Tô Hiến Thành ( Hán tự: 蘇憲誠) (died 1179) was an official in the royal court of

Lý Anh Tông Emperor Lý Anh Tông (1136 – 14 August 1175) of Đại Việt (literally Great Viet), was the sixth ruler of the later Lý dynasty, from 1138 until his death in 1175. Since Lý Anh Tông, given name Lý Thiên Tộ ( 李天祚), was chose ...

and

Lý Cao Tông Lý Cao Tông (6 July 1173 – 15 November 1210), born Lý Long Trát, courtesy name Long Cán, was the seventh emperor of the Lý dynasty, ruled Đại Việt for 35 years. He identified himself with Buddha, similar with Angkorian Khmer Empire c ...

, the sixth and seventh emperors of the

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty ( vi, Nhà Lý, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 李朝, Hán Việt: ''Lý triều'') was a Vietnamese dynasty that existed from 1009 to 1225. It was established by Lý Công Uẩn when he overthrew the Early Lê dynasty an ...

. Being a capable official of Lý Anh Tông who helped the emperor in civil and military matters, Tô Hiến Thành was chosen by Lý Anh Tông for the regentship of his son Lý Long Trát. He was granted the title Prince and thus became the only possessor of the title who did not come from the Lý royal family. The achievements and loyalty of Tô Hiến Thành to the infant emperor

made him a highly praised figure in the

history of Vietnam The history of Vietnam can be traced back to around 20,000 years ago, as the first modern humans arrived and settled on this land, known as the Hoabinhians, which can be traced to modern-day Negritos. Archaeological findings from 1965, which are ...

. Today, Tô Hiến Thành is considered one of the most prominent mandarins in the dynastic time of Vietnam.

History

During Lý Anh Tông's reign

According to ''

Từ điển bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam ''Từ điển bách khoa Việt Nam'' (Literally ''Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Vietnam'') is a state-sponsored Vietnamese language encyclopedia that was published in Vietnam in 2005. It is the first state encyclopedia of the Socialist Republic o ...

'', the birthyear of Tô Hiến Thành was unknown; he was born in the Hạ Mỗ village (now Đan Phượng,

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 i ...

). Since his

family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...

was Tô, there was a hypothesis that he might have a kinship with Tô thị, the wife of

Đỗ Anh Vũ Đỗ Anh Vũ ( Hán tự: 杜英武) (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 ...

who was the most powerful figure in the royal court during the early reign of

. Tô Hiến Thành was mentioned for the first time in historical account for his role in pacifying the rebellion of Thân Lợi. In 1140, Thân Lợi called himself the son of

Lý Nhân Tông Lý Nhân Tông (22 February 1066 – 15 January 1128), personal name Lý Càn Đức, temple name Nhân Tông was the fourth monarch of the Lý dynasty, ruling the kingdom of Đại Việt from 1072 until his death in 1128. Succeeding his ...

and raised a revolt against

in the northern region (now

Thái Nguyên Thái Nguyên () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital and largest city of Thái Nguyên Province. The city is listed as a first class city and is the ninth largest city in Vietnam. It has long been famous throughout Vietnam for its Tân Cư� ...

). Thân Lợi's army was finally suppressed by Lý troops led by Đỗ Anh Vũ while Thân Lợi was captured by Tô Hiến Thành and beheaded by the order of Lý Anh Tông in the tenth month of 1141. It was Tô Hiến Thành who advised the emperor to grant amnesty for members of the rebellion to demonstrate the kindness of the dynasty to its people. During the early rule of Lý Anh Tông, the most powerful official was Đỗ Anh Vũ who decided military and civil matters 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 ...

, but Tô Hiến Thành, as a court minister, began to prove his ability in the royal court. The historian

Trần Trọng Kim Trần Trọng Kim (Chữ Nôm: ; 1883 – December 2, 1953), courtesy name Lệ Thần, was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a state established with the support of Imper ...

remarked that Đỗ Anh Vũ did not take any further step in taking power only because of the appearance of such skilled officials like Tô Hiến Thành, Hoàng Nghĩa Hiền or Lý Công Tín. After the death of Đỗ Anh Vũ, in 1158, Tô Hiến Thành became the most prominent figure in the royal court who helped the emperor successfully rule the country. In the fifth month of 1159, Tô Hiến Thành put down the revolt of Ngưu Hống and Ai Lao in the western border and was promoted to the position of commander-in-chief (Thái úy) of Đại Việt army. In this position, Tô Hiến Thành conducted several measures to improve the efficiency of the army such as reorganizing, recruiting strong and young people, choosing capable commanders and stepping up the exercise in army. In the seventh month of 1167, Lý Anh Tông appointed Tô Hiến Thành commander of the military campaign against the kingdom of

Champa Champa ( Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd ...

, a campaign which was ordered to abandon after the king of Champa, Jaya Indravarman IV, proposed a withdrawal of the Lý dynasty by offering Lý Anh Tông tribute.Maspero, G., 2002, The Champa Kingdom, Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., Originally holding a military position in the royal court, Tô Hiến Thành helped the emperor improve the efficiency of the Lý army and paid attention to the development of

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

learning in the country. After the advice of Tô Hiến Thành, Lý Anh Tông issued the establishment the first

temple of Confucius A temple of Confucius or Confucian temple is a temple for the veneration of Confucius and the sages and philosophers of Confucianism in Chinese folk religion and other East Asian religions. They were formerly the site of the administration of ...

in Thăng Long in 1156. Formerly,

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

was jointly worshiped in the

Temple of Literature, Hanoi Văn Miếu (Vietnamese: ''Văn Miếu'', Hán tự: 文廟) is a temple dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. The temple also hosts the Imperial Academy (, ), Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at ...

. Self-castration was banned by Tô Hiến Thành

During Lý Cao Tông's reign

In 1175, the emperor was seriously ill and decided to entrust the regentship of his son Lý Long Trát to Tô Hiến Thành. The regent was appointed to the position of chancellor of the Lý dynasty (Thái phó bình chương quân quốc trọng sự) and granted the title Prince (Vương) — an unprecedented act of a Lý emperor for a title that was reserved exclusively for members of the royal family. During the Lý dynasty, Tô Hiến Thành was the only possessor of the title Prince who did not come from the Lý royal family. From the fourth month of 1175, Tô Hiến Thành began his regency because the emperor was not able to rule the country as the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the w ...

was only two years old. The emperor died in the seventh month in 1175 and began the campaign of the Empress Mother in supporting another prince, Lý Long Xưởng, to replace the infant emperor Lý Long Trát, now

. The Empress Mother tried to bribe Tô Hiến Thành's wife and persuaded the regent many times. Tô Hiến Thành refused by a simple answer that he had to follow the order of the late emperor and preferred being honest to being rich but disloyal. His firmness in refusing the proposal of the Empress Mother and controlling the army and order during the funeral time made other officials believe in Lý Cao Tông. They therefore declined the campaign of replacing him by the prince Lý Long Xưởng. During his regentship, Tô Hiến Thành proved to be a skilled official with deep knowledge in military and civil matters. The regent died in 1179. To mourn the death of Tô Hiến Thành, the emperor stopped attending the royal court for six days and cut down his meals for three days. According to ''

Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư 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 under ...

'', when he was ill, Tô Hiến Thành was thoughtfully cared by the official Vũ Tán Đường while the mandarin Trần Trung Tá did not visit the regent due to busy work. Nevertheless, when the Empress Mother personally visited and asked Tô Hiến Thành in his dying moments about a successor for his position, the regent at once recommended Trần Trung Tá. Being asked by the Empress Mother why he did not mention the devoted Vũ Tán Đường, Tô Hiến Thành responded: "Because Your Highness asked for a successor of my position, I choose Trần Trung Tá, in case Your Highness need a servant, I will recommend Vũ Tán Đường." However, after Tô Hiến Thành's death, the Empress Mother did not follow his advice and the Lý dynasty began to fall into a turbulent time and finally collapsed in 1225.

Legacy

The talent and faithful character of Tô Hiến Thành was highly appreciated in the

. In 1394, the Retired Emperor Trần Nghệ Tông 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 Thá ...

ordered his painter to draw an illustration about four exemplary regents, in which only Tô Hiến Thành was from Đại Việt. The other three — the

Duke of Zhou Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou (), commonly known as the Duke of Zhou (), was a member of the royal family of the early Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu. He was renowned for actin ...

Huo Guang Huo Guang (; died 68 BC), courtesy name Zimeng (子孟), was a Chinese military general and politician who served as the dominant state official of the Western Han dynasty from 87 BCE until his death in 68 BCE. The younger half-brother of the r ...

and

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is ...

— all came from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Because of his achievements and loyalty for the infant emperor, Tô Hiến Thành was often compared with Zhuge Liang who was the dedicated regent for

Liu Shan Liu Shan () (207–271), courtesy name Gongsi, was the second and last emperor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. As he ascended the throne at the age of 16, Liu Shan was entrusted to the care of the Chancellor Zhuge ...

. Today, a main street in Hanoi and many places in Vietnam are named in honour of Tô Hiến Thành. Each year a traditional festival is held in Phú Xuyên in the first lunar month to commemorate his feats. In the

Lý Bát Đế Shrine LY or ly may refer to: Government and politics * Libya (ISO 3166-1 country code LY) * Lý dynasty, a Vietnamese dynasty * Labour Youth of Ireland * Legislative Yuan, the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Science and t ...

, the traditional temple for worshiping the emperors of the Lý dynasty, Tô Hiến Thành is one of only two civil mandarins who are jointly worshiped, along with Lý Đạo Thành.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thanh, To Hien Lý dynasty officials 1179 deaths Year of birth unknown