Lý Thái Tổ (, 8 March 974 – 31 March 1028), personal name Lý Công Uẩn (李公蘊), was the founding emperor of the Lý dynasty. He reigned the empire for 18 years, from 1009 until his death in 1028.
With the background as a military personnel under the Anterior Lê dynasty, Công Uẩn was quickly promoted to Palace Commander and held a strong position at the royal court. After the death of Emperor Lê Hoàn, the Lê dynasty immediately fell into crisis due to wars among the princes for the throne. The succession crisis officially ended when Lê Long Đĩnh ascended the throne. However, Lê Long Đĩnh died young and ruled the empire for only four years. With great prestige and widespread renown throughout the empire, Lý Công Uẩn was enthroned by the royal court, thereby establishing the Lý dynasty - the very first Vietnamese dynasty to endure for more than two centuries, ruling for a total of 216 years and experiencing periods of both prosperity and crisis.
The first achievement of his reign was the relocation of the capital from Hoa Lư to Đại La which was later renamed Thăng Long. This event marked the beginning of more than 1000 years of Hà Nội's history as the capital. During his reign, Đại Cồ Việt witnessed numerous achievements in economic and agricultural development, administrative and territorial reforms, tax reform, and the promotion of Buddhism. In addition, his reign successfully suppressed all domestic uprisings, achieved victories in wars against Champa and Dali, thereby secured widespread popular loyalty. Neighboring states such as Champa and Chenla paid tribute, while the Song Empire refrained from exerting pressure and instead maintained peaceful relations with Đại Cồ Việt. His 18-year rule built a strong foundation for the Lý dynasty. In recognition of his great contributions to history, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam officially designated him as one of the 14 Vietnamese national heroes.
Early years Lý Công Uẩn was born in Cổ Pháp district, Đình Bảng's village, Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh Province in 974. There are no historical records about his maternal side except that his mother was surnamed Phạm. The identity of his birth-father is unknown although he was posthumously granted the title Duke of Hiển Khánh when Công Uẩn was enthroned. Although Vietnamese chronicle Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Đại Việt sử lược recorded Công Uẩn's mother only by the surname Phạm, or referred to her as Mrs. Phạm, local folklore associated with the historical relics in Dương Lôi (Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh) states that her name was Phạm Thị Ngà. Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Khâm định Việt sử record that when Mrs Phạm went sightseeing at Tiêu Sơn temple, she was intimate with a demigod, and later gave birth to Công Uẩn. Gregory Sattler however notes that scholars have long debated Lý Công Uẩn's precise origins, since many of the Vietnamese records may not be taken at face value as they were written several centuries after his death. Sattler notes that Lý Công Uẩn's family was already influential before his own rise to power, suggesting that this aspect of his background may have been neglected by later writers seeking to emphasize his divine birth.
Đại Việt sử lược also records Công Uẩn has an elder brother, later entitled Duke of Vũ Uy, and a younger brother, later entitled Duke of Dực Thánh. Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư also records that Công Uẩn has an uncle, who was entitled Duke of Vũ Đạo.
Still according to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Công Uẩn's mother gave him up for adoption to a Buddhist monk named Lý Khánh Vân at the age of three. From an early age, Công Uẩn proved himself to be an extraordinarily intelligent boy with an impressive physical appearance. At the age of six or seven, he was sent to Lục Tổ Pagoda in Đình Bảng village, to be raised by the Buddhist monk Vạn Hạnh, the most eminent Buddhist patriarch of the time. Upon seeing Công Uẩn, Vạn Hạnh immediately said: "This boy is exceptional, he will grow up to resolve the nation’s problems and be a great emperor".
Growing up, Công Uẩn was an upright and ambitious man, who had no interest in material riches, and just loved delving into Confucian classics and Buddhist scriptures, though his knowledge of them remained largely at an overview level. He acquired a reputation as a devout Buddhist, and then a historian student, and a soldier. According to the Lê royal genealogy in Bảo Thái, Hà Nam (present-day Ninh Bình) and historical sources from Hoa Lư Ancient Capital, Công Uẩn followed Patriarch Vạn Hạnh to serve emperor Lê Hoàn in Hoa Lư annually. The emperor then allowed Công Uẩn to stayed at the court to learn military affairs, married his daughter Lê Thị Phất Ngân off to him, and gradually promoted him from a minor official to Điện Tiền Chỉ Huy Sứ (Commander of the Palace).Ngọc phả các vua triều Lê , Trần Bá Chí, published in Hán Nôm newspaper of Hán Nôm Institute - Vietnamese Social Science Institute, year 2010. However, Đại Việt sử lược records that Lý Công Uẩn served the Lê royal court during the Ứng Thiên era (994-1005), while Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục records his serving in the middle of the that era. Until 1003, emperor Lê Hoàn starts being sickness, and finally died in 1005. Before 1003, during the Ứng Thiên era, the emperor regularly led campaigns to suppress rebellions and barbarians, all of which resulted in victory. From these events, it can be inferred that Lý Công Uẩn married the emperor’s princess, Phất Ngân, became a military personnel, and later rising to the rank of general, in the middle of the Ứng Thiên era, between 1000 and 1003. No historical sources record any contributions of Lý Công Uẩn to emperor Lê Hoàn during this era.
In 1005, emperor Lê Hoàn died, resulting in a civil war between his sons which lasted 8 months over the succession to the throne. By the end of 1005, Lê Long Việt was successfully enthroned as emperor Lê Trung Tông, but was assassinated by the thugs of Lê Long Đĩnh just 3 days after his enthronement. All mandarins fled the royal court for fear of being executed by Long Đĩnh following the coup d’état. Only Lý Công Uẩn remained at the court, embracing the body of Long Việt and mourning him. Long Đĩnh was surprised by this and praised Công Uẩn’s loyalty, rather than executing him for siding with the deposed emperor. The coup-installed emperor Lê Long Đĩnh then promoted Công Uẩn to Tứ sương quân Phó Chỉ huy sứ (Deputy Commander of the Tứ Sương Army) then was ultimately bestowed with the title Tả Thân Vệ Điện Tiền Chỉ Huy Sứ (The Commander of the Palace's Left Flank), which was one of the most important positions within the royal guards. This is the very first time Lý Công Uẩn is recorded by historians. Before that, during the 8 months civil war for the throne, only Đại Việt sử ký tiền biên recorded that Lý Công Uẩn supported Long Việt, while no other historical records clearly state which side Lý Công Uẩn supported, but it can reasonably be inferred that as Long Việt’s, given that Công Uẩn mourned for his death after his assassination. The entire empire descended into chaos as a result of the civil war, which left the court without an emperor for eight months. Not until Long Đĩnh was enthroned and had defeated all rival princes, did the empire return to peace, with all princes and bandits capitulating to the royal court.
Before the assassination of Long Việt and the enthronement of Long Đĩnh, at Ứng Thiên Tâm pagoda in Cổ Pháp village, a dog gave birth to a puppy with white hair marked by a black fur spot forming the Chinese characters for “Son of Heaven." Confucian scholars throughout the empire at this time believed that a man born in the year of the dog would become emperor. Lý Công Uẩn was also born in the year of the dog, in 974.
During his 5 years ruling, emperor Lê Long Đĩnh launched many military campaigns to suppress rebellions and barbarians throughout the realm, as well as dealing with the invasion threat from the Song dynasty. There are no historical records indicating any involvements of Lý Công Uẩn in those events. All military campaigns during this period are recorded in detail as having been personally led by Lê Long Đĩnh, with no mention of the emperor issuing any imperial edicts authorizing Lý Công Uẩn or other generals to launch those campaigns. The wrongdoing of the emperor - such as his arousal when torturing and abusing the captured defeated forces, engaging in debauchery, and allowing disorder at the royal court, including letting clowns to mock the presentation of the mandarins - are not mentioned to be criticized and restrained by Lý Công Uẩn, who served as a general during this reign (while histories of East Asian countries strong praised the mandarins who criticized imperial wrongdoing). Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư records the folk stories of Long Đĩnh as a hedonistic tyrant who died of hemorrhoids, yet it contains no political activities of Lý Công Uẩn during this reign. Only An Nam chí lược of the Trần dynasty born historian Lê Tắc during the Yan dynasty briefly records: "Lý Công Uẩn was born in Jiaozhou (while someone incorrectly claimed him to be born in Fujian), and renowned for his administrative talent, Lê Chí Trung appointed him as the General officer, and is also his close aide."
Enthronement According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Việt sử lược, during the reign of Lê Long Đỉnh, in Diên Uẩn village (Cổ Pháp province), there was a kapok tree struck by a lightning. The resulting marks formed a poem which is called by Vietnamese historian as Sấm cây gạo (The kapok tree prophecy):English translation based on the original translation from Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Việt sử lược:
Thụ Căn yểu yểu (The root is deep), the root symbolizes to the emperor, "yểu" means short-live. It predicts the emperor is short-live. Mộc biểu thanh thanh (The tree bark is green), bark symbolizes the mandarins under the emperor, while green signifies flourishing or prosperity. The phrase thus indicates that the mandarinate would flourish. In the third sentence, Hòa (禾) + Đao (刀) + Mộc (木) combine to form the character Lê (黎), this indicates the fall of the Lê dynasty. In the fourth sentence, Thập (十) + Bát (八) + Tử (子) combine to form the character Lý (李), which is interpreted as indicating the establishment of the Lý clan or dynasty.
The first four sentences are interpreted as predicting the fall of the Lê dynasty and the rise of the Lý dynasty. The final four sentences are understood as indicating historical events up to the Trịnh–Nguyễn warlord era. However, footnotes in the 1993 edition of Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư claim the last four sentences were entirely fabricated by the historians of the Trần and Later Lê dynasty in order to legitimize their rule through the Mandate of Heaven theory.
News about the kapok tree prophecy started spreading all over the realm. Patriarch Vạn Hạnh told Công Uẩn: "I have seen the prophecy glyphs indicates that the Lý's clan will flourish and rise to the throne. There are so many people who bear the surname Lý in this realm, yet none possess have the warm heart like yours, Commander. You are now in charge of the national guard. If it is not you who governs the empire, then no one will. I'm in my 70s now, and simply want a peaceful death. However, I just wanna see your morality turn into the kingship, which is a once-in-a-thousand-years chance." From that moment, Công Uẩn developed the idea to rise to the throne being held by the Lê clan, but he feared that the words of Patriach Vạn Hạnh would be exposed publicly, so he asked his brother to hide Vạn Hạnh in Tiêu Sơn. By that time, public sentiment had already rallied around Công Uẩn.