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Why did the Yongle emperor order the official history of the Jianwen reign to be changed?

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Yongle The Yongle emperor, detail of a portrait; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

The Yongle emperor ordered the official history of the Jianwen reign to be rewritten to effectively erase his nephew's legitimacy and existence as a ruler. By mandating that the founding emperor’s era name be extended through 1402, Yongle sought to act as if the Jianwen emperor had never reigned at all.1

This historical revisionism was part of a broader effort to consolidate power following the civil war that brought Yongle to the throne. After seizing control, Yongle revoked the institutional and policy changes implemented by his predecessor and purged those who had advised him. By striking the Jianwen reign from the official record, Yongle aimed to solidify his own status as the rightful successor to the founding emperor, thereby delegitimizing the brief period of his nephew's rule.12