A Study on The Diarchy System in The Le-Trinh Period in Tonkin (Vietnam) (17th-18th Centuries)

Abstract

The diarchy of the Le-Trinh government in Dang Ngoai (Tonkin) was a distinctive mode of state administration that occurred in Vietnamese history in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. In this state model, a system that coexists both king and lord with dualistic institutions of the royal court of the Kings Le and the court of the Trinh Lords administered in the same land at the same time. This study aims to research and introduce the diarchy system of Tonkin in the Le-Trinh period. For this scope, firstly, the study overviews the origin of diarchy and some modes of dualistic state organization in history. Then, the study analyzes the historical context of Dang Ngoai in the 16th century that led to the appearance of the Le-Trinh diarchy. In addition, the study also reviews the state organization at the Le King's royal court and the Trinh Lord's court. According to the principles mentioned above, the study seeks the main features of the Le-Trinh diarchy and indicates the relationship between Kings Le and Trinh Lords in this distinctive state model. The features of the diarchy system in the Le-Trinh period briefly defined as follows: duumvirate mode; association of power; decentralization of power; the imperial mandate of kingship to lordship, and the auxiliary status of the Trinh Lords to the Kings Le; despotic military mode.