brother
Le Nghi Dan was the eldest son of King Le Thai Tong and Mrs. Duong Thi Bi. He was born in June 1439 and was crown prince in March 1440. At that time, Mrs. Duong Thi Bi was especially loved by the king, so she became arrogant, so everyone hated her. The king did not like her behavior and demoted her to Minh Nghi (a low-ranking concubine of the king's wife).
She did not correct her mistake but openly resented it. King Le Thai Tong was angry, thinking that with such a mother's temperament, the child she gave birth to might not be a virtuous person, so he demoted her to a commoner and issued an edict to the whole world that the position of crown prince had not yet been decided. Her son Nghi Dan was deposed and demoted to Lang Son King.
On June 9, 1441, Nguyen Thi Anh gave birth to Bang Co. When Bang Co was 1 year and 6 months old, he ascended the throne and became King Le Nhan Tong. The royal family's position and hierarchy were then decided. But Le Nghi Dan still secretly harbored other thoughts, especially when there were rumors that Nhan Tong was not the legitimate son of King Le Thai Tong. According to Dai Viet Thong Su, Nhan Tong thought Nghi Dan was his real brother so he did not take precautions.
According to Vietnamese historical anecdotes, Le Nghi Dan gathered more than a hundred trusted subordinates. He also had internal spies in the court, namely Le Dac Ninh, Pham Don, Pham Ban and Tran Lang. On the night of October 3, 1459, Le Nghi Dan decided to start the king's execution. He and his subordinates climbed the wall and sneaked in to kill the king.
The next day, Le Nghi Dan killed Mrs. Nguyen Thi Anh and some others, then declared himself king. At that time, the mandarins such as Do Bi, Le E, Le Ngang, Le Thu... were all angry, secretly discussing the overthrow of Le Nghi Dan, but unfortunately the plot was exposed. They were all killed by Le Nghi Dan. The treacherous and flattering people had the opportunity to rampage. On June 6, 1460, other mandarins such as Nguyen Xi, Le Lang, Dinh Liet, Le Niem, Le Nhan Thuan, Le Nhan Quy, along with many generals and officials, unanimously killed Le Nghi Dan and his trusted henchmen. The court welcomed Le Tu Thanh back and established him as King Le Thanh Tong.
Thus, after less than a year on the throne, Le Nghi Dan was overthrown by a high-ranking official. History books often do not consider him the legitimate monarch of the Later Le Dynasty.
Nguyen Khac Thuan discussed in Vietnamese historical anecdotes: "Killing the king is a serious crime against the country, killing a brother and killing people in general is an unforgivable crime, using cunning and flattering people is trampling on the conscience of loyal people, living like that, even hiding in the ground is humiliating, how could one dare to sit on the throne"?
Source
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the opening ceremony of the National Data Center](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/8/18/b5724a9c982b429790fdbd2438a0db44)
Comment (0)