Dương Vân Nga

Statue of Dương Vân Nga in Hoa Lư

Dương Vân Nga († 1000 ; chữ Hán : 楊雲娥), maiden name possibly Dương Ngọc Vân , titled Đại Thắng Minh (大勝 明 皇后), was a Vietnamese imperial consort of the Đinh and earlier Lê dynasties . She was initially one of the wives of Emperor Đinh Bộ Lĩnh , then after his assassination regent for her son Đinh Toàn and finally - after the latter was deposed - wife of the new Emperor Lê Hoàn . During this time she significantly influenced the politics at the imperial court in Hoa Lư .

Life

Dương Vân Nga's origin is uncertain; due to their family name, a relationship with the rulers Dương Đình Nghệ (ruled until 937) and Dương Tam Kha (ruled 944–950) is assumed. According to other sources, she was the mother of the warlord Ngô Nhật Khánh (a descendant of the Ngô dynasty ), which is rather implausible, since in this case she would have given birth to children at an advanced age. She was probably born in the 940s or 950s. Traditionally, Nho Quan in Ninh Bình Province is her hometown.

In 968 (after an alternative dating 966) Đinh Bộ Lĩnh made himself emperor and made Hoa Lư the capital. Probably shortly afterwards he married Dương Vân Nga as one of five equal wives, all of whom received the title of empress (hoàng hậu) in 970 . Their son Đinh Toàn was born in 974 and was the second of three sons of the emperor. In 978 Đinh Bộ Lĩnh appointed the youngest son Hạng Lang (still a toddler) as heir to the throne, who was then murdered a year later by the already grown-up eldest son Đinh Liễn . A few months later, the courtier Đỗ Thích killed both the emperor and the eldest son in his sleep. Thus, the last remaining son Đinh Toàn was crowned emperor in 979 at the age of about five, and his mother Dương Vân Nga took over the reign. At their side stood the military commander Lê Hoàn , who after a brief power struggle eliminated the Chancellor Nguyễn Bặc and his supporters. The exiled warlord Ngô Nhật Khánh (according to one theory her son) also tried to seize power with the support of the Champa empire, but went down with his fleet in a storm.

The following year - 980 - news reached the imperial court that Song-China was setting up an invading army against Vietnam. The general Phạm Cự Lạng then stormed into the palace and declared that the troops would not be ready to fight for a powerless child emperor. Dương Vân Nga now handed over the imperial insignia to Lê Hoàn, who thus ascended the throne himself. A little later, the two married. According to later Vietnamese historiography, the couple had previously been in a relationship during the reign and possibly even had an affair during Đinh Bộ Lĩnh's lifetime. According to a theory based on this, Dương Vân Nga could have pulled the strings behind the murders of the Đinh family in 979 - after all, she emerged as the main beneficiary and was thus able to bring her lover to power. However, this is pure speculation.

In any case, Lê Hoàn managed to repel the Song invasion and secure the country's independence. He had numerous children; with Dương Vân Nga but only the daughter Lê Thị Phất Ngân . She later probably married Lý Thái Tổ , the founder of the Lý dynasty , who took power in the country in 1009 after the early collapse of the Former Lê (after Lê Hoàn's death in 1005).

Worship and evaluation

As a powerful woman married to two emperors and dynasty founders, Dương Vân Nga received great veneration soon after her death in 1000. She was considered a national heroine who even disempowered her own son in order to save the country from attacking enemies. In Hoa Lư a temple was built for her in which her statue was venerated between those of her two men.

In later centuries this picture changed fundamentally. A strictly Confucian- Orthodox worldview prevailed at the imperial court in Hanoi . A power-conscious woman who was also married several times was now considered abnormal and contrary to the existing order. Dương Vân Nga was therefore seen as an adulteress and intriguer and was held responsible for the end of the Đinh. Since Lê Hoàn subsequently married her, his dynasty was doomed due to her immorality.

An imperial official therefore traveled by boat to Hoa Lư in the 15th century and had the statue of the Dương Vân Nga - still very much revered by the people - removed from its temple and the shrine destroyed. On the way back, he dragged the statue behind the boat on a rope, symbolically drowning it for her sins. Soon after reaching the capital, he allegedly died of sudden death in great pain - according to popular belief, the punishment of her spirit for desecrating the shrine. The veneration could thus be continued. Today her statue is at the side of her second husband and his sons in the Lê Hoàn Temple in Hoa Lư.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lê Năng Hiẻ̂n: Three victories on the Bach Dang River , Nhà xuất bản Văn hóa-thông tin, 2003, p. 79;
   Phan Duy Kha, Lã Duy Lan, Đinh Công Vĩ: Nhìn lại lịch sử , Nhà xuất bản Văn hóa-thông tin, 2003 p. 745
2. ↑ KW Taylor : A History of the Vietnamese , Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 47–57;
   KW Taylor: The Birth of Vietnam , University of California Press, Berkeley 1991 (first edition 1983), pp. 280/281, 288/289;
   Bruce M. Lockhart, William J. Duiker : The A to Z of Vietnam , Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2010, p. 115/116 (entry Dương Vân Nga )
3. ↑ Bó̂i cảnh định đô Thăng Long và sự nghiệp của Lê Hoàn: tập kỷ yếu hội thảo nhân kỷ niệm 995 năm Thăng Long-Hà Nội, 1000 năng Long-Hà Nội và, 1000 nănám ngày , mánà Hnà dan 2005à Nànà Hànhà Nāy máảt nàna dan 57
4. ↑ KW Taylor: A History of the Vietnamese , Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 54/55