Lý Thường Kiệt (; 1019–1105), real name Ngô Tuấn (), was a Vietnamese general and admiral of the
Lý dynasty
The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...
. He served as an official through the reign of
Lý Thái Tông,
Lý Thánh Tông and
Lý Nhân Tông
Lý Nhân Tông (22 February 1066 – 15 January 1128), personal name Lý Càn Đức, temple name Nhân Tông was the fourth emperor of the Lý dynasty, ruling the empire of Đại Việt from 1072 until his death in 1128. Succeeding his fat ...
and was a general during the
Song–Lý War.
In
Vietnamese history, he helped invade Champa (1069), raid the three
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
provinces of Yongzhou, Qinzhou, Lianzhou (1075–1076), and defeat the Song invasion of Vietnam led by
Gou Kui and
Zhao Xie.
Background
Born Ngô Tuấn
Lý Thường Kiệt was born in
Thăng Long (now
Hanoi
Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
), the capital of
Đại Việt
Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), was a Vietnamese monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day Hanoi. Its early name, Đại Cồ Việt,(ch ...
(ancient
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
). His real name was Ngô Tuấn. His father was a low-ranking military officer. He was originally from Thái Hòa ward (太和坊) of
Thăng Long citadel. According to
Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thái Hòa was also the name of a small mountain in the west of
Thăng Long citadel, south of the Bách Thảo dike, near the place turn down to the horse racing. Lý Thường Kiệt surname was not originally
Lý, because he was given the royal surname. As for his original surname, there are now two major controversial theories:
* Ngô surname: This theory is based on ''"Genealogy of the Vietnamese Ngô family"'' and ''"Thần phổ Lý Thường Kiệt"'' written by
Nhữ Bá Sĩ in the
Nguyễn dynasty
The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...
. According to this evidence, his original name was Ngô Tuấn (吳俊), the name after maturity was Thường Kiệt (常傑), after being given the royal surname, was named Lý Thường Kiệt. He was the son of Sùng Tiết general Ngô An Ngữ, the grandson of ambassador
Ngô Xương Xí and the great-grandson of Thiên Sách vương
Ngô Xương Ngập - the eldest son of
Ngô Quyền. This theory was most widely accepted, but it was considered a ''"new theory"'', because the time of the evidence was still young, an unknown genealogy and was written during the
Nguyễn dynasty
The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...
.
* Quách surname: This theory is based on the stele ''"An Hoạch Báo Ân tự bi ký"'' (created in 1100) and the ''"Cồ Việt quốc
Thái úy Lý công thạch bi minh tính tự"'' (created in 1159), these are both original steles of the
Lý dynasty
The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...
and the translation is available in ''"The epitaphs of Lý-Trần Dynasty"'' by Lam Giang, Pham Van Tham and Pham Thi Hoa. According to the information of both steles, Lý Thường Kiệt originally surname was
Quách, first name was Tuấn, the name after maturity was Thường Kiệt very similar to the information of
gô family theory According to the stele, his hometown is An Xá village, Quảng Đức district (Cơ Xá,
Gia Lâm district today), and perhaps later transformed into Thái Hòa ward as Toan Thu noted. His father was commander-in-chief under the reign of
Lý Thái Tông, there are two different names, according to ''
Đại Việt sử lược'' his father named commander-in-chief
Quách Thịnh Ích (郭盛謚), and ''
An Nam Chí Lược'' written as commander-in-chief
Quách Thịnh Dật (郭盛溢), hometown in Câu Lậu and Tế Giang districts (now in Mỹ Văn,
Hưng Yên). After the Emperor gave him the royal surname, Quách Tuấn was named Lý Thường Kiệt. According to the epitaph of commander-in-chief Đỗ Anh Vũ, Anh Vũ's father called Lý Thường Kiệt his uncle.
Chinese histories often say that
hường Kiệtis Lý Thường Cát or Lý Thượng Cát. In the family, he has a younger brother named Lý Thường Hiến (李常憲). Perhaps like his brother, ''"Thường Hiến"'' is the name after maturity, not the real name; it is customary in the old days that the name after maturation has a similar or opposite meaning to the real name and is used to call outside as an understanding of the politeness, only in the home to call the real name.
Family
According to the comment of ''
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 Đại Việt, that was originally compiled by the royal historian Ngô Sĩ Liên under ...
'' history book, his family succeeded as mandarins in the way of hereditary, that is the ordination was permanent throughout the generations, so his family could be seen as a bureaucracy with a strong roots. From a young age, Lý Thường Kiệt has proved to be a person with the will and energy, studying, practicing both literature and martial arts, having studied military tactics.
Due to two different sources, Lý Thường Kiệt's father position is also different. The
Việt điện u linh tập history book that were compiled with
gô surname sourcesall mention Lý Thường Kiệt's father named An Ngữ, and was a ''"Sùng ban Lang tướng"''. The
An Nam chí lược history book in the
Lý dynasty
The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...
has two names Sùng ban and Lang tướng, but that policy copies the two names apart. Perhaps ''"Sùng ban Lang tướng"'' is ''"Lang tướng belonging to Sùng ban"'', because even in Chí lược book there was a position called ''"Vũ nội Lang tướng"'', but it is not clear how these positions are in the court. As for
uách surname sources Lý Thường Kiệt was the son of Quách Thịnh Ích, a commander-in-chief, so his position was different.
Nhữ Bá Sĩ wrote about the legend youth of Lý Thường Kiệt as follows:
Scholar
Hoàng Xuân Hãn, when extracting content from
Nhữ Bá Sĩ's stele, also commented: ''"This paragraph, copied from
Nhữ Bá Sĩ stele, a new stele built in Tự Đức's reign. Certainly,
Nhữ Bá Sĩ copied the oral tradition of the people. The word of the people is mostly an oral or a fabrication, we cannot fully believe the details that are so clearly written in the oral. But the above mentioned Thường Kiệt education is consistent with what we still know about the
Lý dynasty
The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...
."''
Nam Quốc Sơn Hà
He may have been the author of the Vietnamese poem ''
Nam Quốc Sơn Hà''. However controversy surrounds its exact authorship.
The poem was written to motivate troops to fight against the Song dynasty.
According to the 20th century historian
Trần Trọng Kim, Ly was afraid that his soldiers would lose morale so he wrote this poem and said it was done by the Gods to restore their fighting spirit.
In
US President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's visit to Vietnam, he referred to the poem as Vietnam's "declaration of independence" saying that large countries should not bully smaller countries.
Nonetheless, to this day the poem is still well known in Vietnam, and Ly is considered a national hero, with some Vietnamese still delivering tribute to and worshipping him as a deity at his shrine in Hanoi.
Phạt Tống lộ bố văn
General Ly Thuong Kiet was also the author of the
Phạt Tống lộ bố văn (
chữ Hán
( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...
: 伐宋露布文, An Account of the Campaign to Punish the Song), another poem against the Song dynasty.
[Viet Nam social sciences - Issues 4-6 - Page 86 Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam - 2002 "... and author of the epic poems Nam Quoc Son Ha and Lo Bo Van warning foreigners against attempting to follow in the "]
References
External links
Lý Thường Kiệt với bài thơ "Nam quốc sơn hà"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ly, Thuong Kiet
1019 births
1105 deaths
Lý dynasty generals
Vietnamese male poets
Vietnamese eunuchs
11th-century Vietnamese poets
Lý dynasty poets
Thái úy