Mạc Đăng Dung
The degenerated Lê dynasty, which endured under six rulers between 1497 and 1527, in the end was no longer able to maintain control over the northern part of the country, much less the new territories to the south. The weakening of the monarchy created a vacuum that the various noble families of the aristocracy were eager to fill. Soon after Lê Chiêu Tông fled south with the Trịnh and the Nguyễn in 1522, Mạc Đăng Dung proclaimed the Emperor's younger brother, Lê Xuân, as the new Emperor under the name [[Lê Cung Hoàng]]. In reality, the new Emperor had no power. Three years after Mạc's forces killed his older brother Lê Chiêu Tông, was pressured from Mạc Đăng Dung, in Bắc Sứ garden, Lê Cung Hoàng hanged himself on 18 June 1527. [[Mạc Đăng Dung]], being a scholar-official who had effectively controlled the Lê for a decade, murdered all the Lê royal family member then proclaimed himself the new Emperor of Vietnam on 15 June 1527, ending (so he thought) the Lê dynasty (see [[Mạc dynasty]] for more details).