 Cover of the "Nội các quan bản" version (1697) | |
| Author | Ngô Sĩ Liên (original edition) |
|---|---|
| Original title | 大越史記全書 |
| Language | Văn ngôn |
| Subject | History of Vietnam |
| Genre | Historiography |
| Publisher | Lê dynasty |
Publication date | 1479 (original edition) |
| Publication place | Đại Việt |
| Preceded by | Đại Việt sử ký |
| Followed by | Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục |
Original text | 大越史記全書 at ChineseWikisource |
TheĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư (chữ Hán:大越史記全書;Vietnamese:[ɗâːjˀvìətʂɨ᷉kǐtwâːntʰɨ];Complete Annals of Đại Việt) is the official national chronicle of theĐại Việt, that was originally compiled by the royal historianNgô Sĩ Liên under the order of the EmperorLê Thánh Tông and was finished in 1479 during theLê period. The 15-volume book covered the period fromHồng Bàng dynasty to the coronation ofLê Thái Tổ, the first emperor of the Lê dynasty in 1428. In compiling his work, Ngô Sĩ Liên based on two principal historical sources which wereĐại Việt sử ký byLê Văn Hưu andĐại Việt sử ký tục biên byPhan Phu Tiên. After its publication,Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư was continually supplemented by other historians of the royal court such asVũ Quỳnh andPhạm Công Trứ. Today the most popular version ofĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư is theNội các quan bản edition which was completed in 1697 with the additional information up to 1656 during the reign of the EmperorLê Thần Tông and the LordTrịnh Tráng.Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư is considered the most important and comprehensive historical book. The chronicle provides a chronological history beginning with the legendaryHồng Bàng dynasty (2888 BCE?) and continuing to the founding of the house of Lê in 1428.[1]
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During theFourth Chinese domination, many valuable books ofĐại Việt were taken away by theMing dynasty includingLê Văn Hưu'sĐại Việt sử ký (大越史記,Annals of Đại Việt), the official history of theTrần dynasty and the most comprehensive source of the history of Vietnam up to that era.[2][3][4][5] However, the contents of theĐại Việt sử ký and Lê Văn Hưu's comments about various historical events was fully collected by the historianPhan Phu Tiên in writing the first official annals of theLê dynasty after the order of the EmperorLê Nhân Tông in 1455.[6] The newĐại Việt sử ký of Phan Phu Tiên was supplemented the period from 1223 with the coronation ofTrần Thái Tông to 1427 with the retreat of the Ming dynasty after the victory ofLê Lợi. Phan Phu Tiên's ten-volume work had other names such asĐại Việt sử ký tục biên (大越史記續編序,Supplementary Edition of the Annals of Đại Việt) orQuốc sử biên lục.[6]
| Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư | |
|---|---|
| Vietnamese name | |
| Vietnamese | Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư |
| Hán-Nôm | 大越史記全書 |
During the reign ofLê 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.[7] Under the order of Thánh Tông, he based on the works of Lê Văn Hưu and Phan Phu Tiên to write theĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư which was compiled in 15 volumes (quyển) and finished in 1479.[6][8] In compiling theĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Ngô Sĩ Liên also drew elements from other books such asViệt điện u linh tập (Compilation of the potent spirits in the Realm of Việt) orLĩnh 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.[9] This was the first time such sources were used in historiography by a Vietnamese historian.[7]Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư was finally completed in 1479 with the accounts that stopped by the coronation ofLê Thái Tổ in 1428.[7][10] According toLê Quý Đôn, Ngô Sĩ Liên also compiled an historical text about the reigns of Thái Tổ,Thái Tông andNhân Tông namedTam triều bản ký (Records of the Three Reigns).
In 1511, the royal historianVũ Quỳnh reorganized Ngô Sĩ Liên's work in hisViệt giám thông khảo by adding the account aboutThánh Tông,Hiển Tông,Túc Tông andUy Mục, which was calledTứ triều bản ký (Records of the Four Reigns).[7][10] Other historians continued to reviseĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư and also add the supplemental information about the reign of the Lê dynasty, notably the 23-volumeĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư tục biên (Continued Compilation of the Complete Annals of Đại Việt) was published under the supervision ofPhạm Công Trứ in 1665 while the "Nội các quan bản" edition, the most comprehensive and popular version ofĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư, was printed in 1697 during the Chính Hòaera by efforts of the historianLê Hi.[7][11][12]
The original 15-volume version ofĐại 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. TheĐại Việt sử ký tục biên or the Cảnh Trị edition (1665), that was the era name ofLê Huyền Tông has a better status of conservation but the most popular and fully preserved version ofĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư until now is the Chính Hòa edition (1697) which was the onlywoodblock printed version of this work.[12] 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.[12][13] Today, a complete set of the "Nội các quan bản" edition is kept in the archives of theÉcole française d'Extrême-Orient inParis, France. This edition was translated intoVietnamese in 1993 by the Institute of Hán Nôm inHanoi.[14]
The format ofĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư was modeled after the famousZizhi Tongjian (資治通鑑/Tư trị thông giám,Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government) of theSong scholarSima Guang, which means historical events were redacted in chronological order like annals. Ngô Sĩ Liên separated his book and the history of Vietnam intoNgoại kỷ (Peripheral Records) andBản kỷ (Basic Records) by the 938 victory ofNgô Quyền in theBattle of Bạch Đằng River.[7] This chronological method of compilation is different from theofficial historical texts of Chinese dynasties which had the layout divided in biographies of each historical figures, an approach which was initiated bySima Qian in theRecords of the Grand Historian.[15] 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, notablyTrần Quốc Tuấn orTrần Thủ Độ. Some important texts were also included in the original form by Ngô Sĩ Liên such asHịch tướng sĩ orBình Ngô đại cáo.[15]
While Lê Văn Hưu set the starting point for the history of Vietnam by the foundation of the Kingdom ofNam Việt,[6] Ngô Sĩ Liên took a further step by identifying the mythical and historical figuresKinh Dương Vương and his sonLạc Long Quân as the progenitor of the Vietnamese people.[51] 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.[8][52] From the very beginning of his work, Ngô Sĩ Liên had another difference to Trần scholars in regard to theHồng Bàng dynasty, 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 theXia dynasty, the first dynasty of China, for more than 600 years.[8] However, Ngô Sĩ Liên's account for that long period was so brief[53] that several modern historians challenged the authenticity of his chronology for theHùng 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.[54]
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 fromNgô Thì Sĩ[55] in eighteenth century to modern historians because the kings of Nam Việt were of Chinese origin.[56][57][58]
In their comments on the defeat ofLý Nam Đế byChen Baxian which led to theThird 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.[59]
Different than Lê Văn Hưu who saved his prior concern for the identity of the country from China,[60] Ngô Sĩ Liên, according toO.W. Wolters, Ngô Sĩ Liên took theChinese historiography as the standard in assessing historical events of the history of Vietnam.[61] In commenting one event, the historian often cited a passage from Confucianist classics or other Chinese writings such as theBook of Song in order to rhetorically support his own statements.[62]
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 EmperorLê Đại Hành was heavily criticized inĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư for his marriage withDương Vân Nga 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 poemNam quốc sơn hà toLý Thường Kiệt instead of Lê Đại Hành who was considered by several sources the proper author of theNam quốc sơn hà.[63][64] 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 six empresses byĐinh Tiên Hoàng, the marriage ofLê Long Đĩnh with four empresses orLý Thái Tổ's lack of interest inConfucianist classics study.[65] Especially in the case of theTrần dynasty, 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 ofTrần Thủ Độ against Lý clan or the controversial marriage between Trần Thái Tông and the PrincessThuận Thiên.[66]
Beside its historical value,Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư is also considered an important work of theliterature 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.[15] 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.[67] For example, Ngô Sĩ Liên mentioned for several times the definition of aGentleman (Quân tử) who, according to the historian, had to possess both good qualities and righteous manners, Ngô Sĩ Liên also emphasized the importance of theGentleman in the dynastic era by pointing out the difference between aGentleman and aMean man (Tiểu nhân) or determining what would be the effectiveness of the example of suchGentlemen.[67]