Trịnh lords
The Trịnh lords (Vietnamese: Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formally titled as “Prince” of Trịnh (Vietnamese: Trịnh vương; chữ Hán: 鄭王), also known as the House of Trịnh or the Trịnh clan (Trịnh thị; 鄭氏), were a feudal nobility clan that ruled Northern Vietnam (then called Tonkin), during the Later Lê dynasty.
Trịnh lords Chúa Trịnh 主鄭 | |||||||||||
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| 1545–1787 | |||||||||||
The seal "Tĩnh Đô vương tỷ" (靖都王璽) of lord Trịnh Sâm.
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| Status | Lordship within Lê dynasty of Đại Việt | ||||||||||
| Capital | Đông Kinh | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Vietnamese | ||||||||||
| Religion | Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Vietnamese folk religion | ||||||||||
| Government | Feudal dynastic hereditary military dictatorship | ||||||||||
| Lords | |||||||||||
• 1545–1570 | Trịnh Kiểm (first) | ||||||||||
• 1786–1787 | Trịnh Bồng (last) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 1545 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1787 | ||||||||||
| Currency | Copper-alloy and zinc cash coins | ||||||||||
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The Trịnh clan and their rivals, the Nguyễn clan, were both referred to by their subjects as "Chúa" (Lord) and controlled Đại Việt, reducing the Later Lê emperors to only titular authority. The title of “Chúa” in this context is therefore comparable to the office of Shogun in Japan. The Trịnh lords traced their descent from Trịnh Khả, a friend and advisor to the 15th-century Vietnamese Emperor Lê Lợi. The Trịnh clan produced 12 lords who dominated the royal court of the Later Lê dynasty and ruled northern Vietnam for more than two centuries.
The clan’s reign, a brutal civil war against the Nguyễns, and subsequent defeat provides a foreshadowing of later events in the country’s history and influenced the transformation of Đại Việt during the late 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in Vietnam’s foreign relations and subsequent colonization.