Collection of Vietnamese Edicts and Official Documents

This collection contains a set of thirty-two imperial edicts and high-level bureaucratic documents dating from the Lê (1428–1789) and Nguyễn (1802–1945) dynasties of imperial and colonial Vietnam, all handwritten in Chinese characters (chữ Nho). Some of the decorated edicts demonstrate how Vietnamese emperors exercised one of the most important aspects of their rule over the nation, which was their sovereignty not over human subjects but over the gods of the land. Other documents in the collection, dated Minh Mạng 19 (1838) to Bảo Đại 19 (1944), shed light on the earthly politics of the Nguyễn dynasty, during much of which the country was under French colonial rule. Many of these documents – promotions, petitions, commands, and communications – are on plain white paper and do not feature the higher quality calligraphy seen on the edicts. Researchers may be especially interested in the use of Chinese characters on the documents, especially because the practice had largely become obsolete in Vietnamese society and been replaced by the Romanized writing system quốc ngữ.