Lý Thánh Tông (19 March 1023 - 1 February 1072), personal name Lý Nhật Tôn [lǐ ɲə̀t ton], was the third emperor of the Lý dynasty.
Starting his career as the crown prince, Nhật Tôn soon proved his abilities to the royal court. His father, emperor Lý Thái Tông, had readily delegated important tasks to him. He led soldiers against rebels, he judged offenders and presided over the court in his father's absence.
In his reign, Lý Thánh Tông constructed numerous architectural structures in Thăng Long citadel, promoted the agricultural development, reducing some harsh laws and building many Confucianist and Buddhist institutions, most notably the first Temple of Literature in Vietnam (1072). He also fought several successful wars with Champa, resulting in the expansion of Vietnamese territory to the areas which are Quảng Bình Province and Quảng Trị Province today. Lý Thánh Tông incorporated both Sinic and Indic elements into his court. Chinese sources identify Lý Nhật Tôn as the Viet monarch that dared to claim imperial status, which for the Chinese was a direct challenge to their view of the world that prelude to the Song-Viet war in 1070s.
Contents
Early life
Lý Nhật Tôn was the eldest son of the second emperor Lý Phật Mã and Queen Mai Thị. He was born on March 30, 1023, at Long Đức palace, during the last years of Lý Thái Tổ's era. According to historical records, Queen Mai Thị had a dream in which the Moon fell into her stomach, resulting in her pregnancy with Nhật Tôn.
Unlike his father and grandfather, he had not lived in the disturbed atmosphere of Hoa Lư. When Lý Thái Tông, was enthroned in April 1028, he appointed Nhật Tôn crown prince. Nhật Tôn came of age witnessing and participating in the exuberance of his father's reign. In 1033, he was conferred crown prince after his father ascended the throne as Prince Khai Hoàng (開皇王).
Domestic
Just after succession in 3rd November 1054, Lý Nhật Tôn shortened the kingdom's name from Đại Cồ Việt to Đại Việt (literally "Great Viet"), initiating the most prosperous epoch throughout the history of Vietnam under that name. He named his era Long Thụy Thái Bình. The 6th year of Emperor Lý Thái Tông’s Sùng Hưng Đại Bảo era became the first year of the Long Thụy Thái Bình era. Around that time, he issued an edict ordering the burning and destruction of all the torture devices used by the Ministry of Justice, then allowed all the concubines serving in Thúy Hoa palace to leave the capital. Thánh Tông then began conferring titles on court officials. Phí Gia Hựu was conferred the title of Văn Minh Điện Đại Học Sĩ (Scholar of Văn Minh Palace), while several generals and military personnel were conferred titles in the royal guards. Lý Đạo Thành was appointed as Grand Preceptor and Quách Kinh Nhật was appointed as Chancellor (thái úy).
In January 1055, he ordered the renovation of the palaces inside the Imperial Citadel. In October this year, as winter brought severe cold, he said to the court officials: "Even though I'm staying in the palace, heated by coal made from the bones of predators and kept warm by a mink-fur coat, I still can't escape the serve cold. So how can the prisoners, who are shackled, suffer from hunger, lack enough clothing to cover themselves, and have not even been convicted, withstand such severe cold? I feel great pity for them all. Therefore, I order the Bureau to provide all prisoners with blankets and mats, along with two meals a day." The historians of Khâm Định Việt Sử Thông Giám Cương Mục sarcastically questioned what corresponding policies he had provided for the citizens instead of the prisoners. He then granted a half reduction in taxes throughout the realm. Around that time, he ordered the construction of Đông Lâm and Tĩnh Lự pagodas in Đông Cưu mountain.
In April 1056, he issued an edict to promote agriculture. He then ordered the construction of the Sùng Khánh Báo Thiên pagoda, and granted 12000 jin of copper for molding the large bells. He then wrote the essay to be carved on those bells. The royal court also hosted an event honoring the Arahant at Thiên An palace. In January 1057, he ordered the construction of the Đại Thắng Tự Thiên stupa, also known as Báo Thiên stupa, which had twelve stories and stood tens of zhàng in height. During the construction time in this year, a golden dragon flew from Quỳnh Lâm Garden to Trường Xuân palace. In October this year, while he traveled to survey Đại Bàng Estuary, a golden dragon suddenly appeared inside his boat. In December this year, he ordered the construction of Thiên Phúc and Thiên Thọ pagodas. He then ordered the construction of golden statues of Brahma (Phạn Vương) and Sakra (Đế Thích) to worship. In the spring of 1058, he ordered the renovation of the Tường Phù gate. By March, the renovation had been completed, along with the construction of an upper floor above the gate. Around that time, he ordered the construction of an octagonal palace named Khổn Thiên in the middle of Kim Minh pond. In May, a golden dragon flew from Long Đức palace to Vĩnh Thọ hall. In June, he ordered the construction of Linh Quang, Kiến Lễ, and Sùng Nghi palaces.
Foreign relations
In January 1055, Champa paid tribute. In October of the same year, Thánh Tông sent envoys to the Song to inform them of the death of emperor Thái Tông. The Song then sent envoys to pay a condolence visit then conferred on Lý Thánh Tông the title of "King of Jiaozhi Province" (Giao Chỉ Quận Vương). In January 1056, Chenla paid tribute. In January 1057, Thánh Tông sent an envoy to the Song to pay tribute, which included a qilin. Upon seeing this, Sima Guang commented: "If it's a real qilin but has arrived at not the right time, then it isn't a good omen. But if it isn't a qilin, then this incident will allow the foreigners to make fun of us. So let's treat them [the Đại Viêt envoys] well then asked them to bring it [the qilin] back."
In December 1057, Champa paid tribute, then paid tribute again toward the end of 1059 and once more in 1060. In December 1063, Champa paid tribute. In January 1064, Thánh Tông sent envoys to the Song to congratulate on the inauguration Zhao Zongshi on his enthronement as Emperor Yingzong in the previous year. Later, in October, the Song conferred Thánh Tông the title of "Đồng Bình Chương Sự". In the winter of 1065, Champa paid tribute with a white rhinoceros.
In February 1067, Heishui and Laos paid tribute with gold, silver, agarwood, rhinoceros horns, ivory and other precious local products. Later, the Song conferred Thánh Tông the title of "Khai phủ nghi đồng tam ti", then "Nam Bình Vương". In 1068, when the royal court had received multiple white elephants as tribute from several provinces, Champa also presented the royal court with a white elephant. Soon afterward, they conducted raids along the border of Đại Việt.
According to the Chinese, Lý Nhật Tôn violated propriety by arrogantly proclaiming himself an emperor. Because of recently violence in the borders, local Song officials went so far as to conspire with the Cham king to put pressure on the Vietnamese. A Vietnamese embassy was permitted to offer tribute to the court of Renzong in Kaifeng, arriving on 8 February 1063 to deliver gifts, including nine tamed elephants. The king sent a second embassy to the Sung court in 1067 to congratulate Shenzong's coronation, and received gifts from the Sung emperor including a golden belt, silver ingots, 300 bolts of silk, two horses, a saddle inlaid with gold and silver plating.
As Champa constantly harassed the area near the border between the two nations and sometimes intruded deeply to loot, in 1069 Lý Thánh Tông himself led an seaborne invasion of Champa. He defeated the Cham army, burned Vijaya, and captured the king of Champa, Rudravarman III on Khmer territories. Rudravarman III implored Lý Thánh Tông to release him in exchange for three areas, known as Địa Lý, Ma Linh, and Bố Chính. These now form part of Quảng Bình Province and Quảng Trị Province.
Military affairs
Upon his enthronement, Thánh Tông appointed several military personnel and conferred the titles on them in the royal guards. He also renamed several divisions of the royal guard, and established a new division named Tả Hữu Long Dực, with 100 guards assigned to each unit of the division. Around mid-year 1057, A Châu ward rebelled against the royal court, but historical accounts don't provide any further details about how the rebellion ended.
In March 1059, Thánh Tông ordered a military campaign into Qinzhou of the Song. Đại Việt's army demonstrated its military power before withdrawn. Thánh Tông's royal court justified the campaign as "a punishment for the arrogance of the Song." This incident marked the first military campaign in Thánh Tông's reign. The historians of Đại Việt Sử Ký Tiền Biên expressed concern about this incident. They argued that the Song had just conferred Thánh Tông four year earlier in 1055, and there were no records of border skirmishes in Đại Việt's historical chronicles at the time. They therefore questioned the reason for Thánh Tông's hostility toward the Song and its alleged arrogance. They then hypothesized that this incident was an imitation of Thánh Tông's father Thái Tông in military power demonstration to the neighboring states. The Nguyễn dynasty historians also commented this military campaign was irrational.
However, Westerns historians in the late 20th and early 21th centuries had a different interpretation of this military campaign. According to James A. Anderson and Michael McGrath, after Nong Zhigao's rebellion was suppressed in 1055, the Guangnan West Circuit Fiscal Commissioner, Wang Han (fl. 1043–1063), feared that Nong Zhigao's kinsmen Nùng Tông Đán intended to plunder the region after he crossed the Song border in 1057. Wang Han took a personal visit to Nùng Tông Đán's camp and spoke with Nong Zhigao's son, explaining that seeking "Interior Dependency" status would alienate them from the Vietnamese, but if they remained outside of China proper they could safely act as loyal frontier militia. A local Song official, Xiao Zhu, agitated for military action against Thăng Long to settle the border question. They secretly trained military units and sheltered refugees from the Vietnamese side, including army deserters. The contradiction between the pacific pronouncements of the Song court and the devious, provocative policy of local Song officials angered Lý Thánh Tông. That led to the punitive attack in 1059 across the border, in which Thánh Tông declared his hate for "Sung's untrustworthiness".
Religious activities
In 1057 Thánh Tông erected a Buddha statue in Thăng Long as the reincarnation of a pantheon of spirits, including the ancient Lạc saint Gióng and the Chinese god of war, Chen Wu, while several years later the minister Lý Đạo Thành erected a Buddha statue and established a garden dedicated to a Bodhisattva in the grounds of the provincial Temple of Literature in Nghệ An. In the capital, Thánh Tông ordered the construction of a temple called Phạn Vương Đế Thích for the worship of Indra (Đế Thích). Also in the same year he constructed a royal cult linked Hindu-Buddhist king of the god Indra as well as Brahma (Phạn Vương); every year, before the Tết lunar new year two days, Vietnamese kings and his entourage would go to the shrine of Indra to worship. He also had two temples Thiên Phúc and Thiên Thọ, golden statues of Brahma and Sakra to worship. In early 1072, Thánh Tông went up to the mount of Tản Viên to worship the mountain spirit.
Death
In January 1072, he suddenly died at the age of 49, having ruled for 17 years. During his rule, he used 5 era names:
Long Thụy Thái Bình (1054–1058)
Chương Thánh Gia Khánh (1059–1065)
Long Chương Thiên Tự (1066–1067)
Thiên Huống Bảo Tượng (1068)
Thần Vũ (1069–1072)
Assessment
Although Lý Thánh Tông established many Buddhist architectural works, the American historian John K. Whitmore considered that Thánh Tông did not seem to have been much engaged with either the Buddhist or the spirit world, unlike his father Thái Tông and grandfather Thái Tổ. Relating to the spirit world, however, Việt sử lược recorded multiple mythological accounts involving dragons during his reign.
Family
Parents
Lý Phật Mã (李佛瑪, 1000 – 1054)
Empress Mai
Wives: Upon his enthronement, Thánh Tông officially recognized 8 queens, with Empress Thượng Dương is the mostly known. He then married Lady Ỷ Lan (倚蘭) (or Lê Khiết Nương 黎潔娘), making the total of 9 quueens.
Children
Lý Càn Đức (李乾德, 1066 – 1128), first son
Lý Càn Quyết, second son
Sùng Hiền Hầu
Princess Động Thiên
Princess Thiên Thành
Lý Thị Ngọc Kiều (李氏玉嬌, 1042 – 1113), adopted daughter