Phạm Cự Lạng

Phạm Cự Lạng ( chữ Hán : 范 巨 倆; * 944 in today's Nam Sách district , Hải Dương ; † 984 in Thanh Hóa ), also Phạm Cự Lượng (范 巨量), ​​was an important Vietnamese general at the time of the Đinh and earlier Lê Dynasty .

Life

Phạm Cự Lạng belonged to a powerful family from the eastern Giao (the plain of the Red River ). His brother was Phạm Hạp . Presumably the two were the grandsons of Phạm Lệnh Công , a general of the Ngô dynasty ; there may also be a relationship with Phạm Bạch Hổ , one of the Twelve Warlords .

The two brothers fought on the side of Đinh Bộ L undnh and after his accession to the throne around the year 968 they were among the greats of the Vietnamese Empire and leading personalities at the imperial court in Hoa Lư . In 979, both Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and his eldest son were murdered. The new monarch was the only about five-year-old surviving son hinh Toàn , who was under the reign of his mother Dương Vân Nga and the military leader Lê Hoàn .

Most of the Đinh's old followers were hostile to Lê Hoàn's rise to regent and accused him - quite rightly - of seeking the throne himself. Under the leadership of Chancellor Nguyễn Bặc , they began a rebellion against the regent couple in late 979. Pham joined Hap Nguyen Bac, and was next to this and Đinh Dien one of the three leaders of the Alliance. His brother Phạm Cự Lạng, however, sided with the regents. It is possible that the brothers had discussed this step beforehand in order to ensure the political survival of their family in any case.

The rebellion quickly collapsed. Nguyễn Bặc and Đinh Điền were killed; Phạm Hạp was captured. It is unclear whether he was subsequently executed or pardoned; in any case, he no longer appears in the sources. Phạm Cự Lạng, on the other hand, was now the second most powerful man in the country after Lê Hoàn.

At the beginning of 980, news reached the imperial court that Song-China was setting up an invading army against Vietnam. Phạm Cự Lạng and some of his officers stormed into the palace and declared that the troops would not be willing to risk their lives for a powerless child emperor. The imperial mother Dương Vân Nga now handed the imperial insignia to Lê Hoàn, who thus ascended the throne himself.

Under the leadership of Emperor Lê Hoàn and General Phạm Cự Lạng, the Vietnamese troops succeeded in 981 in inflicting major losses on the Chinese in two battles and wearing them down with ambushes so that the Song generals finally withdrew. After this victory, Lê Hoàn and Phạm Cự Lạng turned south against the Champa Empire the following year and destroyed its capital. The independence of Vietnam was thus secured.

Phạm Cự Lạng was finally appointed commander of the southern parts of the empire by his emperor and commissioned to develop this borderland by building roads, canals and ports. However, he died of a tropical fever in the autumn of 984 at the age of forty-first.

Posthumous adoration

Phạm Cự Lạng was worshiped as a hero by the people; in popular belief he was soon ascribed supernatural powers. Half a century after his death during the Lý dynasty , the state began with the cultic veneration: The chronicles report that Lý Thái Tông , the second emperor of this dynasty (r. 1028-1054), with overcrowded prisons and corrupt judges had to fight. In prayer he asked the “heavenly emperor” for advice. The latter replied in a dream that the worship of Phựm Cự Lạng would solve the problem. The emperor then named Phạm Cự Lạng the patron saint of prisons and courts and had a shrine built in his honor.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Địa chí Nam Định , Ủy ban nhân dân Nam Định, Nhà xuá̂t bản Chính trị quó̂c gia, 2003, p. 797
2. ↑ KW Taylor : A History of the Vietnamese , Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 54
3. ↑ Boi Cảnh định Djo Thăng Long và sự của Lê Nghiep Hoàn: tập Ky Yeu Hoi thảo nhân Ky Niem 995 năm Thăng Long-Ha Noi và 1000 năm ngày MAT của danh nhân Lê Hoàn , Nhà xuát bản Ha Noi, 2005, p 101
4. ↑ KW Taylor: A History of the Vietnamese , Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 67