Biography

In 1224, Lý Huệ Tông became mentally ill and the issue of succession became pressing. He had produced no male heirs, and so appointed his seven-year-old daughter Lý Chiêu Hoàng as his successor. Although a female ruler would likely not have been normally acceptable to the court, Trần Thủ Độ had a scheme to end the Lý Dynasty and place a Trần on the throne which depended on the existence of a young empress, and so Lý Chiêu Hoàng was accepted as empress. Lý Huệ Tông retired to become a Buddhist monk, although he lived only two more years. In 1226 Trần Thủ Độ, while consolidating the power of the newly founded Trần Dynasty by eliminating Lý family members and potential pretenders, induced Lý Huệ Tông to commit suicide.