Đồng Khánh

Emperor Đồng Khánh 同慶帝
Emperor of Đại Nam under French protectorate of Annam and Tonkin
Reign	19 September 1885 – 28 January 1889
Predecessor	Hàm Nghi
Successor	Thành Thái
Emperor of Nguyễn Dynasty
Reign	19 September 1885 – 28 January 1889
Predecessor	Hàm Nghi
Successor	Thành Thái
Born	19 February 1864 Imperial City, Huế, Đại Nam
Died	28 January 1889(1889-01-28) (aged 24) Imperial City, Huế, Annam, French Indochina
Burial	Tư Lăng
Spouse	11 concubines
Issue	9 including 6 sons and 3 daughter prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo
Names Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Thị (阮福膺豉) Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ (阮福膺祺) Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đường (阮福膺禟) Nguyễn Phúc Biện (阮福昪) Era name and dates Đồng Khánh (同慶): 1885–1889 Posthumous name Hoằng Liệt Thông Thiết Mẫn Huệ Thuần Hoàng Đế (弘烈聰哲敏惠純皇帝) Phối Thiên Minh Vận Hiếu Đức Nhân Vũ Vĩ Công Hoằng Liệt Thông Thiết Mẫn Huệ Thuần Hoàng Đế (配天明運孝德仁武偉功弘烈聰哲敏惠純皇帝) (1916) Temple name Cảnh Tông (景宗)
House	Nguyễn Phúc
Father	Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Cai (son of Thiệu Trị)
Mother	Concubine Bùi Thị Thanh
Religion	Ruism, Buddhism

Đồng Khánh (Vietnamese pronunciation: [ɗəwŋ͡m˨˩ xajŋ̟˧˦], chữ Hán: 同慶, lit. "collective celebration"; 19 February 1864 – 28 January 1889), born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ (阮福膺祺) or Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đường (阮福膺禟), also known as Chánh Mông (正蒙), was the ninth emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam. He reigned four years between 1885 and 1889. His royal temple name was Cảnh Tông (景宗).

Biography

Đồng Khánh was born on 19 December 1864 at Imperial City of Huế. He got the childhood name Chánh Mông when he was brought up in Chánh Mông palace. Đồng Khánh was the eldest son of Prince Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Cai (son of emperor Thiệu Trị) and Concubine Bùi Thị Thanh.

As his uncle, Emperor Tự Đức, had no children, Đồng Khánh was adopted and given the title Kiên Giang quận công (Duke of Kiên Giang).

Rule

After the French armies captured the city of Huế and the Purple Forbidden City fell to the French, the court regents Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết took the young Emperor Hàm Nghi and escaped from the Purple Forbidden City of Huế, and took him to the mountains as the figurehead of a revolutionary movement against the French. To take away the legitimacy of Hàm Nghi, general de Courcy and résident de Champeaux of France asked the empress dowager Nghi Thiên to enthrone prince Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ (Hàm Nghi's elder half brother). On 19 September 1885, Prince Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ had to go to the governor of Annam to attend his coronation; he became the ninth emperor of Đại Nam with the era name of Đồng Khánh.

The emperor showed himself as a Pro-French ruler and this was also mentioned in the diary of Trần Trọng Kim:

"Emperor Đồng Khánh had a gentle personality, loved to wear luxurious jewelry and adopted French culture[,] therefore [the] French colonial government gave favor to him. After the dethroned emperor Hàm Nghi fled to Quảng Bình, Đồng Khánh accepted the French request of travelling to Quảng Bình to persuade Hàm Nghi and his loyal subjects [to] surrender but [was] unsuccessful. After that, Hàm Nghi was betrayed by his loyal subject Trương Quang Ngọc[;] then he was captured by [the] French and exiled [to] Algérie."

Death

On 28 January 1889, Đồng Khánh died aged 24 after reigning for three years. He was granted the posthumous name Hoằng Liệt Thông Thiết Mẫn Huệ Thuần Hoàng Đế (弘烈聰哲敏惠純皇帝), with the temple name Cảnh Tông (景宗).

In 1916, his son (Emperor Khải Định) granted him the name Phối Thiên Minh Vận Hiếu Đức Nhân Vũ Vĩ Công Hoằng Liệt Thông Thiết Mẫn Huệ Thuần Hoàng Đế (配天明運孝德仁武偉功弘烈聰哲敏惠純皇帝). He was buried in Tư Lăng mausoleum (思陵), which is located at Dương Xuân Thượng village, Hương Thuỷm commune, Thừa Thiên Province.

• 
  Portrait of Emperor Đồng Khánh.
• 
  Emperor Đồng Khánh on his throne.
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  Empress Hựu Thiên, wife of Đồng Khánh
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  Empress Phụ Thiên, wife of Đồng Khánh

External links

• Media related to Emperor Đồng Khánh at Wikimedia Commons