. Peace and southward expansion After the three invasions, the people of i Vit were finally able to witness a long period of prosperity and peace during the reign of Trn Anh Tng, Trn Minh Tng and Trn Hin Tng. Anh Tng was the first Trn emperor who reigned without having to face attacks from the Mongol Empire. Despite the deaths of the two most important generals of the early Tr n dynasty, Trn Quang Khi in 1294 and Trn Quc Tun in 1300, the Emperor was still served by many efficient mandarins like Trn Nht Dut, on Nh Hi, Phm Ng Lo, Trng Hn Siu, Mc nh Chi and Nguyn Trung Ngn. Anh Tng was very strict in suppressing gambling and corruption but he also generously rewarded those who served him well. In 1306, the king of Champa, Ch Mn, offered Vietnam two Cham prefectures, and L, in exchange for a marriage with the Vietnamese princess Huyn Trn. Anh Tng accepted this offer, then took and renamed prefecture and L prefecture to Thun prefecture and Ha prefecture. These two prefectures soon began to be referred to collectively as the Thu n Ha region. Only one year into the marriage, Ch Mn died and, in line with the royal tradition of Champa, Huyn Trn was to be cremated with her husband. Facing this urgent condition, Anh Tng sent his mandarin Trn Khc Chung to Champa to save Huyn Trn from an imminent death. Finally Huyn Trn was able to return to i Vit but Ch Ch, the successor of Ch Mn, no longer wished to abide by the peace treaty with i Vit. After that event, Anh Tng himself, along with the generals Trn Quc Chn and Trn Khnh D, commanded three groups of i Vit military units to attack Champa in 1312. Ch Ch was defeated and captured in this invasion, and Anh Tng installed a hand-picked successor, but the relations between i Vit and Champa remained strained for a long time afterwards. Decline After the death of the Retired Emperor Trn Minh Tng in 1357, the Trn Dynasty began to fall into chaos during the reign of Tr n D Tng. While being modest and diligent under the regency of Minh Tng, the reign of Emperor D Tng saw extravagant spending on the building of several luxurious palaces and other indulgences. D Tng introduced theatre, which was considered at the time to be a shameful pleasure, into the royal court. The Emperor died on the 25th day of the fifth lumar month, 1369, at the age of 28, after appointed his brother's son Dng Nht L despite the fact that his appointee was not from the Trn clan.

Like his predecessor D Tng, Nht L neglected his administrative duties and concentrated only on drinking, theatre, and wandering. He even wanted to change his family name back to Dng. Such activities disappointed everyone in the royal court. This prompted the Prime Minister Tr n Nguyn Trc and his son Trn Nguyn Tit to plot the assassination of Nht L, but their conspiracy was discovered by the Emperor and they were killed afterwards. In the tenth lunar month of 1370, the Emperor's father-in-law, Trn Ph, after receiving advice from several mandarins and members of the royal family, decided to raise an army for the purpose of overthrowing Nht L. After one month, his plan succeeded and Trn Ph became the new emperor of i Vit, ruling as Trn Ngh Tng, while Nht L was downgraded to Duke of Hn c (Hn c Cng) and was killed afterwards by an order of Ngh Tng. After the death of Hn c Cng, his mother fled to Champa and begged King Ch Bng Nga to attack i Vit. Taking advantage of his neighbour's lack of political stability, Ch Bng Nga commanded troops and directly assaulted Thng Long, the capital of i Vit. The Trn army could not withstand this attack and the Trn royal court had to escape from Thng Long, creating an opportunity for Ch Bng Nga to violently loot the capital before withdrawing. In the twelfth lunar month of 1376 the Emperor Trn Du Tng decided to personally command a military campaign against Champa. Eventually, the campaign was ended by a disastrous defeat of i Vit's army at the Battle of Bn, when the Emperor himself, along with many high-ranking madarins and generals of the Trn Dynasty, were killed by the Cham forces. The successor of Du Tng, Trn Ph , and the retired Emperor Ngh Tng, were unable to drive back any invasion of Ch Bng Nga in i Vit. As a result Ngh Tng even decided to hide money in Lng Sn, fearing that Ch Bng Nga's troops might assault and destroy the royal palace in Thng Long. In 1389 general Trn Kht Chn was appointed by Ngh Tng to take charge of stopping Champa. In the first lunar month of 1390, Trn Kht Chn had a decisive victory over Champa which resulted in the death of Ch Bng Nga and stabilised situation in the southern part of i Vit. Downfall During the reign of Trn Ngh Tng, H Qu Ly, an official who had two aunts entitled as consorts of Minh Tng, was appointed to one of the highest positions in the royal court. Despite his complicity in the death of the Emperor Du Tng, H Qu Ly still had Ngh Tng's confidence and came to hold more and more power in royal court. Facing the unstoppable rise of H Qu Ly in the court, the Emperor Trn Ph plotted with minister Trn Ngc to reduce H Qu Ly's power, but H Qu Ly pre-empted this plot by a defamation campaign against the Emperor which ultimately made Ngh Tng decide to replace him

by Trn Thun Tng and downgrade Ph to Prince Linh c in December 1388. Trn Ngh Tng died on the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month, 1394 at the age of 73 leaving the royal court in the total control of H Qu Ly. He began to reform the administrative and examination systems of the Tr n Dynasty and eventually obliged Thun Tng to change the capital from Thng Long to Thanh Ha in January 1397. On the full moon of the third lunar month, 1398, under pressure from H Qu Ly, Thun Tng, had to cede the throne to his three-year-old son Trn An, now Trn Thiu , and held the title Retired Emperor at the age of only 20. Only one year after his resignation, Thun Tng was killed on the orders of H Qu Ly. H Qu Ly also authorised the execution of over 370 persons who opposed his dominance in the royal court, including several prominent mandarins and the Emperor's relatives together with their families, such as Tr n Kht Chn, Trn Hng, Phm Kh Vnh and Lng Nguyn Bu. The end of the Trn Dynasty came on the 28th day of the second lunar month (Gregorian: March 23) 1400, when H Qu Ly decided to overthrow Thiu and established a new dynasty, the H Dynasty. Being H Qu Ly's own grandson, Thiu was downgraded to Prince Bo Ninh instead of being killed like his father.

ECONOMY
To restore the country's economy, which had been heavily damaged during the turbulent time at the end of the L Dynasty, Emperor Tr n Thi Tng decided to reform the nation's system of taxation by introducing a new personal tax (thu thn) which was levied on each person according to the area of cultivated land that one owned. For example, a farmer who owned one or two mu, equal to 3,600 to 7,200 square metres (39,000 to 78,000 sq ft), had to pay one quan per year while another with up to four mus had to pay two quan. Besides personal taxes, farmers were obliged to pay a land tax in measures of rice which was calculated by land classification. One historical book reveals that the Trn Dynasty taxed everything from fish and fruits to betel. Taxpayers were divided into three categories: minors (tiu hong nam, from 18 to 20), adults (i hong nam, from 20 to 60) and seniors (lo h ng, over 60). During the reign of Trn Thnh Tng members of the Trn clan and royal family were required by the Emperor to take full advantage of their land grants by hiring the poor to cultivate them. i Vit's cultivated land was annually ruined by river floods, so for a more stable agriculture, in 1244, Trn Thi Tng ordered his subordinates to construct a new system of levees along the Red River. Farmers who had to sacrifice their land for the diking were compensated with the value of the land. The Emperor also appointed a separate official to control the system.

CULTURE
Literature Trn literature was considered superior to L literature in both quality and quantity. Initially, most members of the Trn clan were fishermen without any depth of knowledge. For example, Trn Th , the founder of the Trn Dynasty, was assessed in i Vit s k ton th as a man of superficial learning. After their usurpation of power from the L Dynasty however Tr n emperors and other princes and marquises always attached special importance to culture, especially literature. Two important schools of literature during the reign of the Trn Dynasty were patriotic and Buddhist literature. To commemorate the victory of i Vit against the second Mongol invasion the grand chancellor Trn Quang Khi composed a poem, named Tng gi hon kinh (Return to the capital), which was considered one of the finest examples of Vietnamese patriotic literature during the dynastic era. Patriotism in Trn literature was also represented by the proclamation Hch tng s (Call of Soldiers), written by general Trn Quc Tun, which was the most popular work of the hch (appeal, call) form in Vietnamese literature. Besides members of the Trn clan, there were several mandarins and scholars who were well known for patriotic works such as Trng Hn Siu, an eminent author of the ph form, or general Phm Ng Lo with his famous poem Thut hoi. As Buddhism was de facto the national religion of the Trn Dynasty, there were many works of Trn literature which expressed the spirit of Buddhism and Zen, notably the works of the Emperor Trn Nhn Tng and other masters of Trc Lm School. Besides the literature created by the upper classes folk narratives of myth, legend and ghost story were also collected in Vit in u linh tp by L T Xuyn and Lnh Nam chch qui by Trn Th Php. These two collections held great value not only for folk culture but also for the early history of Vietnam. Trn literature had a special role in the history of Vietnamese literature for its introduction and development of Vietnamese language (Quc ng) literature written in ch Nm. Before the Trn Dynasty, Vietnamese language was only used in oral history or proverb. Under the rule of the Emperor Trn Nhn Tng, the Vietnamese language was used for the first time as the second language in official scripts of the royal court, besides Chinese. It was Hn Thuyn, an official of Nhn Tng, who began to compose his literary works in the Vietnamese language, with the earliest recorded poem written in ch Nm in

1282. He was considered the pioneer who introduced ch Nm in literature. After Hn Thuyn, ch Nm was progressively used by Trn scholars in composing Vietnamese literature, such as Chu Vn An with the collection Quc ng thi tp (Collection of national language poems) or H Qu Ly who wrote Quc ng thi ngha to explain Shi Jing in the Vietnamese language. The achievement of Vietnamese language literature during Trn era was the essential basis for the development of this language in the subsequent literature of Vietnam. Performing arts The L and Trn Dynasties were considered the golden age of music and culture. Although it was still seen as a shameful pleasure at that time, theatre was rapidly developed towards the end of the Trn Dynasty with the role of L Nguyn Ct (Li Yuan Ki), a captured Chinese soldier who was granted a pardon for his talent in theatre. It was L Nguyn Ct who imported many features of Chinese theatre in the performing arts of i Vit such as stories, costumes, roles, and acrobatics. For that reason, L Nguyn Ct was traditionally considered the founder of the art of ht tung in Vietnam, which is nowadays a challenged hypothesis because ht tung and Beijing opera were different in concepts such as the way of using painted faces, costumes, or theatrical conventions. The art of theatre was introduced to the royal court by Trn D Tng and eventually the emperor even decided to cede the throne to Dng Nht L who was born to a couple of ht tung performers. To celebrate the victory over the Yuan invasion in 1288, Tr n Quang Khi and Trn Nht Dut created the Ma bi bng (dance of flowers) for a major three-day festival in Thng Long. This dance has been handed down to the present and is still performed at local festivals in the northern region.

EDUCATION AND EXAMINATION

Although Buddhism was considered the national religion of the Trn Dynasty, Confucianist education began to spread across the country. The principal curricula during this time were Four Books, Five Classics, and Northern history, which were at the beginning taught only at Buddhist pagodas and gradually brought to pupils in private classes organized by retired officials or Confucian scholars. The most famous teacher of the Trn Dynasty was probably Chu Vn An, an official in the royal court from the reign of Trn Minh Tng to the reign of Trn D Tng, who also served as royal professor of Crown Prince Trn Vng. During the reign of Trn Thnh Tng, the emperor also permitted his brother Trn ch Tc, a prince who was well known for his intelligence and knowledge, to open his own school at the prince's palace. Several prominent mandarins of the future royal court such as M c nh Chi

and Bi Phng were trained at this school. The official school of the Trn Dynasty, Quc hc vin, was established in June 1253 to teach Four Books and Five Classics to royal students (thi hc sinh). The military school, Ging v ng, which focused on teaching about war and military manoeuvre, was opened in August of the same year. Together with this military school, the first Temple of Military Men (V miu) was built in Thng Long to worship Jiang Ziya and other famous generals. Seven years after the establishment of the Trn Dynasty, the Emperor Trn Thi Tng ordered the first imperial examination, in the second lunar month of 1232, for royal students with the purpose of choosing the best scholars in i Vit for numerous high-ranking positions in the royal court. Two of the top candidates in this examination were Trng Hanh and Lu Dim. After another imperial examination in 1239, the Trn emperor began to establish the system of 7-year periodic examinations in order to select royal students from all over the country. The most prestigious title of this examination was tam khi (three first laureates), which was composed of three candidates who ranked first, second, and third in the examination with the names respectively of tr ng nguyn ( , exemplar of the state), bng nhn ( , eyes positioned alongside) and thm hoa (, selective talent). The first tam khi of the Trn Dynasty were trng nguyn Nguyn Hin, who was only 12 at that time, bng nhn L Vn Hu who later became a royal historian of the Trn Dynasty, and thm hoa ng Ma La. In the 1256 examination, the Trn Dynasty divided the title trng nguyn into two categories, kinh trng nguyn for candidates from northern provinces and tri trng nguyn for those from two southern provinces: Thanh Ha and Ngh An, so that students from those remote regions could have the motivation for the imperial examination. This separation was abolished in 1275 when the ruler decided that it was no longer necessary. In 1304, the Emperor Trn Anh Tng decided to standardize the examination by four different rounds in which candidates were eliminated step by step through tests of classical texts, Confucianist classics, royal document redaction, and finally argument and planning. This examining process was abandoned in 1396 by the Emperor Trn Thun Tng under pressure from H Qu Ly, who replaced the traditional examination with the new version as a part of his radical reforms of the social and administrative system. H Qu Ly regulated the imperial examination by a prefectural examination (thi hng) and a metropolitan examination (thi hi) following in the next year. The seconddegree examination included four rounds: literary dissertation, literary composition, royal document redaction, and eventually an essay which was evaluated by the Emperor in person. It should be noted that for the lowerranking officials, the emperor had another examination which tested writing and

calculating, such as the examination in the sixth lunar month of 1261 during the reign of Trn Thnh Tng. During its 175 years of existence, the Trn Dynasty carried out fourteen imperial examinations including ten official and four auxiliary contests. Many laureates from these examinations later became prominent officials in the royal court or well-known scholars such as L Vn Hu, author of the historical accounts i Vit s k, Mc nh Chi, renowned envoy of the Trn Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, or Nguyn Trung Ngn, one of the most powerful officials during the reign of Trn Minh Tng. Below is the complete list of examinations with the candidates who ranked first in each examination:

Year 1232 1234 1239 1247

1256

1266

1272 1275 1304 1347

Emperor Ranked first Note Trn Thi Trng Hanh Tng Lu Dim Trn Thi Nguyn Quan Tng Quang Trn Thi Lu Min Tng Vng Git Trn Thi Trng Nguyn Hin Tng nguyn Kinh trng Trn Quc Lc nguyn Trn Thi Tng Tri trng Trng Xn nguyn Kinh trng Trn C nguyn Trn Thnh Tng Tri trng Bch Liu nguyn Trn Thnh Trng L o Ti Tng nguyn Trn Thnh Trng o Tiu Tng nguyn Trn Anh Trng Mc nh Chi Tng nguyn Trn D Trng o S Tch Tng nguyn

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND MEDICINE

There is evidence for the use of feng shui by Trn Dynasty officials, such as in 1248 when Trn Th ordered several feng shui masters to block many spots over the country for the purpose of protecting the newly founded Trn Dynasty from its opponents. Achievements in science during the Trn Dynasty were not detailed in historical accounts, though a notable scientist named ng L was mentioned several times in i Vit s k ton th. It was said that ng L was appointed by Emperor Minh Tng to the position of national inspector (lim phng s) but he was noted for his invention called lung linh nghi which was a type of armillary sphere for astronomic measurement. From the result in observation, ng L successfully persuaded the emperor to modify the calendar in 1339 for a better fit with the agricultural seasons in i Vit. Marquis Trn Nguyn n, a superior of ng L in the royal court, was also an expert in calendar calculation. Near the end of the Trn Dynasty the technology of gunpowder appeared in the historical records of i Vit and was responsible for the death of the King of Champa, Ch Bng Nga, after the Trn general Trn Kht Chn fired a cannon at his battleship in January 1390. According to the NUS researcher Sun Laichen, the Trn Dynasty acquired gunpowder technology from China and effectively used it to change the balance of power between i Vit and Champa in favour of i Vit. As a result of this Sun reasoned that the need for copper for manufacturing firearms was probably another reason for the order of H Qu Ly to change from copper coins to paper money in 1396. The people of the Trn Dynasty and later H Dynasty were not satisfied with the imported technology and continued to improve their firearms using gunpowder. The development of i Vit technology in using gunpowder resulted in weapons of superior quality to their Chinese counterparts. These were acquired by the Ming Dynasty in their invasion of i Vit. During the rule of the Trn Dynasty, medicine had a better chance to develop because of a more significant role of Confucianism in society. In 1261, the emperor issued an order to establish the Institute of Royal Physicians (Thi y vin) which took charge of managing medicine in i Vit, carrying out the examination for new physicians and treating people during disease epidemics. In 1265 the institute distributed a pill named Hng ngc sng to the poor, which they considered able to cure many diseases. Besides the traditional Northern herbs (thuc Bc), Trn physicians also began to cultivate and gather various regional medicinal herbs (thuc Nam) for treating both civilians and soldiers. During the reign of Trn Minh Tng the head of the Institute of Royal Physicians Phm Cng Bn was widely known for his medical ethics, treating patients regardless of their descent with his own medicine made from regional herbs; it was said that Phm Cng Bn gathered his remedies in a medical book named Thi y dch bnh (Diseases by the Royal Physician). Another Trn

person and fellow countryman of Phm Cng Bn was the monk Tu Tnh, one of the most famous physicians in Vietnamese history, who was called "Father of the Southern Medicine" for creating the basis of Vietnamese traditional medicine with his works Hng ngha gic t y th and Nam dc thn hiu. Nam dc thn hiu was a collection of 499 manuscripts about local herbs and ten branches of treatment with 3932 prescriptions to cure 184 type of diseases while Hng ngha gic t y th provided people with many simple, easy-toprepare medicines with high effect.