The Lê emperors sat as figurehead rulers in Đông Kinh until the Tây Sơn Revolt finally swept the Trịnh and the Le out of power.

The following is the official list of Lê emperors from 1533 until 1789: The stalemate between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn lords that began at the end of the 17th century did not, however, mark the beginning of a period of peace and prosperity.

Instead the decades of continual warfare between the two families had left the ruists and peasantry in a weakened state, the victim of taxes levied to support the courts and their military adventures.

Having to meet their tax obligations had forced many peasants off the land and facilitated the acquisition of large tracts by a few wealthy landowners, nobles, and scholar—officials.

In addition, the peasantry faced new taxes on staple items such as charcoal, salt, silk, and cinnamon, and on commercial activities such as fishing and mining.

As they fell into disrepair, disastrous flooding and famine resulted, unleashing great numbers of starving and landless people to wander aimlessly about the countryside.

Landless peasants accounted for most of the initial support for the various rebellions, but they were often joined later by craftsmen, fishermen, miners, and traders, who had been taxed out of their occupations.

Trịnh Tông committed suicide and the Lê Emperor submitted to the wishes of the victorious Huệ by giving his daughter in marriage to him.

The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Empire under the pretense of restoring Lê dynasty dispatched a large force to invade Northern Vietnam.

Lê Mẫn Đế went to Beijing where "he was appointed a Chinese mandarin of the fourth rank and was enrolled under the Tatar banners.

His family also remained in China, and from that date many former Lê followers, who had not lost their hatred for the Tây Sơn, expected to find in every rebel who raised the flag of rebellion in their country a descendant of the old royal bloodline.

European missionaries had occasionally visited Vietnam for short periods of time, with little impact, beginning in the early sixteenth century.

The best known of the early missionaries was Alexandre de Rhodes, a French Jesuit who was sent to Hanoi in 1627, where he quickly learned the language and began preaching in Vietnamese.

He is credited with perfecting a romanized system of writing the Vietnamese language (Chữ Quốc ngữ), which was probably developed as the joint effort of several missionaries, including Rhodes.