Lý Anh Tông
Encyclopedia
Lý Anh Tông given name
Lý Thiên Tộ (李天祚), was the sixth emperor of the Lý Dynasty
, reigning over Đại Việt from 1138 to his death in 1175. Since Lý Anh Tông was chosen as the successor of his father Lý Thần Tông
at the age of only three, the early period of his reign witnessed the dominant position of Đỗ Anh Vũ
in the royal court until his death in 1157, afterwards the Emperor ruled the country with the assistance of a prominent official named Tô Hiến Thành
. The ruling of Lý Anh Tông was considered the last relatively stable period of the Lý Dynasty before the turbulent time during the reign of Lý Cao Tông
.
of 1136 as Lý Thiên Tộ, the first son of the emperor Lý Thần Tông
and Empress Lê Thị. Initially Lý Thiên Tộ was not chosen as crown prince
of the Lý Dynasty because his father preferred Lý Thiên Lộc who was son of his favourite concubine and born four years before in 1132. In the ninth month of 1138, the ill emperor decided to make Lý Thiên Tộ his successor and downgrade Lý Thiên Lộc to Prince Minh Đạo (Vietnamese
: Minh Đạo vương) after a campaign opened by three other concubines of the Emperor, Ladies Cảm Thánh, Nhật Phụng and Phụng Thánh, who were afraid that the coronation of a concubine's son would threaten their position in royal family.
Soon after naming his successor, Lý Thần Tông died on the 26th day of the same month. On the first day in the tenth lunar month (November 5) of 1138, Lý Anh Tông took the throne at the age of only two and changed the era name to Thiệu Minh and elevated his mother Lady Cảm Thánh to the status of Empress Mother of the Lý Dynasty, the Empress Lê Thị. During his 37-year reign, Lý Anh Tông had three more era names which were Đại Định (1140–1162), Chính Long Bảo Ứng (1163–1173) and Thiên Cảm Chí Bảo (1174–1175).
for her son. As Empress Lê Thị favoured an official named Đỗ Anh Vũ
, the royal court witnessed the rising power of this official who decided almost every matters of the country and despised other officials. According to Ngô Sĩ Liên
in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the reason for the favouritism of Empress Lê Thị for Đỗ Anh Vũ was the secret relation between them, as a result, some mandarins like Vũ Đái, Nguyễn Dương, Nguyễn Quốc and Dương Tự Minh tried to topple Đỗ Anh Vũ but failed and thus died under his order. After the death of the Empress in 1147, Đỗ Anh Vũ continued to hold strong position in the royal court until his own death in the eighth month of 1158. The rise of Đỗ Anh Vũ in the royal court was considered by Ngô Sĩ Liên one of the serious weaknesses of Lý Anh Tông's ruling which came from the wrong judgment of the Emperor.
In 1140, the priest Thân Lợi called himself the son of Lý Nhân Tông
and raised a revolt against Lý Anh Tông in the northern region (now Thái Nguyên
). The army of Thân Lợi successfully dominated the frontier region and defeated the army of the royal court led by the high-ranking official Lưu Vũ Nhĩ. After the victory, Thân Lợi, now self-appointed as King Bình (Bình Vương), took a further step by directly attacking the capital Thăng Long
. It was the chancellor Đỗ Anh Vũ who assumed the task of suppressing the rebellion, a mission that he accomplished after five months. Afterwards Thân Lợi was captured by Tô Hiến Thành
and beheaded by the order of Lý Anh Tông.
During the early reign of Lý Anh Tông, the Lý Dynasty had several edicts to relax the severe laws at that time. In 1142, in order to memorialize the rebellion of the Trưng sisters
against the Chinese domination, Lý Anh Tông ordered to build a large temple in the southern suburbs of Thăng Long which was named the Temple of Trưng sisters (Đền Hai Bà) and still remains until now, Lý Anh Tông was also considered the first emperor of Đại Việt who promoted Buddhism
as the state religion
. Another important decision of the royal court was the military campaign against the King Jaya Harivarman I of Champa
with the purpose of replacing the King by Vangsaraja who was supported by the Lý Dynasty. In 1152, the general Lý Mông was appointed by Lý Anh Tông to command over 5,000 soldiers of Thanh Hóa
and Nghệ An begin the campaign which ultimately resulted in a defeat of the Lý Dynasty and the deaths of both Lý Mông and Vangsaraja. In 1154, to heal the broken relation with the Lý Dynasty, Jaya Harivarman I sent his daughter to Đại Việt who was accepted by Lý Anh Tông as his concubine. The decision of Lý Anh Tông was criticized by the historians Ngô Sĩ Liên
and Lê Văn Hưu
who argued that instead of accepting the offer, the Emperor should have opened another campaign to punish the kingdom of Champa.
in Thăng Long in 1156, formerly Confucius
was jointly worshipped in the Temple of Literature.
In 1164, the relation between the Lý Dynasty and the Song Dynasty
had a significant change when the Emperor Xiaozong of Song
decided to acknowledge Đại Việt as a kingdom, the Kingdom of Annam
(An Nam quốc), instead of only a district, the District of Giao Chỉ (Giao Chỉ quận) which was a designation made by his predecessors. Therefore, regard to the Song Dynasty, the ruler of Đại Việt was recognized from now on as king (Quốc vương) instead of district governor (Quận vương) as before. Vân Đồn, the principal port of trade between Đại Việt and China
, was also opened in 1149 by the order of Lý Anh Tông.
Lý Anh Tông deceased in the seventh month of 1175 at the age of 39. Before his death, the emperor entrusted the regentship of his 3-year-old crown prince for Tô Hiến Thành despite the effort from his empress to make another prince for the throne. This final act by Lý Anh Tông was appreciated by the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên as a right decision to maintain the order of the royal family and royal court.
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese names generally consist of three parts: a family name, a middle name, and a given name, used in that order. The "family name first" order follows the system of Chinese names and is common throughout the Sinosphere , but is different from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese names in having a...
Lý Thiên Tộ (李天祚), was the sixth emperor of the Lý Dynasty
Lý Dynasty
The Lý Dynasty , sometimes known as the Later Lý Dynasty , was a Vietnamese dynasty that began in 1009 when Lý Thái Tổ overthrew the Prior Lê Dynasty and ended in 1225 when the queen Lý Chiêu Hoàng was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of her husband, Trần Cảnh. They ruled Vietnam for a...
, reigning over Đại Việt from 1138 to his death in 1175. Since Lý Anh Tông was chosen as the successor of his father Lý Thần Tông
Lý Thần Tông
Lý Thần Tông , given name Lý Dương Hoán , was the fifth emperor of the Lý Dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1127 to his death in 1138. Becoming the ruler of Đại Việt at the age of twelve, Lý Thần Tông successfully maintained the order of the royal court and strengthened the stability of the...
at the age of only three, the early period of his reign witnessed the dominant position of Đỗ Anh Vũ
Đỗ Anh Vũ
Đỗ Anh Vũ was an official in the royal court of Lý Anh Tông, the sixth emperor of the Lý Dynasty. Considered the most prominent figure of the consort clan during the Early Lý period, Đỗ Anh Vũ held the most powerful position in the royal court from 1140 to his death in 1158 except a short period...
in the royal court until his death in 1157, afterwards the Emperor ruled the country with the assistance of a prominent official named Tô Hiến Thành
Tô Hiến Thành
Tô Hiến Thành was an official in the royal court of Lý Anh Tông and Lý Cao Tông, the sixth and seventh emperors of the Lý Dynasty...
. The ruling of Lý Anh Tông was considered the last relatively stable period of the Lý Dynasty before the turbulent time during the reign of Lý Cao Tông
Lý Cao Tông
Lý Cao Tông , born Lý Long Trát or Lý Long Cán, was the seventh king of the Lý dynasty, ruling for 35 years. Some consider his reign being the beginning of the falling into decay of the Lý Dynasty because of erroneous determinations made by him...
.
Early years
Anh Tông was born in the fourth month in Lunar calendarLunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...
of 1136 as Lý Thiên Tộ, the first son of the emperor Lý Thần Tông
Lý Thần Tông
Lý Thần Tông , given name Lý Dương Hoán , was the fifth emperor of the Lý Dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1127 to his death in 1138. Becoming the ruler of Đại Việt at the age of twelve, Lý Thần Tông successfully maintained the order of the royal court and strengthened the stability of the...
and Empress Lê Thị. Initially Lý Thiên Tộ was not chosen as crown prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
of the Lý Dynasty because his father preferred Lý Thiên Lộc who was son of his favourite concubine and born four years before in 1132. In the ninth month of 1138, the ill emperor decided to make Lý Thiên Tộ his successor and downgrade Lý Thiên Lộc to Prince Minh Đạo (Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
: Minh Đạo vương) after a campaign opened by three other concubines of the Emperor, Ladies Cảm Thánh, Nhật Phụng and Phụng Thánh, who were afraid that the coronation of a concubine's son would threaten their position in royal family.
Soon after naming his successor, Lý Thần Tông died on the 26th day of the same month. On the first day in the tenth lunar month (November 5) of 1138, Lý Anh Tông took the throne at the age of only two and changed the era name to Thiệu Minh and elevated his mother Lady Cảm Thánh to the status of Empress Mother of the Lý Dynasty, the Empress Lê Thị. During his 37-year reign, Lý Anh Tông had three more era names which were Đại Định (1140–1162), Chính Long Bảo Ứng (1163–1173) and Thiên Cảm Chí Bảo (1174–1175).
Early reign (1138–1157)
Succeeding the throne at the age of only two, the child emperor only ruled the country in name while the absolute power was placed in the hand of Empress Lê Thị who acted as regentRegent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
for her son. As Empress Lê Thị favoured an official named Đỗ Anh Vũ
Đỗ Anh Vũ
Đỗ Anh Vũ was an official in the royal court of Lý Anh Tông, the sixth emperor of the Lý Dynasty. Considered the most prominent figure of the consort clan during the Early Lý period, Đỗ Anh Vũ held the most powerful position in the royal court from 1140 to his death in 1158 except a short period...
, the royal court witnessed the rising power of this official who decided almost every matters of the country and despised other officials. According to Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên was an historian of the Lê Dynasty. He is best known for being the principal compiler of the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam and the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains today...
in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the reason for the favouritism of Empress Lê Thị for Đỗ Anh Vũ was the secret relation between them, as a result, some mandarins like Vũ Đái, Nguyễn Dương, Nguyễn Quốc and Dương Tự Minh tried to topple Đỗ Anh Vũ but failed and thus died under his order. After the death of the Empress in 1147, Đỗ Anh Vũ continued to hold strong position in the royal court until his own death in the eighth month of 1158. The rise of Đỗ Anh Vũ in the royal court was considered by Ngô Sĩ Liên one of the serious weaknesses of Lý Anh Tông's ruling which came from the wrong judgment of the Emperor.
In 1140, the priest Thân Lợi called himself the son of Lý Nhân Tông
Ly Nhan Tong
Lý Nhân Tông , given name Lý Càn Đức , was the fourth emperor of the Lý Dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1072 to his death in 1127...
and raised a revolt against Lý Anh Tông in the northern region (now Thái Nguyên
Thai Nguyen
Thái Nguyên is a city and municipality in Vietnam. It is the capital and located in center of Thai Nguyen province, in northeastern Vietnam. This is the largest city and often considered as center of Northern midlands and mountain areas...
). The army of Thân Lợi successfully dominated the frontier region and defeated the army of the royal court led by the high-ranking official Lưu Vũ Nhĩ. After the victory, Thân Lợi, now self-appointed as King Bình (Bình Vương), took a further step by directly attacking the capital Thăng Long
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
. It was the chancellor Đỗ Anh Vũ who assumed the task of suppressing the rebellion, a mission that he accomplished after five months. Afterwards Thân Lợi was captured by Tô Hiến Thành
Tô Hiến Thành
Tô Hiến Thành was an official in the royal court of Lý Anh Tông and Lý Cao Tông, the sixth and seventh emperors of the Lý Dynasty...
and beheaded by the order of Lý Anh Tông.
During the early reign of Lý Anh Tông, the Lý Dynasty had several edicts to relax the severe laws at that time. In 1142, in order to memorialize the rebellion of the Trưng sisters
Trung Sisters
The Trưng sisters were leaders who rebelled against Chinese rule for three years, and are regarded as national heroines of Vietnam. Their names are Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị ....
against the Chinese domination, Lý Anh Tông ordered to build a large temple in the southern suburbs of Thăng Long which was named the Temple of Trưng sisters (Đền Hai Bà) and still remains until now, Lý Anh Tông was also considered the first emperor of Đại Việt who promoted Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
as the state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
. Another important decision of the royal court was the military campaign against the King Jaya Harivarman I of Champa
Champa
The kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
with the purpose of replacing the King by Vangsaraja who was supported by the Lý Dynasty. In 1152, the general Lý Mông was appointed by Lý Anh Tông to command over 5,000 soldiers of Thanh Hóa
Thanh Hóa
Thanh Hóa is the capital city of Vietnam's Thanh Hoa province. The population is nearly 200,000 with an area of only 57.9 square kilometers....
and Nghệ An begin the campaign which ultimately resulted in a defeat of the Lý Dynasty and the deaths of both Lý Mông and Vangsaraja. In 1154, to heal the broken relation with the Lý Dynasty, Jaya Harivarman I sent his daughter to Đại Việt who was accepted by Lý Anh Tông as his concubine. The decision of Lý Anh Tông was criticized by the historians Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên was an historian of the Lê Dynasty. He is best known for being the principal compiler of the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam and the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains today...
and Lê Văn Hưu
Lê Văn Hưu
Lê Văn Hưu was an historian of the Trần Dynasty. He is best known for his work the Đại Việt sử ký, the first comprehensive historical record of the history of Vietnam...
who argued that instead of accepting the offer, the Emperor should have opened another campaign to punish the kingdom of Champa.
Later reign (1158–1175)
After the death of Đỗ Anh Vũ, Lý Anh Tông ruled the country with the assistance of the prominent official Tô Hiến Thành. It was Tô Hiến Thành who successfully pacified the revolt of the Ngưu Hống and Ai Lao forces in the western border in 1159, he had another victory against the army of Champa in 1167 which marked the stability in the southern border of Đại Việt. Originally holding a military position in the royal court, Tô Hiến Thành not only helped the Emperor to improve the efficiency of the Lý army but he also paid attention to the development of Confucian learning in the country. After the advice of Tô Hiến Thành, Lý Anh Tông issued the establishment the first temple of ConfuciusTemple of Confucius
A Temple of Confucius or Confucian temple is a temple devoted to the memory of Confucius and the sages and philosophers of Confucianism.- History :...
in Thăng Long in 1156, formerly Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
was jointly worshipped in the Temple of Literature.
In 1164, the relation between the Lý Dynasty and the Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
had a significant change when the Emperor Xiaozong of Song
Emperor Xiaozong of Song
Emperor Xiaozong was the eleventh emperor of the Song Dynasty of China, and the second emperor of the Southern Song. His personal name was Zhao Shen. He reigned from 1162 to 1189. His temple name means "Filial Ancestor"....
decided to acknowledge Đại Việt as a kingdom, the Kingdom of Annam
Annam (Chinese Province)
Annam or Jiaozhi was the southernmost province of the Chinese Empire. It is now part of present-day Vietnam...
(An Nam quốc), instead of only a district, the District of Giao Chỉ (Giao Chỉ quận) which was a designation made by his predecessors. Therefore, regard to the Song Dynasty, the ruler of Đại Việt was recognized from now on as king (Quốc vương) instead of district governor (Quận vương) as before. Vân Đồn, the principal port of trade between Đại Việt and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, was also opened in 1149 by the order of Lý Anh Tông.
Lý Anh Tông deceased in the seventh month of 1175 at the age of 39. Before his death, the emperor entrusted the regentship of his 3-year-old crown prince for Tô Hiến Thành despite the effort from his empress to make another prince for the throne. This final act by Lý Anh Tông was appreciated by the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên as a right decision to maintain the order of the royal family and royal court.