Edict from the Cảnh Hưng (景興) era of the Lê dynasty

This edict bestows three beautifying characters to a deity; it was issued on the 21st day of the 5th month of the 4th year of the reign of Lê Hiển Tông (黎顯宗).

Hán transcript

敕當境城隍當河輔國冲應弘恩垂休顯靈翊運才明勇畧䕶國保民厚德至仁䕶國安民捍災禦患澤國福民匡國福佑揚武扶祚靖肅聰明莊正普惠宠休綏祿顯德豐功綏慶聰明英靈護國扶運揚武衛國康民賛治敷威豁達大度神武䧺豪英毅建謀匡𨐓翼聖仁聖盛明至德洪恩英敏博達孚化嘉惠明肅睿智肫信䧺風宣義英靈集福俊德昭烈顯靈孚感聖神美大大王，四瀆儲精，兩儀交泰，高配天厚配地，玄化茂参，功在國德在民，冥機默運。在昔旣加𡽪顯號，今當載播顯稱。為嗣位在初，禮當登秩，應加封美字三字，可加封當境城隍當河輔國沖應孚感弘恩垂休顯靈翊運才明勇畧護國保民厚德至仁護國安民捍災禦患澤國福民匡國福祐揚武扶祚靖肅聰明莊正普惠宠休綏祿顯德豐功綏（功）慶聰明英靈護國扶運揚武衛國康民賛治敷威豁達大度神武䧺豪英毅建謀匡𨐓翊聖仁聖盛明至德洪恩英敏博達孚化[嘉惠]睿智肫信䧺風宣義英靈集福峻德昭烈顯靈孚感聖神美大英威顯（靈）應延祥大王，故敕。景興四年五月二十一日 Seal：敕命之寶

This edict contains evidence of scribal revision. The character 休, 國, 扶, and 在 appear as marginal insertions, written either to the right of the main text or above the line in smaller script. These characters were omitted in the initial writing and added later by the scribe. In the transcription, they are displayed in a small font size. To the right of the character 功 and 靈, the annotation 餘字 appears in the manuscript, indicating that these characters are redundant. In the transcription, this redundancy is represented using parentheses: （功）and（靈）. Two small annotations 下 and上 appear to the right of惠 and 嘉, respectively, indicating their relative vertical order, with嘉 positioned above 惠. This relationship is transcribed as [嘉惠].

Transcript provided by Penn State University Libraries.

Title:
Edict from the Cảnh Hưng (景興) era of the Lê dynasty
Authors:
Lê Hiển Tông
Document type:
Edict
Dynasty:
Lê — Cảnh Hưng
Date:
1743
Date (Vietnamese calendar):
4-5-21
Languages:
Vietnamese, Script Han (Traditional variant)
Subjects:
Vietnam--History--Later Lê dynasty, 1428-1787; Later Lê dynasty (Vietnam)
Place of Publication:
Vietnam
Physical Description:
The edict is on yellow paper and features a dragon and a pearl drawn in brown ink. It includes the the red imperial seal, Sắc mệnh chi bảo (敕命之寶).
Container:
Box 01
Identifier:
pstsc_10178_39d5fc7cd8c369f279e7dcc496142dcd
Location:
Pennsylvania State University. Special Collections Library
Access Condition:
No Copyright – United States
Description:
This edict bestows three beautifying characters to a deity; it was issued on the 21st day of the 5th month of the 4th year of the reign of Lê Hiển Tông (黎顯宗).
Date notes:
The non-Gregorian dates on these materials refer to the manner in which days were counted from the beginning of the emperor’s rule. For example, an item from CE 1638 also bears the date 4-5-25, which means the document was written on the 25th day of the 5th month of the 4th year of Lê Thần Tông, the emperor who ruled during the Dương Hòa era.
Note:

The physical collection is comprised of 32 edicts and documents. This digital collection consists of dealer images of the front of each scroll. For further questions regarding the physical collection, please contact the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at spcollections@psu.edu.

The original document is held by the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State University Libraries. Images are provided from Penn State's digital repository.