page_title: Gia Long
section_title: Pigneau and French assistance
hierarchical_section_title: Gia Long / Pigneau and French assistance
caption_attribution_description: English: Maupérin portrays the seven-year-old crown prince of Cochinchina (modern Vietnam) in a fanciful costume that conflates a Western silhouette with Eastern influences, including an intricately tied turban that inspired French wig designers, igniting a fashion craze. Rebellion at home had brought the prince to Versailles to seek aid in 1787, and he received an intimate reception; the prince played with the royal children but also met with dignitaries such as Thomas Jefferson. The mandarin’s hats on the table and chair may represent gifts he brought with him.
context_page_description: Gia Long, born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh or Nguyễn Ánh, was the first Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam. Unifying what is now modern Vietnam in 1802, he founded the Nguyễn dynasty, the last of the Vietnamese dynasties.
  A nephew of the last Nguyễn lord who ruled over southern Vietnam, Nguyễn Ánh was forced into hiding in 1777 as a fifteen-year-old when his family was slain in the Tây Sơn revolt. After several changes of fortune in which his loyalists regained and again lost Saigon, he befriended the French Catholic priest Pigneau de Behaine. Pigneau championed his cause to the French government and managed to recruit volunteers when that fell through to help Nguyễn Ánh regain the throne. From 1789, Nguyễn Ánh was once again in the ascendancy and began his northward march to defeat the Tây Sơn, reaching the border with China by 1802, which had previously been under the control of the Trịnh lords. Following their defeat, he succeeded in reuniting Vietnam after centuries of internecine feudal warfare, with a greater land mass than ever before, stretching from China down to the Gulf of Siam.
  Gia Long's rule was noted for its Confucian orthodoxy.
context_section_description: Deflated by his situation, Nguyễn Ánh asked Pigneau to appeal for French aid, and allowed Pigneau to take his son Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh with him as a sign of good faith. This came about after Nguyễn Ánh had considered enlisting English, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish assistance. Pigneau advised against Nguyễn Ánh's original plan to seek Dutch aid from Batavia, fearing that the support of the Protestant Dutch would hinder the advancement of Catholicism. Pigneau left Vietnam in December, arriving in Pondicherry, India in February 1785 with Nguyễn Ánh's royal seal. Nguyễn Ánh had authorized him to make concessions to France in return for military assistance. The French administration in Pondicherry, led by acting governor Coutenceau des Algrains, was conservative in outlook and resolutely opposed intervention in southern Vietnam. To compound the already complex situation, Pigneau was denounced by Spanish Franciscans in the Vatican, and he sought to transfer his political mandate to Portuguese forces. The Portuguese had earlier offered Nguyễn Ánh 56 ships to use against the Tây Sơn.
  In July 1786, after more than 12 months of fruitless lobbying in Pondicherry, Governor de Cossigny allowed Pigneau to travel back to France to directly ask the royal court for assistance. Arriving at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles in February 1787, Pigneau had difficulty in gathering support for a French expedition in support of Nguyễn Ánh. This was due to the parlous financial state of the country prior to the French Revolution. Pigneau was helped by Pierre Poivre, who had previously been involved in seeking French commercial interests in Vietnam. Pigneau told the court that if France invested in Nguyễn Ánh and acquired a few fortified positions on the Vietnamese coast in return, then they would have the capability to "dominate the seas of China and of the archipelago", and with it, control of Asian commerce. In November 1787, a treaty of alliance was concluded between France and Cochinchina, the European term for southern Vietnam, in Nguyễn Ánh's name. Pigneau signed the treaty as the "Royal Commissioner of France for Cochinchina". France promised four frigates, 1,650 fully equipped French soldiers and 250 Indian sepoys in return for the cession of Pulo Condore and Tourane (Da Nang), as well as tree trade to the exclusion of all other countries. However, the freedom to spread Christianity was not included. However, Pigneau found that Governor Thomas Conway of Pondicherry was unwilling to fulfill the agreement; Conway had been instructed by Paris to determine when to organize the aid, if at all. Pigneau was thus forced to use funds raised in France to enlist French volunteers and mercenaries. He also managed to procure several shipments of arms and munitions from Mauritius and Pondicherry.
  Meanwhile, the Royal Court of Siam in Bangkok, under King Rama I, warmly welcomed Nguyễn Ánh. The Vietnamese refugees were allowed to built a small village between Samsen and Bangpho, and named it Long-kỳ (Thai: Lat Tonpho). Ánh had stayed in Siam with a contingent of troops until August 1787. His soldiers served in Siam's war against Bodawpaya of Burma (1785–86). On 18 December 1786, Nguyễn Ánh signed a treaty of alliance with the Portuguese in Bangkok. In the next year, António (An Tôn Lỗi), a Portuguese from Goa, came to Bangkok, brought Western soldiers and warships to Ánh. This disgusted the Siamese and Ánh had to refuse the aid from Portuguese. After this incident, Ánh was no longer trusted by the Siamese.
  Having consolidated their hold on southern Vietnam, the Tây Sơn decided to move north to unify the country. However, the withdrawal of troops from the Gia Dinh garrison weakened them their hold on the south. This was compounded by reports that Nguyễn Nhạc was being attacked near Qui Nhơn by his own brother Nguyễn Huệ, and that more Tây Sơn troops were being evacuated from Gia Dinh by their commander Dang Van Tran in order to aid Nguyễn Nhạc. Sensing Tây Sơn vulnerability in the south, Nguyễn Ánh assembled his forces at home and abroad in preparation fo
caption: Portrait of Prince Cảnh, the eldest son of Gia Long, 1787
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