Đỗ Anh Vũ
Encyclopedia
Đỗ Anh Vũ (1113–1158) 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 which Đỗ Anh Vũ was toppled by a group of officials led by the military commander Vũ Đái. According to dynastic historians such as Ngô Sĩ Liên
and Lê Văn Hưu
, Đỗ Anh Vũ was a skilled but arrogant official who profited his position, that came from his intimate relation with the Empress Mother Lê thị, to purge other opponents in the royal court by ruthless method. However, the discovery in the late 1930s of a stele
engraved the description about the life of Đỗ Anh Vũ provided an alternative perspective about the official in which Đỗ Anh Vũ was highly praised for his noble character and devotion for the stability of the Lý Dynasty.
, Đỗ Anh Vũ was born in 1113 in Hồng Châu (now Hải Dương
), he had an elder sister Đỗ thị, who was the natural mother of the Emperor Lý Thần Tông
, and a niece that got married to the Emperor Lý Anh Tông
. Being an intelligent and good-looking boy, Đỗ Anh Vũ was selected to serve in the imperial palace at the age of twelve.
After the coronation of Lý Anh Tông in 1138, since Đỗ Anh Vũ was younger brother of the new Empress Mother Đỗ thị, he was promoted to the position of secretary of the imperial palace (Vietnamese
: Cung điện lệnh chi nội ngoại sư) in 1140. One year after the appointment, Đỗ Anh Vũ began to prove his ability during the rebellion of the priest Thân Lợi. In 1140, 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 Đỗ Anh Vũ who assumed the task of stopping the military campaign of Thân Lợi, a mission that he accomplished in the fifth month of 1141 after the major battle in Quảng Dịch in which Thân Lợi's army was heavily defeated by the forces of the Lý Dynasty led by Đỗ Anh Vũ. Five months later, Đỗ Anh Vũ continued to conduct the campaign of wipping out the remaining force of Thân Lợi which resulted in the total stability in the northern region, Thân Lợi himself was captured by Tô Hiến Thành
and beheaded by the order of Lý Anh Tông.
During the regency of the Empress Mother Lê thị when the young emperor only ruled in name, Đỗ Anh Vũ was the favorite official of the Empress Mother and thus became the most powerful figure in the royal court who held both military and civil matters of the country. In 1147 he went to a mission of inspecting the system of mandarins and domestic records in Phú Lương
. According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Đỗ Anh Vũ sent his wife to act as servant of the Empress Mother and profited his wife's position to secretly establish an intimate relation with the Empress Mother, as a result he got the favouritism of the Empress Mother Lê thị. Holding the most important position in the royal court, Đỗ Anh Vũ became arrogant and despised other officials, hence they began to form a group to topple Đỗ Anh Vũ from power. The conspirators were several prominent figures in the royal court such as military commanders Vũ Đái, Lương Thượng Cá, Đồng Lợi, mandarins Đỗ Ất, Dương Tự Minh and members of the royal family Prince Trí Minh, Marquis Bảo Ninh. The careful plan of Vũ Đái's group was partly successful when Đỗ Anh Vũ was imprisoned by the soldiers loyal to the group. But with the support of the Empress Mother, Đỗ Anh Vũ was able to bribe some members of the group, therefore he was only tried by the emperor instead of being immediately killed as the initial plan. Following the order of Lý Anh Tông, Đỗ Anh Vũ was deprived of all titles and demoted to farmer for the dynasty (cảo điền nhi). Again with the backing of the Empress Mother Lê thị, Đỗ Anh Vũ was pardonned several times and rapidly restored his position in the royal court and finally took the position of Chancellor Regent (Thái úy phụ chính) with even more power than before.
Afraid of another conspiracy, Đỗ Anh Vũ decided to form his own military unit called Phụng quốc vệ (Guard of the Country) with more than 100 soldiers who were always ready to carry out any mission that Đỗ Anh Vũ ordered. To get an official reason for his revenge against the group of Vũ Đái, Đỗ Anh Vũ made the young emperor believe that the toppling plan of Vũ Đái was a lèse majesté
action and thus got the order from Lý Anh Tông to punish Vũ Đái and his accomplices. As a result, except for the two members of the royal family who were only downgraded, all conspirators of the plan of overthrowing Đỗ Anh Vũ were captured and subsequently killed by the Phụng quốc vệ after the order of Đỗ Anh Vũ. After the purge, Đỗ Anh Vũ continued to tighten the security measure in the imperial palace and capital Thăng Long
such as forbidding mandarins and members of royal family meeting in group of more than five persons to discuss or scorn, banning arms from the palace with the only exception for his Phụng quốc vệ, and prohibiting eunuch
s from entering the palace. Nguyễn Quốc, an ambassador of the Lý Dynasty after his voyage to the Song Dynasty
, was also forced to commit suicide by Đỗ Anh Vũ after the advice of Nguyễn Quốc for the emperor about a system of public report adapted from the Song Dynasty. Those events were detailed in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư in which the role of Đỗ Anh Vũ was heavily criticized by the historians Lê Văn Hưu
and Ngô Sĩ Liên
, for example Ngô Sĩ Liên considered Đỗ Anh Vũ "the utterly ruthless" ("kẻ đại ác") while Lê Văn Hưu denounced his actions "nothing more heinous crime" ("không tội gì to bằng").
Outside the royal court, Đỗ Anh Vũ still supervised the most important matters of the country. In the second month of 1154 he succeeded in pacifying the revolt of the mountainous people in Chàng Long. He died in the eighth month of 1158. Trần Trọng Kim
in his Việt Nam sử lược
remarked that Đỗ Anh Vũ did not take any further step in the royal court only because of the appearance of some skilled officials such as Tô Hiến Thành
, Hoàng Nghĩa Hiền or Lý Công Tín.
formerly believed about the life of Lý Thường Kiệt. After carefully analysing its content, Hoàng Xuân Hãn affirmed that the stele was in fact about the life of Đỗ Anh Vũ, who held the same position chancellor (thái úy) as Lý Thường Kiệt, he was also convinced that the stele was engraved right after the death of Đỗ Anh Vũ and thus held the invaluable information about the life of Đỗ Anh Vũ. Contrary to the harsh criticisms from dynastic historians like Lê Văn Hưu or Ngô Sĩ Liên, the stele praised Đỗ Anh Vũ as a devoted official with noble character of the Lý Dynasty, who could be compared with the legendary Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou
in History of China
. From the stele, the background of Đỗ Anh Vũ was also made clearer, such as his father's name was Đỗ Tướng, the sister's son of Lý Thường Kiệt, while his mother, though unnamed, was highly extolled and his adoptive father was Lê Bá Ngọc, a prominent official in the royal court of Lý Thần Tông. Entered the imperial palace at a very young age, Đỗ Anh Vũ quickly became dedicated servant and close friend of the Emperor Lý Thần Tông, who was three year younger than Đỗ Anh Vũ and had strong confidence in the official. The activities of Đỗ Anh Vũ was also described much more detailed and with more positive tone than the record about the chancellor in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư.
According to John K. Whitmore of the Cornell University
, Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên harshly criticized Đỗ Anh Vũ because firstly they evaluated the events in the point of view of outsiders while Đỗ Anh Vũ acted as an insider of the royal court, and secondly these historians only analysed the accounts written by the outsiders of the imperial palace when Đỗ Anh Vũ was active inside, which meant the story might be distorted from the fact. Moreover, Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên belonged to another dynasties, hence they could hardly praise the achievements of a different dynasty with its officials like the Lý Dynasty with its Đỗ Anh Vũ.
Lý Anh Tông
Lý Anh Tông , given name Lý Thiên Tộ , was the sixth emperor of the Lý Dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1138 to his death in 1175...
, 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...
. Considered the most prominent figure of the consort clan
Consort clan
The consort clan is the family, clan of or group related to an empress dowager or a spouse of a Chinese dynastic ruler or a warlord. The leading figure of the clan was either a sibling, cousin, or parent of the empress or consort.- Han Dynasty :...
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 which Đỗ Anh Vũ was toppled by a group of officials led by the military commander Vũ Đái. According to dynastic historians such as 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...
, Đỗ Anh Vũ was a skilled but arrogant official who profited his position, that came from his intimate relation with the Empress Mother Lê thị, to purge other opponents in the royal court by ruthless method. However, the discovery in the late 1930s of a stele
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
engraved the description about the life of Đỗ Anh Vũ provided an alternative perspective about the official in which Đỗ Anh Vũ was highly praised for his noble character and devotion for the stability of the Lý Dynasty.
History
According to Từ điển bách khoa toàn thư Việt NamTừ điển Bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam
Từ điển Bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam is a state-sponsored encyclopedia that was published in 2005. It also is the first state encyclopedia of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...
, Đỗ Anh Vũ was born in 1113 in Hồng Châu (now Hải Dương
Hai Duong
Hải Dương is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Hai Duong province. Its name is Sino-Vietnamese for "ocean" .- Geography :Hai Duong city is bordered to the northeast by the Nam Sách District and Thanh Hà District...
), he had an elder sister Đỗ thị, who was the natural mother 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 a niece that got married to the Emperor Lý Anh Tông
Lý Anh Tông
Lý Anh Tông , given name Lý Thiên Tộ , was the sixth emperor of the Lý Dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1138 to his death in 1175...
. Being an intelligent and good-looking boy, Đỗ Anh Vũ was selected to serve in the imperial palace at the age of twelve.
After the coronation of Lý Anh Tông in 1138, since Đỗ Anh Vũ was younger brother of the new Empress Mother Đỗ thị, he was promoted to the position of secretary of the imperial palace (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...
: Cung điện lệnh chi nội ngoại sư) in 1140. One year after the appointment, Đỗ Anh Vũ began to prove his ability during the rebellion of the priest Thân Lợi. In 1140, 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 Đỗ Anh Vũ who assumed the task of stopping the military campaign of Thân Lợi, a mission that he accomplished in the fifth month of 1141 after the major battle in Quảng Dịch in which Thân Lợi's army was heavily defeated by the forces of the Lý Dynasty led by Đỗ Anh Vũ. Five months later, Đỗ Anh Vũ continued to conduct the campaign of wipping out the remaining force of Thân Lợi which resulted in the total stability in the northern region, Thân Lợi himself 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 regency of the Empress Mother Lê thị when the young emperor only ruled in name, Đỗ Anh Vũ was the favorite official of the Empress Mother and thus became the most powerful figure in the royal court who held both military and civil matters of the country. In 1147 he went to a mission of inspecting the system of mandarins and domestic records in Phú Lương
Phu Luong
Phu Luong is a district of Thai Nguyen Province in the northeastern region of Vietnam.As of 2003 the district had a population of 106,834. The district covers an area of 369 km²...
. According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Đỗ Anh Vũ sent his wife to act as servant of the Empress Mother and profited his wife's position to secretly establish an intimate relation with the Empress Mother, as a result he got the favouritism of the Empress Mother Lê thị. Holding the most important position in the royal court, Đỗ Anh Vũ became arrogant and despised other officials, hence they began to form a group to topple Đỗ Anh Vũ from power. The conspirators were several prominent figures in the royal court such as military commanders Vũ Đái, Lương Thượng Cá, Đồng Lợi, mandarins Đỗ Ất, Dương Tự Minh and members of the royal family Prince Trí Minh, Marquis Bảo Ninh. The careful plan of Vũ Đái's group was partly successful when Đỗ Anh Vũ was imprisoned by the soldiers loyal to the group. But with the support of the Empress Mother, Đỗ Anh Vũ was able to bribe some members of the group, therefore he was only tried by the emperor instead of being immediately killed as the initial plan. Following the order of Lý Anh Tông, Đỗ Anh Vũ was deprived of all titles and demoted to farmer for the dynasty (cảo điền nhi). Again with the backing of the Empress Mother Lê thị, Đỗ Anh Vũ was pardonned several times and rapidly restored his position in the royal court and finally took the position of Chancellor Regent (Thái úy phụ chính) with even more power than before.
Afraid of another conspiracy, Đỗ Anh Vũ decided to form his own military unit called Phụng quốc vệ (Guard of the Country) with more than 100 soldiers who were always ready to carry out any mission that Đỗ Anh Vũ ordered. To get an official reason for his revenge against the group of Vũ Đái, Đỗ Anh Vũ made the young emperor believe that the toppling plan of Vũ Đái was a lèse majesté
Lèse majesté
Lese-majesty is the crime of violating majesty, an offence against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.This behavior was first classified as a criminal offence against the dignity of the Roman republic in Ancient Rome...
action and thus got the order from Lý Anh Tông to punish Vũ Đái and his accomplices. As a result, except for the two members of the royal family who were only downgraded, all conspirators of the plan of overthrowing Đỗ Anh Vũ were captured and subsequently killed by the Phụng quốc vệ after the order of Đỗ Anh Vũ. After the purge, Đỗ Anh Vũ continued to tighten the security measure in the imperial palace and 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...
such as forbidding mandarins and members of royal family meeting in group of more than five persons to discuss or scorn, banning arms from the palace with the only exception for his Phụng quốc vệ, and prohibiting eunuch
Eunuch
A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
s from entering the palace. Nguyễn Quốc, an ambassador of the Lý Dynasty after his voyage to 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...
, was also forced to commit suicide by Đỗ Anh Vũ after the advice of Nguyễn Quốc for the emperor about a system of public report adapted from the Song Dynasty. Those events were detailed in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư in which the role of Đỗ Anh Vũ was heavily criticized by the historians 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...
and 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...
, for example Ngô Sĩ Liên considered Đỗ Anh Vũ "the utterly ruthless" ("kẻ đại ác") while Lê Văn Hưu denounced his actions "nothing more heinous crime" ("không tội gì to bằng").
Outside the royal court, Đỗ Anh Vũ still supervised the most important matters of the country. In the second month of 1154 he succeeded in pacifying the revolt of the mountainous people in Chàng Long. He died in the eighth month of 1158. Trần Trọng Kim
Tran Trong Kim
Trần Trọng Kim was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a puppet state created by Imperial Japan in 1945...
in his Việt Nam sử lược
Việt Nam sử lược
Việt Nam sử lược was the first Quoc Ngu history text compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Kim. It covered the period from Hồng Bàng Dynasty to the time of French Indochina. The book was first published in 1921 and reprinted many times to this day...
remarked that Đỗ Anh Vũ did not take any further step in the royal court only because of the appearance of some skilled officials such as 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...
, Hoàng Nghĩa Hiền or Lý Công Tín.
Modern view
In the late 1930s, the researcher Hoàng Xuân Hãn discovered the description of a steleStele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
formerly believed about the life of Lý Thường Kiệt. After carefully analysing its content, Hoàng Xuân Hãn affirmed that the stele was in fact about the life of Đỗ Anh Vũ, who held the same position chancellor (thái úy) as Lý Thường Kiệt, he was also convinced that the stele was engraved right after the death of Đỗ Anh Vũ and thus held the invaluable information about the life of Đỗ Anh Vũ. Contrary to the harsh criticisms from dynastic historians like Lê Văn Hưu or Ngô Sĩ Liên, the stele praised Đỗ Anh Vũ as a devoted official with noble character of the Lý Dynasty, who could be compared with the legendary Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou
Duke of Zhou
The Duke of Zhou played a major role in consolidating the newly-founded Zhou Dynasty . He was the brother of King Wu of Zhou, the first king of the ancient Chinese Zhou Dynasty...
in History of China
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
. From the stele, the background of Đỗ Anh Vũ was also made clearer, such as his father's name was Đỗ Tướng, the sister's son of Lý Thường Kiệt, while his mother, though unnamed, was highly extolled and his adoptive father was Lê Bá Ngọc, a prominent official in the royal court of Lý Thần Tông. Entered the imperial palace at a very young age, Đỗ Anh Vũ quickly became dedicated servant and close friend of the Emperor Lý Thần Tông, who was three year younger than Đỗ Anh Vũ and had strong confidence in the official. The activities of Đỗ Anh Vũ was also described much more detailed and with more positive tone than the record about the chancellor in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư.
According to John K. Whitmore of the Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên harshly criticized Đỗ Anh Vũ because firstly they evaluated the events in the point of view of outsiders while Đỗ Anh Vũ acted as an insider of the royal court, and secondly these historians only analysed the accounts written by the outsiders of the imperial palace when Đỗ Anh Vũ was active inside, which meant the story might be distorted from the fact. Moreover, Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên belonged to another dynasties, hence they could hardly praise the achievements of a different dynasty with its officials like the Lý Dynasty with its Đỗ Anh Vũ.