Hồ Quý Ly
During the reign of Trần Nghệ Tông, Hồ Quý Ly, an official who had two aunts entitled as consorts of Minh Tông, was appointed to one of the highest positions in the royal court. Despite his complicity in the death of the Emperor Duệ Tông, Hồ Quý Ly still had Nghệ Tông's confidence and came to hold more and more power in royal court. Facing the unstoppable rise of Hồ Quý Ly in the court, the Emperor Trần Phế Đế plotted with minister Trần Ngạc to reduce Hồ Quý Ly's power, but Hồ Quý Ly pre-empted this plot by a defamation campaign against the Emperor which ultimately made Nghệ Tông decide to replace him by Trần Thuận Tông and downgrade Phế Đế to Prince Linh Đức in December 1388. Trần Nghệ Tông died on the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month, 1394 at the age of 73 leaving the royal court in the total control of Hồ Quý Ly. He began to reform the administrative and examination systems of the Trần dynasty and eventually obliged Thuận Tông to change the capital from Thăng Long to Thanh Hóa in January 1397.