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The ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' ( vi-hantu, 大越史記全書; ; ''Complete Annals of Đại Việt'') is the official national chronicle of the Vietnamese state, that was originally compiled by the royal historian
Ngô Sĩ Liên Ngô Sĩ Liên (吳士連) was a Vietnamese historian of the Lê dynasty. He was 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 ...
under the order of the Emperor Lê Thánh Tông and was finished in 1479 during the Lê period. The 15-volume book covered the period from
Hồng Bàng Dynasty The Hồng Bàng period (Vietnamese: ''thời kỳ Hồng Bàng''), also called the Hồng Bàng dynasty,Pelley, p. 151 was a legendary, semi-mythical period in Vietnamese historiography, spanning from the beginning of the rule of Kinh Dương ...
to the coronation of
Lê Thái Tổ Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...
, the first emperor of the Lê Dynasty in 1428. In compiling his work, Ngô Sĩ Liên based on two principal historical sources which were ''
Đại Việt sử ký The ''Đại Việt sử ký'' (, vi-hantu, 大越史記, ''Annals of Đại Việt'') is the official historical text of the Trần dynasty, that was compiled by the royal historian Lê Văn Hưu and was finished in 1272. Considered the first co ...
'' by
Lê Văn Hưu Lê Văn Hưu (1230–1322) 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. Although the book was lost during the Fourth Ch ...
and ''Đại Việt sử ký tục biên'' by
Phan Phu Tiên Phan Phu Tiên ( chữ Hán: 潘孚先, 1370–1482), was a Vietnamese scholar-official and historian. He was charged by Lê Nhân Tông with writing the annals of the preceding Tran dynasty.Joseph Nguyen Huy Lai La tradition religieuse spirituelle ...
. After its publication, ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' was continually supplemented by other historians of the royal court such as
Vũ Quỳnh Vũ Quỳnh ( chữ Hán: 武瓊; Bình Giang, Hải Dương 1452–1516) was a Vietnamese scholar-official and writer. He is best known for his work with Kiều Phú collecting the '' Lĩnh Nam chích quái''.George Edson Dutton, Jayne Susa ...
,
Phạm Công Trứ Phạm Công Trứ ( chữ Hán: 范公著, 1600–1675) was a Lê dynasty Vietnamese scholar-official and historian. He was one of the scholar-historians of the Lê dynasty along with Vũ Quỳnh and Lê Hi ( vi) to supplement Ngô Sĩ Liên's Đ ...
and
Lê Hi Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...
. Today the most popular version of ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' is the ''Nội các quan bản'' edition which was completed in 1697 with the additional information up to 1656 during the reign of the Emperor
Lê Thần Tông Lê Thần Tông (黎神宗, 19 November 1607 – 2 November 1662) was the 17th emperor of Vietnamese Later Lê dynasty. Biography Lê Thần Tông's birth name is Lê Duy Kỳ (黎維祺). He was born in 1607 and reigned in 1619–1643 followin ...
and the Lord
Trịnh Tráng Trịnh Tráng (Hán tự: 鄭梉, 6 August 1577 – 28 May 1657), posthumous name: Nghị Vương (誼王), temple name: Văn Tổ (文祖). He is the second lord of Trịnh ruled Tonkin from 1623 to 1657. He is one of the famous Trịnh lords wh ...
. ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' is considered the most important and comprehensive historical book. The chronicle, which was modeled after
Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...
’s ''
Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...
'', provides a chronological historical narration beginning with the legendary
Hồng Bàng dynasty The Hồng Bàng period (Vietnamese: ''thời kỳ Hồng Bàng''), also called the Hồng Bàng dynasty,Pelley, p. 151 was a legendary, semi-mythical period in Vietnamese historiography, spanning from the beginning of the rule of Kinh Dương ...
(2888 BCE?) and continuing to the founding of the house of Lê in 1428.


History of compilation

During the
Fourth Chinese domination The Fourth Era of Northern Domination was a period of Vietnamese history, from 1407 to 1427, during which Vietnam was ruled by the Chinese Ming dynasty as the province of Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ). Ming rule was established in Vietnam following its co ...
, many valuable books of
Đại Việt Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), often known as Annam ( vi, An Nam, Chữ Hán: 安南), was a monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day H ...
were taken away by the
Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
including
Lê Văn Hưu Lê Văn Hưu (1230–1322) 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. Although the book was lost during the Fourth Ch ...
's ''
Đại Việt sử ký The ''Đại Việt sử ký'' (, vi-hantu, 大越史記, ''Annals of Đại Việt'') is the official historical text of the Trần dynasty, that was compiled by the royal historian Lê Văn Hưu and was finished in 1272. Considered the first co ...
'' (大越史記, ''Annals of Đại Việt''), the official historical text of the
Trần Dynasty The Trần dynasty, (Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳)also known as the House of Trần, was a Vietnamese dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of Đại Việt from 1225 to 1400. The dynasty was founded when emperor Trần Thái T ...
and the most comprehensive source of the history of Vietnam up to that period. However, the contents of the ''Đại Việt sử ký'' and Lê Văn Hưu's comments about various historical events was fully collected by the historian
Phan Phu Tiên Phan Phu Tiên ( chữ Hán: 潘孚先, 1370–1482), was a Vietnamese scholar-official and historian. He was charged by Lê Nhân Tông with writing the annals of the preceding Tran dynasty.Joseph Nguyen Huy Lai La tradition religieuse spirituelle ...
in writing the first official annals of the Lê Dynasty after the order of the Emperor
Lê Nhân Tông Lê Nhân Tông (黎仁宗, 28 May 1441 – 25 October 1459), birth name Lê Bang Cơ (黎邦基) was the third emperor of the Later Lê dynasty from 1453 until his murder in a coup in 1459. He was a grandson of the emperor Lê Lợi. During near ...
in 1455. The new ''Đại Việt sử ký'' of Phan Phu Tiên was supplemented the period from 1223 with the coronation of
Trần Thái Tông Trần Thái Tông (17 July 1218 – 5 May 1277), personal name Trần Cảnh or Trần Nhật Cảnh, temple name Thái Tông, was the first emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigned Đại Việt for 33 years (1226–58), being Retired Emperor f ...
to 1427 with the retreat of the Ming Dynasty after the victory of
Lê Lợi Lê Lợi (, Chữ Hán: 黎利; c. 10 September 1384/1385 – 5 October 1433), also known by his temple name as Lê Thái Tổ (黎太祖) and by his pre-imperial title Bình Định vương (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"), was a Vietnam ...
. Phan Phu Tiên's ten-volume work had other names such as ''Đại Việt sử ký tục biên'' (大越史記續編序, ''Supplementary Edition of the Annals of Đại Việt'') or ''Quốc sử biên lục''. During the reign of Lê Thánh Tông, who was an emperor famous for his interest in learning and knowledge, the scholar and historian Ngô Sĩ Liên was appointed to the Bureau of History in 1473. Under the order of Thánh Tông, he based on the works of Lê Văn Hưu and Phan Phu Tiên to write the ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' which was compiled in 15 volumes (''quyển'') and finished in 1479. In compiling the ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', Ngô Sĩ Liên also drew elements from other books such as ''
Việt điện u linh tập The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Dongxing, Guangxi, Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi ...
'' (''Compilation of the potent spirits in the Realm of Việt'') or '' Lĩnh Nam chích quái'' (''Extraordinary stories of Lĩnh Nam'') which were collections of folk legend and myth but still considered by Ngô Sĩ Liên good sources for history because of their reliable system of citation. This was the first time such sources were used in historiography by a Vietnamese historian. ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' was finally completed in 1479 with the accounts that stopped by the coronation of
Lê Thái Tổ Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...
in 1428. According to
Lê Quý Đôn Lê Quý Đôn (; 1726–1784) was an 18th-century Vietnamese poet, encyclopedist, and government official. His pseudonym was Quế - Đường. He was a native of Duyen Ha village in present-day Thái Bình Province. He is considered one of the ...
, Ngô Sĩ Liên also compiled an historical text about the reigns of Thái Tổ, Thái Tông and Nhân Tông named ''Tam triều bản ký'' (''Records of the Three Reigns''). In 1511, the royal historian
Vũ Quỳnh Vũ Quỳnh ( chữ Hán: 武瓊; Bình Giang, Hải Dương 1452–1516) was a Vietnamese scholar-official and writer. He is best known for his work with Kiều Phú collecting the '' Lĩnh Nam chích quái''.George Edson Dutton, Jayne Susa ...
reorganized Ngô Sĩ Liên's work in his ''Việt giám thông khảo'' by adding the account about Thánh Tông, Hiển Tông, Túc Tông and Uy Mục, which was called ''Tứ triều bản ký'' (''Records of the Four Reigns''). Other historians continued to revise ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' and also add the supplemental information about the reign of the Lê Dynasty, notably the 23-volume ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư tục biên'' (''Continued Compilation of the Complete Annals of Đại Việt'') was published under the supervision of
Phạm Công Trứ Phạm Công Trứ ( chữ Hán: 范公著, 1600–1675) was a Lê dynasty Vietnamese scholar-official and historian. He was one of the scholar-historians of the Lê dynasty along with Vũ Quỳnh and Lê Hi ( vi) to supplement Ngô Sĩ Liên's Đ ...
in 1665 while the "Nội các quan bản" edition, the most comprehensive and popular version of ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', was printed in 1697 during the Chính Hòa
era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...
by efforts of the historian
Lê Hi Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...
.


Edition

The original 15-volume version of ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' or the Hồng Đức edition (1479), that was named after the era name of Lê Thánh Tông, only existed in form of handwritten manuscript and hence is only partially preserved to this day. The ''Đại Việt sử ký tục biên'' or the Cảnh Trị edition (1665), that was the era name of
Lê Huyền Tông Lê Huyền Tông (黎玄宗, 1654 – 16 November 1671) was the 19th emperor of Vietnamese Later Lê dynasty. Biography Lê Huyền Tông's birth name is Lê Duy Vũ (黎維禑) and courtesy name Duy Hi (維禧). He was born in 1654 and reigned fr ...
has a better status of conservation but the most popular and fully preserved version of ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' until now is the Chính Hòa edition (1697) which was the only woodblock printed version of this work. Therefore, the Chính Hòa version is considered the most important historical text about the history of Vietnam from its beginning to the period of the Lê Dynasty and has been often reduced, revised and corrected by later historians for contemporary needs. Today, a complete set of the "Nội các quan bản" edition is kept in the archives of the
École française d'Extrême-Orient The French School of the Far East (french: École française d'Extrême-Orient, ), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of Asian societies. It was founded in 1900 with headquarters in Hanoi in w ...
in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, France. This edition was translated into
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
in 1993 by the Institute of Hán Nôm in
Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
.


Contents

The format of ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' was modeled after the famous ''
Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...
'' (資治通鑑/''Tư trị thông giám'', ''Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government'') of the
Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
scholar
Sima Guang Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086), courtesy name Junshi, was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer. He was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official who authored the monumental history book ''Zizhi Tongjian''. Sima was ...
, which means historical events were redacted in chronological order like annals. Ngô Sĩ Liên separated his book and the history of Vietnam into ''Ngoại kỷ'' (''Peripheral Records'') and ''Bản kỷ'' (''Basic Records'') by the 938 victory of
Ngô Quyền Ngô Quyền ( vi-hantu, 吳權) (April 17, 898 – February 14, 944), often referred to as Tiền Ngô Vương (前吳王; "First King of Ngô"), was a warlord who later became the founding king of the Ngô dynasty of Vietnam. He reigned from ...
in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. This chronological method of compilation is different from the official historical texts of Chinese dynasties which had the layout divided in biographies of each historical figures, an approach which was initiated by
Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...
in the ''
Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...
''. In record of each Vietnamese emperor, Ngô Sĩ Liên always started with a brief introduction of the emperor which provided an overview about the reigning ruler of the record. In listing the events, the historian sometimes noted an additional story about the historical figure who was mentioned in the event, some had extensive and detailed stories, notably
Trần Quốc Tuấn Trần (陳) or Tran is a common Vietnamese surname. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. It is derived from the common Chinese surname Chen. History The Tran ruled the Trần dynasty, a golden era in Vietnam, and succe ...
or
Trần Thủ Độ Prince Trung Võ Trần Thủ Độ ( vi-hantu, 陳守度, 1194–1264) was a general and leader of the Trần clan during the reign of Lý Huệ Tông and Lý Chiêu Hoàng of Vietnam. Trần Thủ Độ was credited for overthrowing the Lý dyna ...
. Some important texts were also included in the original form by Ngô Sĩ Liên such as ''
Hịch tướng sĩ The Exhortation to the Military Generals ( vi, Dụ chư tì tướng hịch văn, vi-hantu, 諭諸裨將檄文) was a document in Classical Chinese written by Trần Quốc Tuấn in 1284, right before the invasion of the Trần dynasty by the Yu ...
'' or ''
Bình Ngô đại cáo Bình Ngô đại cáo ( vi-hantu, 平吳大誥, literally: ''Great proclamation upon the pacification of the Wu'') was an announcement written by Nguyễn Trãi in 1428, at Lê Lợi's behest and on Lê Lợi's behalf, to proclaim the Lam S ...
''.


Historical perspectives


Comparison with Lê Văn Hưu

While Lê Văn Hưu set the starting point for the history of Vietnam by the foundation of the Kingdom of
Nam Việt Nanyue (), was an ancient kingdom ruled by Chinese monarchs of the Zhao family that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Nanyue was establishe ...
, Ngô Sĩ Liên took a further step by identifying the mythical and historical figures
Kinh Dương Vương Kinh Dương Vương ( Hán tự: 涇陽王; "King of Kinh Dương") is a legendary ancient Vietnamese figure, mentioned in the 15th-century work ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' by having unified all the tribes within his territory into one ...
and his son
Lạc Long Quân Lạc Long Quân (Chữ Hán:貉龍君; "Dragon King of Lạc"; also called Sùng Lãm 崇纜) is a semi-mythical king of the Hồng Bàng dynasty of ancient Vietnam. Quân was the son of Kinh Dương Vương, the king of Xích Quỷ. He is the ...
as the progenitor of the Vietnamese people. Because of the lack of historical resources about Kinh Dương Vương and Lạc Long Quân, some suggests that Ngô Sĩ Liên's explanation of the Vietnamese people's origin was a measure to extend the longevity of the Vietnamese civilization rather than a literal point of departure. From the very beginning of his work, Ngô Sĩ Liên had another difference to Trần scholars in regard to the
Hồng Bàng Dynasty The Hồng Bàng period (Vietnamese: ''thời kỳ Hồng Bàng''), also called the Hồng Bàng dynasty,Pelley, p. 151 was a legendary, semi-mythical period in Vietnamese historiography, spanning from the beginning of the rule of Kinh Dương ...
, that was while the Trần Dynasty scholars only mentioned the Hồng Bàng Dynasty as a symbol of excellence in the history of Vietnam, Ngô Sĩ Liên defined it the first Vietnamese dynasty which reigned the country from 2879 BC to 258 BC and thus predated the
Xia Dynasty The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In tradi ...
, the first dynasty of China, for more than 600 years. However, Ngô Sĩ Liên's account for that long period was so brief that several modern historians challenged the authenticity of his chronology for the Hùng Vương, kings of the Hồng Bàng Dynasty, and speculated that Ngô Sĩ Liên created this specific chronology mainly for the political purpose of the Lê Dynasty. Like Lê Văn Hưu, Ngô Sĩ Liên treated the Kingdom of Nam Việt as a Vietnamese entity, an opinion which was challenged by several Vietnamese historians from Ngô Thì Sĩ in eighteenth century to modern historians because the kings of Nam Việt were of Chinese origin. In their comments on the defeat of
Lý Nam Đế Lý Nam Đế ( chữ Hán: 李南帝, 503 – 13 April 548), personal name Lý Bí or Lý Bôn (李賁), was the founder of the Early Lý dynasty of Vietnam, ruling from 544 to 548. Overview Lý Bôn (李賁, sometimes read as Lý Bí) was a lo ...
by Chen Baxian which led to the Third Chinese domination in Vietnam, Lê Văn Hưu criticized Lý Nam Đế for his lack of ability while Ngô Sĩ Liên remarked that the Will of Heaven was not yet favour with the Vietnamese independence.


Other arguments

Different than Lê Văn Hưu who saved his prior concern for the identity of the country from China, Ngô Sĩ Liên, according to O.W. Wolters, Ngô Sĩ Liên took the Chinese historiography as the standard in assessing historical events of the history of Vietnam. In commenting one event, the historian often cited a passage from Confucianist classics or other Chinese writings such as the ''
Book of Song The ''Book of Song'' (''Sòng Shū'') is a historical text of the Liu Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties of China. It covers history from 420 to 479, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories, a traditional collection of historical records. I ...
'' in order to rhetorically support his own statements. From his Confucianist point of view, Ngô Sĩ Liên often made negative comments on historical figures who acted against the rule of Confucianism. For example, despite his obvious successful reign, the Emperor
Lê Đại Hành Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...
was heavily criticized in ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' for his marriage with
Dương Vân Nga Dương Thị Ngọc Vân (楊氏玉雲, ?–1000) courtesy name Vân Nga (雲娥) was the only empress dowager of the Đinh dynasty and afterwards empress of Lê Đại Hành, the first emperor of the Early Lê dynasty. When her husband Đinh Ti ...
who was the empress consort of his predecessor. One researcher even speculated that since Ngô Sĩ Liên had a bias against this emperor, he decided to attribute the famous poem ''
Nam quốc sơn hà ''Nam quốc sơn hà'' (, ) is a famous 10th- to 11th-century Vietnamese patriotic poem. Dubbed "Vietnam's first Declaration of Independence", it asserts the sovereignty of Vietnam's rulers over its lands. The poem was first dictated to be read ...
'' to
Lý Thường Kiệt Lý Thường Kiệt (; 1019–1105), real name Ngô Tuấn (), was a Vietnamese general and admiral of the Lý dynasty. He served as an official through the reign of Lý Thái Tông, Lý Thánh Tông and Lý Nhân Tông and was a general durin ...
instead of Lê Đại Hành who was considered by several sources the proper author of the ''Nam quốc sơn hà''. Other decisions of the rulers which did not follow the moral and political code of Confucianism were also criticized by Ngô Sĩ Liên such as the coronation of 6 empresses by
Đinh Tiên Hoàng Dinh is a Vietnamese surname. In Vietnam, the surname is spelled Đinh or Đình but ''Đình'' is very rare in Vietnamese. Notable people * Andy Dinh, Team SoloMid owner, player * Dan Dinh, ''League of Legends '' player, brother of Andy Dinh * ...
, the marriage of
Lê Long Đĩnh Lê Long Đĩnh (; 黎 龍 鋌, 15 November 986 – 19 November 1009), also known as Lê Ngọa Triều (黎臥朝), was the last emperor of the Early Lê family of the kingdom of Đại Cồ Việt, ruling from 1005 to 1009. After killing his ...
with 4 empresses or
Lý Thái Tổ Lý Thái Tổ ( vi-hantu, , 8 March 974 – 31 March 1028), Vietnamese name, personal name Lý Công Uẩn, temple name Thái Tổ, was a Vietnamese people, Vietnamese emperor, the founder of the Lý dynasty of Vietnam and the 6th ruler of ...
's lack of interest in Confucianist classics study. Especially in the case of the
Trần Dynasty The Trần dynasty, (Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳)also known as the House of Trần, was a Vietnamese dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of Đại Việt from 1225 to 1400. The dynasty was founded when emperor Trần Thái T ...
, Ngô Sĩ Liên always made unfavourable remarks on the marriages between closely related members of the Trần clan. The only short period during the reign of the Trần Dynasty that Ngô Sĩ Liên praised was from the death of Trần Thái Tông in 1277 to the death of Trần Anh Tông in 1320 while the historian denounced many actions of the Trần rulers such as the ruthless purge of
Trần Thủ Độ Prince Trung Võ Trần Thủ Độ ( vi-hantu, 陳守度, 1194–1264) was a general and leader of the Trần clan during the reign of Lý Huệ Tông and Lý Chiêu Hoàng of Vietnam. Trần Thủ Độ was credited for overthrowing the Lý dyna ...
against Lý clan or the controversial marriage between Trần Thái Tông and the Princess Thuận Thiên. Beside its historical value, ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' is also considered an important work of the literature of Vietnam because Ngô Sĩ Liên often provided more information about the mentioned historical figures by the additional stories which were well written like a literary work. From various comments of Ngô Sĩ Liên, it seems that the historian also tried to define and teach moral principles based on the concept of Confucianism. For example, Ngô Sĩ Liên mentioned for several times the definition of a ''Gentleman'' ('' Quân tử'') who, according to the historian, had to possess both good qualities and righteous manners, Ngô Sĩ Liên also emphasized the importance of the ''Gentleman'' in the dynastic era by pointing out the difference between a ''Gentleman'' and a ''Mean man'' (''Tiểu nhân'') or determining what would be the effectiveness of the example of such ''Gentlemen''.


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dai Viet su ky toan thu 1479 books Lê dynasty texts History books about Vietnam Chinese-language literature of Vietnam