Hàm Nghi

Emperor Hàm Nghi 咸宜帝
Emperor Ham Nghi
Emperor of Đại Nam
Reign	2 August 1884 – 19 September 1885
Predecessor	Kiến Phúc
Successor	Đồng Khánh
Regent	Tôn Thất Thuyết & Nguyễn Văn Tường
Emperor of Nguyễn Dynasty
Reign	2 August 1884 – 19 September 1885
Predecessor	Kiến Phúc
Successor	Đồng Khánh
Born	(1871-08-03)3 August 1871 Imperial City, Huế, Đại Nam
Died	14 January 1944(1944-01-14) (aged 72) Algiers, French Algeria
Burial	Thonac, Dordogne, France
Spouse	Marcelle Laloë
Issue	Princess Nguyễn Phúc Như Mai Princess Nguyễn Phúc Như Lý Prince Nguyễn Phúc Minh Đức
Names Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch (阮福膺𧰡) Nguyễn Phúc Minh (阮福明) Era name and dates Hàm Nghi (咸宜): 1884–1885 Posthumous name None Temple name None
House	Nguyễn Phúc
Father	Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Cai (son of Thiệu Trị)
Mother	Concubine Phan Thị Nhàn
Religion	Ruism, Buddhism

Emperor Hàm Nghi (咸宜 lit. "entirely right",^[1] Arabic: هام نغي; 3 August 1871 – 14 January 1944), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch, also Nguyễn Phúc Minh, was the eighth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty. He reigned for only one year (1884–85).^[2]

Biography

On 4 July 1885, a nationwide insurrection against the French broke out under the leadership of the two regents Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết. The French stormed the palace and Tôn Thất Thuyết took Emperor Hàm Nghi and three empresses into hiding. Hàm Nghi went to the hills and jungles around Laos along with Tôn Thất Thuyết's force. While they waged guerrilla warfare against the French occupation forces, the French replaced Hàm Nghi with his brother, Đồng Khánh, who was enthroned as the Son of Heaven. In October 1888, after a series of setbacks, Hàm Nghi was hiding in an isolated house near the spring of the Nai river, with Tôn Thất Thiệp, the second son of Tôn Thất Thuyết, and a few attendants.^[3] There, he was betrayed by the head of his Muong guards, Trương Quang Ngọc, and captured on 1 November, while Thiệp was killed. He was turned over to French officers on 2 November.^[4]

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  Emperor Ham Nghi in coronation date, 1884
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  Cần Vương movement declaration .
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  Emperor Ham Nghi after being captured by the French in 1888

Exile and marriage

On 12 December 1888, he was exiled to French Algeria. There he married a French Algerian woman, Marcelle Laloë, on 4 November 1904. They had three children, Prince Minh-Duc, Princess Nhu May and Princess Nhu Lý.

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  Wedding of Emperor Hàm Nghi in French Algeria
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  Wedding of Emperor Hàm Nghi in French Algeria
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  Former emperor and his painting
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  Former Emperor enjoyed painting during exile

Death

Hàm Nghi died on 14 January 1944 at the age of 72, and was buried in Algiers. During his exile, he had bought the Château de Losse in Thonac, Dordogne, in southwest France. In 1965, Charles de Gaulle proposed to his daughter, Countess de la Besse, to transfer his body to Thonac, where he still lies in a simple grave. In 2002, Vietnam sent a delegation to France to seek permission from Princess Nhu Lý (De la Besse died in 2005, in her 97th year) to move her father's remains to the former Imperial capital of Huế. Her family has so far refused.^[5]

Honors

Some cities in Vietnam have streets named after him.^[6]

See also

• Algeria–Vietnam relations
• Giao Hoang, who was prime minister when the French took over
• Tống Duy Tân, who attempted to install Hàm Nghi as the leader of an independent Vietnam.

References

Bibliography

• Baille. "Souvenirs d’Annam 1886–1890" E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Paris (1890, viii + 266 pp.)
• Devillers, Philippe. "Français et Annamites. Partenaires ou ennemis? 1856–1902", Denoël, 1998, 517 pp.; ISBN 2-207-24248-X (2-207-24248-X)
• Gosselin, Charles. "Le Laos et le Protectorat Français". Librairie académique Didier, Perrin & Cie, Paris (1900, 349 pp.) Available here or here
• Gosselin, Charles. "L’empire d’Annam". Préface de Pierre Baudin, Perrin. Cie: Paris (1904, xxvi + 560 pp.)
• Bergoend, Isabelle. "Le Dagobert optique". Editions Thierry Marchaisse (2015, 240 pp.)

External links

• Media related to Emperor Hàm Nghi at Wikimedia Commons