Ly Thai To

Early years

Lý Công Uẩn was born in Cổ Pháp district, Đình Bảng's village, Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh Province in 974. There are no historical records about his maternal side except that his mother was surnamed Phạm. The identity of his birth-father is unknown although he was posthumously granted the title Duke of Hiển Khánh when Công Uẩn was enthroned. Although Vietnamese chronicle Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Đại Việt sử lược recorded Công Uẩn's mother only by the surname Phạm, or referred to her as Mrs. Phạm, local folklore associated with the historical relics in Dương Lôi (Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh) states that her name was Phạm Thị Ngà. Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Khâm định Việt sử record that when Mrs Phạm went sightseeing at Tiêu Sơn temple, she was intimate with a demigod, and later gave birth to Công Uẩn. Gregory Sattler however notes that scholars have long debated Lý Công Uẩn's precise origins, since many of the Vietnamese records may not be taken at face value as they were written several centuries after his death. Sattler notes that Lý Công Uẩn's family was already influential before his own rise to power, suggesting that this aspect of his background may have been neglected by later writers seeking to emphasize his divine birth.

Đại Việt sử lược also records Công Uẩn has an elder brother, later entitled Duke of Vũ Uy, and a younger brother, later entitled Duke of Dực Thánh. Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư also records that Công Uẩn has an uncle, who was entitled Duke of Vũ Đạo.

Still according to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Công Uẩn's mother gave him up for adoption to a Buddhist monk named Lý Khánh Vân at the age of three. From an early age, Công Uẩn proved himself to be an extraordinarily intelligent boy with an impressive physical appearance. At the age of six or seven, he was sent to Lục Tổ Pagoda in Đình Bảng village, to be raised by the Buddhist monk Vạn Hạnh, the most eminent Buddhist patriarch of the time. Upon seeing Công Uẩn, Vạn Hạnh immediately said: "This boy is exceptional, he will grow up to resolve the nation’s problems and be a great emperor".

Growing up, Công Uẩn was an upright and ambitious man, who had no interest in material riches, and just loved delving into Confucian classics and Buddhist scriptures, though his knowledge of them remained largely at an overview level. He acquired a reputation as a devout Buddhist, and then a historian student, and a soldier. According to the Lê royal genealogy in Bảo Thái, Hà Nam (present-day Ninh Bình) and historical sources from Hoa Lư Ancient Capital, Công Uẩn followed Patriarch Vạn Hạnh to serve emperor Lê Hoàn in Hoa Lư annually. The emperor then allowed Công Uẩn to stayed at the court to learn military affairs, married his daughter Lê Thị Phất Ngân off to him, and gradually promoted him from a minor official to Điện Tiền Chỉ Huy Sứ (Commander of the Palace). However, Đại Việt sử lược records that Lý Công Uẩn served the Lê royal court during the Ứng Thiên era (994-1005), while Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục records his serving in the middle of the that era. Until 1003, emperor Lê Hoàn starts being sickness, and finally died in 1005. Before 1003, during the Ứng Thiên era, the emperor regularly led campaigns to suppress rebellions and barbarians, all of which resulted in victory. From these events, it can be inferred that Lý Công Uẩn married the emperor’s princess, Phất Ngân, became a military personnel, and later rising to the rank of general, in the middle of the Ứng Thiên era, between 1000 and 1003. No historical sources record any contributions of Lý Công Uẩn to emperor Lê Hoàn during this era.

Enthronement

According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Việt sử lược, during the reign of Lê Long Đỉnh, in Diên Uẩn village (Cổ Pháp province), there was a kapok tree struck by a lightning. The resulting marks formed a poem which is called by Vietnamese historian as Sấm cây gạo (The kapok tree prophecy):Thụ Căn yểu yểuMộc biểu thanh thanhHòa đao mộc lạcThập bác tử thành Chấn cung xuất nhựtĐoài cung ẩn tinhLục thất niên gianThiên hạ thái bìnhEnglish translation based on the original translation from Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Việt sử lược:

The root is deepThe tree bark is greenPeach tree fallsEighteen children are bornThe Eastern sun risesThe western star fades Approximately six, seven yearsPeace is brought to the realm

Thụ Căn yểu yểu (The root is deep), the root symbolizes to the emperor, "yểu" means short-live. It predicts the emperor is short-live. Mộc biểu thanh thanh (The tree bark is green), bark symbolizes the mandarins under the emperor, while green signifies flourishing or prosperity. The phrase thus indicates that the mandarinate would flourish. In the third sentence, Hòa (禾) + Đao (刀) + Mộc (木) combine to form the character Lê (黎), this indicates the fall of the Lê dynasty. In the fourth sentence, Thập (十) + Bát (八) + Tử (子) combine to form the character Lý (李), which is interpreted as indicating the establishment of the Lý clan or dynasty.

The first four sentences are interpreted as predicting the fall of the Lê dynasty and the rise of the Lý dynasty. The final four sentences are understood as indicating historical events up to the Trịnh–Nguyễn warlord era. However, footnotes in the 1993 edition of Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư claim the last four sentences were entirely fabricated by the historians of the Trần and Later Lê dynasty in order to legitimize their rule through the Mandate of Heaven theory.

News about the kapok tree prophecy started spreading all over the realm. Patriarch Vạn Hạnh told Công Uẩn: "I have seen the prophecy glyphs indicates that the Lý's clan will flourish and rise to the throne. There are so many people who bear the surname Lý in this realm, yet none possess have the warm heart like yours, Commander. You are now in charge of the national guard. If it is not you who governs the empire, then no one will. I'm in my 70s now, and simply want a peaceful death. However, I just wanna see your morality turn into the kingship, which is a once-in-a-thousand-years chance." From that moment, Công Uẩn developed the idea to rise to the throne being held by the Lê clan, but he feared that the words of Patriach Vạn Hạnh would be exposed publicly, so he asked his brother to hide Vạn Hạnh in Tiêu Sơn. By that time, public sentiment had already rallied around Công Uẩn.

Reign

Capital relocation to Đại La

Hoa Lư, which was the capital of the two earlier dynasties, Đinh and Anterior Lê, can be considered a natural fortress due its position between the mountains in the southeast of the Red River Delta, controlling the routes from the Red River Delta to the southern provinces and serving as a military outpost for these regions. After ascending the throne, the emperor considered Hoa Lư to be "a narrow citadel in a low-lying, damp area that could not serve as a place for emperors," and therefore wanted to relocate the capital to Đại La (modern-day Hanoi). Đại La was known as the city that the Tang general Gao Pian had built in the 860s after the ravages of the Nanzhao War. The emperor chose the site because it had been an earlier capital in the rich Red River Delta. He saw Đại La as a place "between Heaven and Earth where the coiling dragon and the crouching tiger lie, and his capital would last 10,000 years". He issued a self-written edict, which is known today as Edict on the Transfer of the Capital:"The Shang dynasty under Pan Geng moved its capital five times, and the Zhou dynasty under king Cheng moved three times. Did these kings of the Three Dynasties move their capitals for personal gain? No, they did so to establish great enterprises, to choose the most central and favorable location, ensuring prosperity for their descendants for ten thousand generations. They respected the Mandate of Heaven above and followed the desires of the people below. Whenever a location proved convenient, they relocated, thus ensuring the long-lasting stability of their dynasties, the prosperity of their lands, and the well-being of their people.However, the Đinh and Lê dynasties acted differently. They followed their personal preferences, disregarded the will of Heaven, and ignored historical precedents. They remained content in a small, enclosed land, failing to secure long-term peace and prosperity. As a result, their reigns were short-lived, their influence limited, and their people suffered. This causes me great sorrow, and I cannot help but move the capital.Furthermore, Đại La, the former capital of Gao Pian, is located in the heart of the nation’s territory. It possesses the strategic position of a coiled dragon and crouching tiger, facing the cardinal directions in perfect alignment. The land is vast and flat, elevated and dry, free from flooding and natural disasters. The population is not subjected to hardship, and all living things flourish. Upon surveying the entire nation, no other place compares to this superior land. It is truly the central hub of the four directions, the ideal place for an everlasting imperial capital.Therefore, I wish to take advantage of this great geographical blessing and establish the new capital here. What do you, my officials, think?"

All court officials totally agreed with the emperor, saying: "Your Majesty established great enterprises for the people throughout the realm. God blessed Your Majesty with great imperial prosperity, while your fellow citizens lived in densely populated and prosperous communities. No one dared not to rally around you."

Domestic policies

The outer regions of the Red River Delta, beyond the Lý heartland, were in the hands of families allied with the Lý family by marriage. Lý Thái Tổ abandoned a scheme of dividing the plain into "ten circuits" that had been devised by Đinh Bộ Lĩnh (r. 968–979) and replaced it with 24 routes; these were not administrative jurisdictions but rather itineraries designating various localities. He organized the southern provinces into military outposts, indicating a policy of garrisons and patrols. Officials did not receive a salary controlled by the capital, but were entirely dependent upon local resources, a region's fish and rice. The soldiers did receive some largesse at the same time as they were expected to do some farming of their own. The village communities scattered about the countryside stayed within their own frames of reference except in times of emergency or of specific royal demands. Only then would they interact with the central power. Otherwise they sent some of their resources to the local lord, who in turn forwarded a share as tribute to the throne. This administrative system resembles a naturally Southeast Asian mandala system.

In 1011, Lý Thái Tổ raised a large army and attacked rebels in the southern provinces, in what is now Thanh Hoá and Nghệ An. He

campaigned there for two years, burning villages and capturing local leaders. While returning by sea in late 1012, a great storm threatened to sink his boat, which he understood as a divine judgment upon him for the violence he had brought upon so many people.

For three years, 1013–1015, Lý Thái Tổ sent soldiers into the northern mountains of modern Hà Giang Province to pacify Hani people who allied with the Dali Kingdom in Yunnan.

He also reformed the tax system in 1013 by creating six tax classifications, which enabled the royal court to efficiently collect taxes and citizens to clearly know which tax classification affected them, for instance, applied mostly to goods produced on royal estates:

Tax on fishing and seafood production

Tax on agricultural production (farming)

Foreign affairs

During the reign of Lý Thái Tổ, the Song dynasty was pre-occupied with maintaining internal stability and still recovering from previous defeats or skirmishes with the Liao dynasty and Western Xia. Đại Việt, as a result, was mostly left alone and political relations between the two states revived. In 1010, the Song emperor recognized Lý Công Uẩn without delay, conferring upon him the usual titles of vassalage.

In 1010, Lý Thái Tổ attacked and caught thirteen persons of Địch Lão (bandit) ethnicity and presented the captives to the Chinese court. In August 1014, he sent a mission to China, presented 60 horses as gifts and notified the Song court that he had subdued a Hani community.

Religious activities

Having begun life as a Buddhist monk, Lý Thái Tổ practiced Buddhism and promoted it as the national religion. As a result, he gave much support to the Buddhist clergy and institutions. He donated money to build pagodas throughout Đại Việt. Initially, he built 8 Buddhist temples in the Tiên Du area, heart land of Vietnamese Buddhism and three others around the capital region itself.

Consistent with his geo-administrative vision and his kingship to appease and tame the spirit world, during the eleventh century the Lý court "brought back" to Thăng Long a firmament of local spirits that had long dominated more distant regions of the kingdom. The spirits of the Trưng sisters from the western delta, the earth genie of Phù Đổng north of the capital, and the Mountain of Bronze Drum god from Thanh Hoá in Ái to the south were all relocated to the capital and housed there in temples specially dedicated to them. If these spirits were "symbols of regional powers", their pacification involved the extension of monarchical authority to the regions of Đại Việt.

In 1024, a temple was built for Lý Thái Tổ to use for reading and reciting the Buddhist scriptures, a copy of which he had requested and

received from the Song court a few years earlier. After establishing suitable relationships with the terrestrial powers, he showed an interest in establishing proper relationships with the supernatural powers, patronizing the Buddhist religion and local cults, thereby cultivating a cultural basis for his authority. Thereafter he began to withdraw from public affairs. In 1025, Vạn Hạnh died. He had been Lý Thái Tổ's teacher, mentor, and, to some extent, father figure. He had previously been an advisor to Lê Hoàn and was a central figure in effecting the transition from the Lê family at Hoa Lư to the Lý family at Thăng Long. It seems that Lý Thái Tổ's royal personality was in some degree animated as an extension of Vạn Hạnh's expectations of him, for from this time little of note is recorded about Lý Thái Tổ until his death in the spring of 1028.

Death

Lý Công Uẩn died in 1028 at the age of 55 according to the royal official accounts. He was buried at Thọ Lăng, the Mausoleum of Longevity, outside of Thiên Đức Palace. He was posthumously named as "Lý Thái Tổ"; his posthumous imperial title was "Thần Võ Hoàng Đế". Today the ancestor spirit of Lý Thái Tổ is among those popularly honoured in rites at national shrines.

Assessment

The later historians from Trần, Lê and Nguyễn dynasties all praised Lý Thái Tổ for his achievements as a ruler. Historian Lê Văn Hưu commented in Đại Việt sử ký:

Some one asks: Who was the better ruler, Lê Đại Hành or Lý Thái Tổ? The answer is this: Regarding the suppression of domestic rebellions and repelling of foreign invasion, the strengthening of our state, and flexing our power to the Song, then Lý Thái Tổ did not measure up to Lê Đại Hành. However, when regarding the people gratitude toward the king, establishing a long-lasting dynasty, and leaving a lasting legacy for descendants, then Lê Đại Hành did not measure up to Lý Thái Tổ. So does that make Lý Thái Tổ better a ruler than Lê Đại Hành ? The answer is that it is unclear which of the two was the better ruler. We can only conclude that the legacy of the Lý dynasty endured longer than that of the Lê dynasty. That may explain why people rallied around the Lý clan.The incident in which the emperor accepted the regnal title of more than 50 words, including many exaggerated flattering words, was criticized not only by the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên during the Lê Thánh Tông's era, but was by the historian Nguyễn Nghiễm in the Đại Việt Sử ký tiền biên, during the Lê Hiển Tông's era:

"Shun was a good king during the reign of the Five Emperors. Chroniclers praised his legacy to the skies, yet they used only a few words in his regnal title—not a single word more. And that title encompassed everything about him. Lý Thái Tổ took advantage of Ngoạ Triều's hedonism, while the people rallied around him and supported his enthronement, thereby truly fulfilling Heaven's will. And even if he had greater virture than Yellow Emperor, or even greater than Emperor Yao, there shall not be exaggerated flattering words like that. At that time, many court officials are materialistic and praised the emperor to the skies. Words in his regnal titles such as "chí lý" (profoundly wise) "tự tại” (remained untroubled), are essentially meaningless, while the phrase "thánh minh long hiện duệ" (descendant of the divine Dragon King) sounded absurd. A king of average ability should be annoyed upon receiving such exaggerated praise from his court officials and should easily have recognized that as an act of flattery. Yet, Lý Thái Tổ remained silent and accepted those words without objection. How could that be plausible ? If he had any sense of self respect, he should be ashamed of himself for accepting such blatant flattery."

Legacy

The Lý Thái Tổ a Gepard-class frigate in service with the Vietnam People's Navy since 2011 is named after him.

Family

Father

Hiển Khánh vương (posthumously honored by Lý Thái Tổ in 1010)

Lý Khánh Vân (adoptive father)

Mother

Phạm Thị Ngà

Brothers

Dực Thánh Vương (翊聖王)

Lý Mỗ

Wives

Empress Lập Giáo

Lady Chu Ái Vân (婤愛雲夫人)

Children

Lý Phật Mã (李佛瑪)

Lý Long Bồ (李龍菩) (?–1069)

Lý Lực

Lý Cập

Lý Phó

Lý Nhật Quang (李日㫕) (995–1057)

Princess An Quốc

Princess Lĩnh Nam (Lý Thị Bảo Hòa)