Mystery of Lệ Chi Viên

Mystery of Lệ Chi Viên, Lệ Chi Viên Case or Litchi Garden Case (Vietnamese: Vụ án Lệ Chi Viên or Vụ án vườn vải) happened in 1442 was a case during Lê dynasty of Vietnam. It is also considered as one of the most famous mysteries in Vietnamese history.

Background

Emperor Lê Thái Tông was the second monarch of Lê dynasty of Vietnam. He succeeded his father to the throne following Emperor Lê Thái Tổ's death in 1433. Even there were some conflicts with Royal court officers such as Lê Sát, Lê Ngân and also his brother Prince Lê Tư Tề, he is still considered as a brilliant politician and under his era, people seemed have good lives.

He had four notable Consorts who gave birth to four princes:

Although Prince Lê Bang Cơ became Crown Prince in 1442, but he was just one year old and about the age with other Princes, therefore there were conflicts in Royal Court for the Crown Prince position, because each prince have their own supports from the Court officers, who really want to put their own prince to the throne. Four princes were also known as brilliant ones with specific talent, and it might become difficult for Emperor Lê Thái Tông to decide if he could see his princes grown up.

However, it never happened. The sudden death of Emperor Lê Thái Tông at Lệ Chi Viên in 1442 led to succession disputes among four Princes of Emperor Lê Thái Tông: Prince Lê Nghi Dân, Prince Lê Khắc Xương, Prince Lê Bang Cơ, and Prince Lê Tư Thành.

The Case

On 4 August 1442, Emperor Lê Thái Tông paid a visit to the eastern part of the country and rested in Lệ Chi Viên, a Litchi Garden belongs to great Confucian scholar Nguyễn Trãi, located in Đại Lai, Gia Bình, Bắc Ninh Province.

A concubine of Nguyễn Trãi, Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ, was chosen to fuss over the Emperor during the royal stay. Next morning, every one found out the Emperor has died. Nguyễn Trãi was accused of killing the Emperor, and together with his three generations, all of them were exterminated in 1442 [1].

Twenty years later, in 1464, Emperor Lê Thánh Tông issued a royal proclamation to vindicate Nguyễn Trãi, and praised him by stating that “Ức Trai’s spirit shines like a star". The survived son of Nguyễn Trãi, Nguyễn Anh Vũ also became an officer for Royal Court.

Assessment

Although an official vindication was published in 1464, but Nguyễn Trãi was still strictly judged by some famous historians and scholars, because of his relationships with Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ. Killing an Emperor is an unforgivable sin, then Scholar Lê Quý Đôn in the 18th century stated that Nguyễn Trãi should not be considered as a meritorious official despite his great contributions for country and Royal court during era of Emperor Lê Thái Tổ[2].

Some reports of Ngô Sĩ Liên, Phan Huy Chú and Quốc sử quán (National History School under Nguyễn Dynasty) also wrote that Nguyễn Trãi might be innocent in the death of Emperor Lê Thái Tông but not Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ [3][4].

In some research by Vũ Khiêu, Phan Huy Lê, Hoàng Đạo Chúc etc., Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ has been considered as a slander's victim of Empress Tuyên Từ. The murder might received orders from Empress Tuyên Từ to assist Emperor Lê Thái Tông and support Prince Lê Bang Cơ become the Successor[5]. Nguyễn Trãi and his family was killed because he was a supporter of Prince Lê Tư Thành.

Đinh Liệt who was a government officer of Lê dynasty, has some poems written in his Family book, in which he metaphorically stated that the actual murder was Empress Tuyên Từ.

Another research of Vũ Thị Hường in 2014 stated that the sudden death of Emperor Lê Thái Tông was just an incident or sick, and Nguyễn Trãi was just a unlucky person[6].

Legends

Mystery of Lệ Chi Viên has a famous legend named “The revenge of snake”.

One day, scholar Nguyễn Phi Khanh, father of Nguyễn Trãi planned to do clearance work in their own garden. That night, he dreamed of meeting a lady together with her children. The lady entreated him that “My children are still immature, please give us some days for moving house!”. Next morning, his students did the clearance and killed unintentional a herd of snakes, with some snake children, he suddenly understood the meaning of his dream last night. Later, during his reading in own house, there was a snake on the house’s beam dropped a blood to his book, fell down to the letter generation (Vietnamese: đời, đại, 代) and permeated through three layers of book pages. It was a prediction that his three generations have to pay a heavy price by blood.

That survived snake reborn into a beautiful lady named Nguyễn Thị Lộ, came into Nhị Khê Nguyễn clan as a concubine of Nguyễn Trãi. She asissted Emperor Lê Thái Tông in Mystery of Lệ Chi Viên. As result of that, three generations of Nguyễn Trãi were killed. It is believed that Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ intentionally gave Nguyễn Trãi and his family that terrible sin and extermination.

There was a rumor that when Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ was executed in Mystery of Lệ Chi Viên, she turned into a snake and crawled away.

In many recent research, this legend has been surrounded by controversy. A book of historian Hoàng Đạo Chúc stated that Lady Nguyễn Thị Lộ might be a victim of a plot by Empress Tuyên Từ, for the throne usurpation’s purpose to her son, Prince Lê Bang Cơ.

Lệ Chi Viên Case has been mentioned in various Vietnamese fictions, plays, documentary films and movies.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Hà Nội Social Science Publisher, 1993, Electronic Edition, page 405 (in Vietnamese)
  2. ↑ About Grand empress dowager Trường Lạc(in Vietnamese)
  3. ↑ Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Second Book, page 356 (in Vietnamese)
  4. ↑ Lịch triều hiến chương loại chí, page 243 (in Vietnamese)
  5. ↑ Lễ nghi học sĩ Nguyễn Thị Lộ và thảm án Lệ Chi viên(in Vietnamese)
  6. ↑ nghi vấn nhân đọc Văn chương Nguyễn Trãi của Bùi Văn Nguyên(in Vietnamese)
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