Lý Thái Tổ

Lý Thái Tổ (Hán tự: , birth name Lý Công Uẩn ) ruled Vietnam as emperor for 19 years from 1009 to 1028 under the Lý D‎ynasty of which he was the founder.

Early years

He was born in Cổ Pháp village, Đình Bảng, Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh Province in 974. About his parents there are still some mysteries. It is known that his mother was often called “Phạm Thị” meaning Ms Phạm.

He was born at Cổ Pháp Pagoda, also known as Rặn Pagoda or Dận Pagoda. At the age of 3, his mother brought him back to the pagoda. Lý Khánh Văn, superior monk of the pagoda, adopted him and named him Lý Công Uẩn. He came in to the pagoda and became a monk there.

When growing up, under the protection and support of Lý Vạn Hạnh, also known as Vạn Hạnh monk who was a respected monk in the holy Anterior Lê Dynasty court, he came to the capital and gradually was promoted from a minor official and given the title “Tả thân vệ Điện tiền Chỉ huy sứ” meaning the Left Guard-Commander of the Anterior Citadel, which was a high rank in the army system. In 1009, Lê Ngoạ Triều, the last king of the Anterior Lê Dynasty died under the wrath of the people because of the ferocity and cruelty brought on them in his time. Đào Cam Mộc, an official, and Vạn Hạnh monk used their power to enthrone Lý Thái Tổ without any debate, displacing the descendant of the Anterior Lê Dynasty.

After ascension to the throne, Lý Công Uẩn named his era “Thuận Thiên” meaning “follow the celestial thought”.

Hoa Lư was a tiny area with craggy geography bounded by mountain ranges, which, while this had been suitable for a turbulent era, was not conducive to peacetime development and growth. Thus Lý Thái Tổ chose to move the capital from this site to a broad area lying in the flat alluvial delta named Đại La, now Hà Nội. In 1010, he began the move. While travelling from the former capital to the new land, he saw a Yellow Dragon ascending; so he changed the new land's name from Đại La to Thăng Long. He also set up Trường An Citadel in the former capital and Thiên Đức Citadel in Cổ Pháp village in which he was born.

Religion

Having begun life as a Buddhist monk, Lý Thái Tổ respected Buddhism as the national religion. As a result, he gave much support to the Buddhist clergy. He also allocated a lot of money to build a pagoda and cast a large bell. Many people, with the emperor's support, forsook worldly pleasures and devoted themselves to religious works. Some officials such as Nguyễn Đạo Thanh and Phạm Hạc were sent to China to bring the sutra named Tam Tạng back.

Internal and external policies

During the reign of Lý Thái Tổ, the Song Dynasty had much work to do, favouring this over conflict with neighbouring nations. So with some ingenious diplomacy with this great nation, Lý Thái Tổ sent envoys to Song and demanded its government to recognize Đại Việt as a vassal kingdom. Acceding to his request, The Emperor of the Song Dynasty sent envoys back to confer a title on him originally as the Lord of Giao Chỉ, and later, The King of the Pacifying South. Some tributary kingdoms as Champa and Chenla annually sent ample tribute putting external relations in good fettle.

There were some small rebellions in Nghệ An or in highland areas. Lý Thái Tổ himself led the army to quell all these rebellions.During this dynasty, all princes were granted the title “Vương” or King, a title given emperors' kin or occasionally some primary officials or commanders who had achieved many victories. These princes also themselves each had to lead their armies to participate in battles. So they were very good at army tactics and martial arts.

Lý Thái Tổ also paid attention to the internal works such as changing the code of the Anterior Lê Dynasty , restructuring the national administrative system and redividing his realm into 24 “lộ” meaning “way”, called Hoan Châu and Ái Châu camps. He imposed 6 ranks of taxes upon internal exchanges and businesses:

* Tax on inundated land, also including field, bond, fish preserve, and so on.
* Tax on land, including alluvial field and land to cultivate mulberries.
* Tax on mountainous goods .
* Tax on salt.
* Tax on luxury goods, such as rhinoceros horns, ivory and incense.
* Tax on wood and fruit.

Princesses were not often allowed to participate in internal work by managing collection of these taxes.

Death

Lý Thái Tổ died in 1028 at the age of 55 according to the account of the East which often included the time before birth in the lifespan. He was buried at “Thọ Lăng” meaning the Mausoleum of Longevity, at Thiên Đức Palace. His name in the temple was Thái Tổ meaning Superior Ancestor; his posthumous name was “Thần Vũ Hoàng Đế” meaning Emperor Deity of Martial Art.

References

* Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư by Ngô Sĩ Liên
* [http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BD_Th%C3%A1i_T%E1%BB%95]