Trịnh Cương

Trinh Cuong ruled Vietnam from 1709 to 1729 (he ruled with the title "An Do Vuong").

Trinh Cuong, one of the Trinh Lords who ruled Vietnam. Like his predecessor, Trinh Can, his reign was mostly devoted to administrative reforms.

Trinh Cuong ruled Vietnam during a time of external peace but growing internal strife. He enacted many governmental reforms in both financial matters and judicial rules. His main concern was the growing problem of landless peasants. Unlike the Nguyen Lords who were constantly expanding their territory south, the Trinh Lords had little room for expansion. So the land supply was essentially fixed but the population kept growing.

Trinh Cuong tried various legislative means to solve the problem. He tried to limit private land holdings. He tried to redistribute the communal fields of the small villages. Nothing really worked and the problem became very serious over the succeeding decades. According to historian Bruce Lockhart, the governmental reforms enacted by Trinh Cuong and his father, Trinh Can, made the government more effective but, they also made the government more of a burden to the people. This had the effect of increasing the hatred felt by the people towards the Trinh rulers in Hanoi.

Trinh Cuong passed an edict forbidding people to practice Christianity in 1712. Like previous efforts to suppress Christianity, this had little real effect in Vietnam. However, he tried to offer the people an alternative, and he had many Buddhist pagodas constructed during his rule.

As far as the Le dynasty was concerned, the king, Lê Du Tông, ruled throughout Trinh Cuong's lifetime. The two men died within a few months of each other in 1729.

See also Le Dynasty.

Sources

Encyclopedia of Asian History, Volumns 4. 1988. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
[http://art-hanoi.com/toda/16.html Annam and it Minor Currency] Chapter 16 (downloaded May 2006)

List of Vietnamese dynasties