1 The Nguyễn clan, which lost their power struggle against the Trịnh, emigrated south and established an independent base at Huế. The Nguyễn Lords constructed a very different governing structure to that of the northern Trịnh Lords. See Tana, Li, Nguyễn Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Cornell University, 1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Nghị, Đặng Phương, Les institutions publiques du Viêt-nam au 18e siècle (Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient, 1969).Google Scholar

3 Chingho, Chen, ed., Đại Việt Sử ký Toàn thư, 3 vols. (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, Tokyo University, 1984–86).Google Scholar

4 Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám Cương mục (Taipei: National Central Library, 1969).Google Scholar

5 There are many manuscripts of Loại chí; here, I use the manuscript owned by Toyo Bunko (Lịch triều Hiến chương Loại chí, 49 vols., X-2-38, Toyo Bunko, Tokyo). Representative historical documentation on the official postal system in the Lê–Trịnh government is found in Quan chức chí in the 19th century Loại chí. However, the present article refers to Lê-period sources wherever possible, for instance: Lê triều quan chế (Government-Regulated Organisation of the Lê Dynasty), Han-Nom Institute, Hanoi, A.51; Lê triều hội điển (Collected Regulations of the Lê Dynasty), Han-Nom Institute, A.52; and Quan chế điển lệ (Authentic Regulations of the Government-Regulated Organisation), Han-Nom Institute, A.56, etc.

6 Whitmore, John K., ‘Chung-hsing and Cheng-t'ung in texts of and on sixteenth-century Vietnam’, in Essays into Vietnamese pasts, ed. Taylor, Keith W. and Whitmore, John K. (Ithaca: SEAP Publications, Cornell University, 1995), pp. 116–36.Google Scholar

7 Mạnh, Trịnh Khắc, Ngyuên, Nguyễn Văn, and Papin, Philippe, eds., Tổng tập Thác bản Văn khắc Hán Nôm, vols. 1–22 (Hà Nội: Viện Nghiên cứu Hán Nôm, 2005–2009).Google Scholar

8 Masahiko, Wada, ‘ベトナム黎朝末阮初の宦官について’ [On the Vietnamese eunuchs of the late Lê and early Nguyen dynasties], Report of the Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies 10 (1978): 23–44.Google Scholar

9 Takashi, Hasuda, ‘17 世紀ベトナム鄭氏政権と宦官’ [The eunuchs in seventeenth century Vietnam], Machikaneyama-Ronso: History 39 (2005): 1–39.Google Scholar

10 Ueda Shinya, ‘ベトナム黎鄭政権の地方統治: 17–18 世紀鉢場社の事例’ [The local administration of the Lê–Trịnh government in 17th to 18th century Vietnam: An example of Bát Tràng village], in 近世の海域世界と地方統治 [Local administration and the maritime world of early modern East Asia], ed. Yamamoto Eishi (Tokyo: Kyuko Shoin, 2010), pp. 256–64.

11 Shimao Minoru, ‘19 世紀－20世紀初頭北部ベトナム村落における族結合再編‘[Reorganisation of lineage connections in the 19th to early 20th century Northern Vietnamese village], in 〈血縁〉の再構築 [Reconstruction of ‘blood relations’], ed. Yoshiwara Kazuo, Suzuki Takatoshi and Suenari Michio (Tokyo: Fukyo-sya, 2000), pp. 213–54; Tan, Lia, ‘Tongking in the age of commerce’, in Anthony Reid and the study of the Southeast Asian past, ed. Wade, Geoff and Tana, Li (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012), pp. 246–68.Google Scholar

12 Shimao, ‘Reorganisation’, pp. 222–4; Ueda, ‘The local administration’, pp. 261–2.

13 Taylor, Keith, ‘The literati revival in seventeenth century Vietnam’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 18, 1 (1987): 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Ngân, Lê Kim, Chế độ chính trị Việt Nam thế kỷ 17 và 18 [Political system in 17th and 18th century Vietnam] (Saigon: Phân khoa Khoa học xã hội, Viện đại học Vạn Hạnh, 1974), pp. 363–7Google Scholar. The Trịnh Lords' governing structure is also examined in Nhuệ, Nguyễn Đức, ‘Tìm hiểu tổ chức ‘Phiên' trong bộ máy nhà nước Lê Trung hung’ [About the ‘Phien’ organisation in the state apparatus under the Lê Trung hung dynasty], Nghiên cứu Lịch sử 294 (1997): 46–51Google Scholar, which is based on Lê Kim Ngân's study.

15 Taylor, ‘The literati revival’: 7–8.

16 Sakurai Yumio, ベトナム村落の形成 [The formation of Vietnamese ‘traditional’ villages] (Tokyo: Sobun-sya, 1987).

17 On the popularisation of Confucianism supported by the literati, see Shimao Minoru, ‘ベトナムの家礼と民間文化’ [Family ritual and popular culture in Vietnam], in アジアの文人が見た民衆とその文化 [Common people and culture from the point of view of Asian literati], ed. Yamamoto Eishi (Tokyo: Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, Keio University, 2010), pp. 101–44. For case studies of autonomous villages, see Simao Minoru, ‘Reorganisation’; Ueda, ‘The local administration’, and Shinya, Ueda, ‘ベトナム・フエ近郊の村落社会と親族集団の形成: 18–19 世紀タインフオック村の事例’ [The formation of village society and kinship groups in the environs of Huế, Vietnam: The case study of Thanh Phước village from the 18th to 19th centuries], Journal of Oriental Research 72, 1 (2013): 100–36.Google Scholar

18 Taylor, Keith, in ‘Surface orientation in Vietnam: Beyond histories of nation and region’, Journal of Asian Studies 57, 4 (1998): 949–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar, emphasises the political suppression of the 17th to 18th century Red River delta literati; however, his description of regional characteristics through literary works is too episodic. Taylor does not examine the governing system and its organisation, therefore, he does not distinguish the political situation of literati from the closing of villages due to overpopulation and a shortage of arable land. See details in Ueda, ‘The formation of village society’: 128－30.

19 Toàn thư: 1044. Loại chí, vol. 14, 13a–13b. The departmental titles obviously imitate the Chinese Six Ministries. In practice, the official duties, personnel organisation, and legislative roles of these departments were very different from those of the Chinese.

20 Toàn thư: 850.

21 Ibid.: 934–5.

22 This military system introduced under Lê Thánh Tông was not just a copy of the Ming dynasty's, however. Under this system, soldiers from the Thanh–Nghệ provinces were in charge of defending the capital. This means that the original Lê military could not exclude regional troops from its national organisation. See Yao Takao, 黎初ヴェトナムの政治と社会 [Politics and society under early Lê dynasty Vietnam] (Hiroshima: Hiroshima University Press, 2009), pp. 117–32.

23 Shinya, Ueda, ‘ベトナム黎鄭政権における鄭王府の財政機構: 18 世紀の六番を中心に [The financial organisation of the Le－Trinh government in the eighteenth century Vietnam: An examination of “Luc Phien” in the princely court of Trinh]’ (Southeast Asian Studies [東南アジア研究] 46, 1 (2008): 38–9.Google Scholar

24 Sỹ, Lê Đình, ‘Về binh chế: Tổ chức quân đội triều chính vua Lê chúa Trịnh’ [About the military system: Military organisation of the Lê–Trịnh government], in Chúa Trịnh: Vị trí và vai trò lịch sử [Trịnh Lords: Their historical position and significance], ed. Ban Nghiên cứu và biên soạn lịch sử Thanh Hóa; Viện sử học Việt Nam (Thanh Hóa: Xí nghiệp In Ba Đình Thanh Hóa, 1995), pp. 298–9.Google Scholar

25 Taylor, ‘The literati revival’: 4–5.

26 Ueda, ‘Financial organisation’: 37–40. See also Ueda, ‘The local administration’: 261–3.

27 Giác, Nguyễn Sĩ, ed., Lê-triều Chiếu-lịnh Thiện-chính [Lê dynasty edicts and statutes for wise government] (Saigon: Đại học viện Saigon, Trường Luật khoa Đại học, 1961) pp. 400–1Google Scholar; hereafter, Thiện-chính.

28 Thiện-chính: 354–55.

29 Ibid.: 40–41.

30 Shinya, Ueda, ‘ベトナム黎鄭政権の官僚機構: 18 世紀の鄭王府と差遣’ [The Lê dynasty bureaucracy of northern Vietnam during the 18th century: The Trinh ‘Shogunate’ and the dispatch of ministers], Journal of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 91, 2 (2009): 103–6Google Scholar; Sakurai, Traditional villages: 24.

31 Thiện-chính: 372–75.

32 The general populace was not very conscious of the illegality of these departments, however, despite repeated government prohibitions. Corpus includes many inscriptions containing irregular official titles. See, for instance, inscriptions N. 4146 (1671), N. 5409–5410 (1682), N. 6244–6245 (1692), N. 8023 (1711), etc.

33 Kiến văn tiểu lục 見聞小錄 [Fine records of experience], Han-Nom Institute, Hanoi, VHv. 1322/1, 64a–64b. This does not mention the examination in 1628. However, according to the inscriptions of N. 3930, N. 4646–7, and N. 4648–4651, Mậu Thần khoa (戊辰科 Examination of Mậu Thần year (=1628)) was also held in 1628.

34 Taylor, ‘Literati revival’.

35 Inscription N. 9986–7 in Corpus.

36 Thiện-chính: 356–58.

37 Thiện-chính: 356–8; 368–70.

38 Thiện-chính: 348–9; 352–3.

39 Inscription N. 714–7 in Corpus.

40 Thiện-chính: 148–9.

41 Taylor, ‘Literati revival’: 13–15.

42 Lê tộc Gia phả, Han-Nom Institute, A. 2807. See also Ueda, ‘The Lê dynasty bureaucracy’: 109–16.

43 Most of the official Trịnh titles did not resemble those of the previous Chinese dynasties. Official Chinese titles usually had the name of the institution first, followed by the rank/title (for example, 戸部尚書). However, official titles of in the Six Departments had the rank/title first, followed by the name of the institution (for example ‘知侍内書寫戸番’). This follows the Vietnamese word order (modified word is first, modifier is latter).

44 To expand the Lê–Trịnh bureaucracy officials working for the Trịnh Lords were ‘dispatched’ from the Lê court. Officially, this process needed the permission of the Lê emperor, however, he had no real authority over personnel affairs. See Ueda, ‘Lê dynasty bureaucracy’: 109–16.

45 Ibid.: 97–106.

46 One cannot ascertain exactly when this recruitment of imperial scholars to the Trịnh Lords' government became routine. However, one should at least examine the case of Phạm Công Trứ, who was dispatched to the Sơn Nam province in 1642 as the Grand Defender's staff of Trịnh Tạc. Taylor, ‘Literati revival’: 8.

47 Toàn thư: 1014.

48 Toàn thư: 1016.

49 Toàn thư: 1016–17.

50 Toàn thư: 1029.

51 Toàn thư: 1029–30.

52 Toàn thư: 1030–31.

53 In Toàn thư: 990, one person named Trịnh Cơ 鄭檱, who was the son of Đào Quang Nhiêu, appears with Lê Thì Đường. He was pardoned for using the family name ‘Trịnh’, and then changed his name. It is possible that Trịnh Cơ and Đào Quang Nhai were therefore the same person. It is also likely that the Toàn thư entry for the third month of 1704 intentionally recorded his original name because he had rebelled against the Trịnh Lord.

54 Toàn thư: 966.

55 Đặng gia phả hệ toản chính thực lục, vols. 4–6, Han-Nom Institute, A. 633/2, pp. 114–34.

56 Đặng gia phả hệ toản chính thực lục: 137–8.

57 Đàm thị Gia kê, Han-Nom Institute, VHv. 1353. This is the genealogy of the Đàm clan in Ngô Tiễn village (Kinh Bắc province). The first edition was compiled by Đàm Công Hiêu in 1718, and the second edition by Đàm Thận Đức 譚慎徳 in 1832.

58 See, for example, Hưng, Đỗ Đức, ‘Trịnh Cương, Nguyễn Công Hãng và cuộc cải cách tài chính ở Đàng Ngoài thế kỷ 18 [Trịnh Cương, Nguyễn Công Hãng and financial reorganisation in 18th century Northern Vietnam]’, in Chúa Trịnh: Vị trí và vai trò lịch sử [Trịnh Lords: Their historical position and role], ed. Ban Nghiên cứu và biên soạn lịch sử Thanh Hóa; Viện sử học Việt Nam (Thanh Hóa, 1995), pp. 298–99.Google Scholar

59 Toàn thư: 1054.

60 Cương mục: 3281–2. One can confirm the commanders of six new troops in 1764 in Chính Hòa tiến sĩ đề danh bi ký, Han-Nom Institute, A. 421, 27a–28a. See further Ueda, ‘Lê dynasty bureaucracy’: 98–108.

61 Thiện chính: 360; Toàn thư: 1051–2.

62 Toàn thư: 1046–55.

63 Under Trịnh Cương there was also a tendency to both restrain the power and also reinforce the supervision of the Grand Defender. See Toàn thư: 1039; 1045; 1056.

64 Wada, ‘On the Vietnamese eunuchs’; Hasuda, ‘The eunuchs’.

65 Toàn thư: 1044.

66 Lê Kim Ngân, Chế độ: 293–8; Sakurai, Traditional villages: 190.

67 See further Sakurai, Traditional villages: 190–91; Lê Kim Ngân, Chế độ: 339–44.

68 Sakurai, Traditional villages: 191.

69 Lê Kim Ngân, Chế độ: 295–6. Judging from their locations, the local allotment of tax collection seems to have been as follows: the Left–Centre and Right–Centre Palaces were in charge of tax collection of around Hanoi; East Palace was in charge of Hải Dương province; South Palace was in charge of southern Sơn Nam province; West Palace was in charge of Sơn Tây and northern Sơn Nam province; North Palace was in charge of Kinh Bắc province. Furthermore, each Palace was alloted a mountainous area. Those living in the Thanh–Nghệ provinces were exempted from taxation and thus did not have tax collection offices.

70 Bạch ty Thứ vụ, Han-Nom Institute, VHv. 1273. Lê Tấn thân Sự lục, Han-Nom Institute, VHv. 1762, and Loaị chí include the same content. This document is also recorded in Toàn thư: 1133–34.

71 Bạch ty Thứ vụ: 14b.

72 Bạch ty Thứ vụ: 20a–20b.

73 Toàn thư: 1060.

74 Lê triều Hội điển, under the heading ‘Công thuộc’.

75 This is more clearly displayed in the titles of the Six Palaces bureaucrats, because all of those working at tax offices held the title of Lục Phiên, while there was no tax collection office per se. See Ueda, ‘Financial organisation’: 44–6.

76 Fujiwara Riichiro, 東南アジア史の研究 [Studies on the history of Southeast Asia] (Tokyo: Hozokan, 1986): 541–3; Shinya, Ueda, ‘17 世紀ベトナム黎鄭政権における国家機構と非例官署 [The administrative structure and irregular departments of the Lê–Trinh government in 17th century Vietnam]’, Tenri Bulletin of South Asian Studies 33 (2006): 24–6.Google Scholar

77 Wada, ‘Vietnamese eunuchs’: 40; Hasuda, ‘Eunuchs’: 15–16.

78 In the Corpus inscriptions, many other people have Lục Phiên titles. In these tables, only those holding the posts in a particular year are cited, so as to avoid confusion of data.

79 Hội điển, under the heading ‘Công thuộc’.

80 Wada, ‘Vietnamese eunuchs’: 24–8; Hasuda, ‘Eunuchs’: 15–16.

81 For more details on the organisation of data in the tables, see Ueda, ‘The financial organisation’, pp. 45–54.

82 See also personal records of two Tri Phiên eunuchs in the inscriptions N.1456–1459 and N.1466–1469 in Corpus.

83 Trần Thị Vinh proposes this view in ‘Thể chế chính quyền nhà nước thời Lê-Trịnh: Sản phẩm đặc biệt của lịch sử Việt Nam thế kỷ 17–18 [State and government system in the Lê–Trịnh period: A special product of Vietnamese history in the 17th–18th centuries]’, Nghiên cứu Lịch sử 332 (2004): 21–30.Google Scholar

84 Thiện-chính: 24–6.

85 See Ueda, ‘Financial organisation’: 38–9.

86 Hội điển, under the heading ‘Binh thuộc, Đôn trấn Binh lương’.

87 Bạch ty Thứ vụ: 31a.

88 Hasuda, ‘Eunuchs’: 15.

89 See Ueda Shinya, ‘ベトナム黎鄭政權における徴税と村落’ [Tax collection and villages during Vietnam's Lê dynasty under the Trinh lords], Eastern Studies 119: 91–107, and Ueda, ‘The local administration’: 265–66.