Đại Việt sử lược

The Đại Việt sử lược (chữ Hán: 大越史略; lit. Abridged Chronicles of Đại Việt) or Việt sử lược (chữ Hán: 越史略; lit. Abridged Chronicles of Viet) is an historical text that was compiled during the Trần dynasty. The three-volume book was finished around 1377 and covered the history of Vietnam from the reign of Triệu Đà to the collapse of the Lý dynasty.^[1] During the Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam, the book, together with almost all official records of the Trần dynasty, was taken away to China and subsequently collected in the Siku Quanshu. The Đại Việt sử lược is considered the earliest chronicles about the history of Vietnam that remains today.

Đại Việt sử lược
大越史略

Copy of the Đại Việt sử lược, in the Siku Quanshu
Original title	大越史略
Country	Đại Việt
Language	Văn ngôn
Subject	History of Vietnam
Genre	Historiography
Publisher	Trần dynasty
Publication date	r. 1377

History of compilation

The exact date of the compilation of the Đại Việt sử lược is unknown,^[2] but due to the last record of the book, which was the era name of Trần Phế Đế, the compilation was likely finished around 1377.^[3][4] The author of the book is unknown as well,^[2] but there are several sources who claim it was the historian Sử Hy Nhan who took charge of the compilation.^[4] Ranked first in the 1363 imperial examination, Sử Hy Nhan was so famous for his knowledge of history that the Trần emperor decided to change his family name from Trần to Sử (which means "history" in Vietnamese).^[5] Another source reckoned that the Đại Việt sử lược was a condensed version of the Đại Việt sử ký, which was written by Lê Văn Hưu in 1272, or only the book Việt chí (Annals of Viet) by Trần Phổ with the supplements of Trần dynasty's era names, but they could not verify these two hypotheses because of the lack of historical evidence.^[6]

During the Fourth Chinese domination, many valuable books of Đại Việt were taken away by the Ming dynasty, including the Đại Việt sử ký, and subsequently were lost.^[6][7][8][9] Although being transferred to China,^[10] the Đại Việt sử lược was still preserved in its original form and was published in the Siku Quanshu of the Qing dynasty under the name Việt sử lược; the first character Đại (大, means Great) was left out to suit the Chinese notion of propriety and historical tradition.^[6] Therefore, the book is considered the earliest annals about history of Vietnam that remains today^[2][5][11] and the most important book which was brought back to Vietnam from China.^[12] In 1978, the Đại Việt sử lược became the first historical book of Vietnam that was translated directly from chữ Hán to Russian.^[13]

Contents

The Đại Việt sử lược was written in chữ Hán and covered the history of Vietnam from the reign of Triệu Đà (2nd century BCE) to the collapse of the Lý dynasty (1225) with a supplemental list of era names of Trần emperors from Trần Thái Tông to Trần Phế Đế.^[14] The contents of the Đại Việt sử lược were divided into three volumes (quyển): The first called Quốc sơ diên cách corresponded with the period from the foundation of Văn Lang, the first nation of Vietnam in the 7th century BCE^[15] to the 12 Lords Rebellion (10th century); the second and third books were named Nguyễn kỷ (Period of the Nguyễn)^[2] and narrated the reign of the Lý dynasty with the royal family name Lý was changed to Nguyễn by the Trần dynasty in order to avoid the given name of Trần Lý, grandfather of the emperor Trần Thái Tông, and make people forget the former dynasty.^[16] The quality of compilation of the Đại Việt sử lược was not coherent; there were periods which were recorded in detail but also some very brief sections.^[2] The author of the Đại Việt sử lược appeared to attach special importance to the reign of the Lý dynasty with extensive records while the compilation of the period up to the middle of the 10th century was mainly based on Chinese sources.^[6]

References

Notes

1. Patricia M. Pelley Postcolonial Vietnam: new histories of the national past Duke University 2002 p274 "100. Lê Văn Hưu presented Đại Việt sử ký to the Trần emperor Thánh Tông in 1272; An Nam chí lược was completed around 1340 by Lê Tắc, who expatriated to China, and Đại Việt sử lược was probably finished in the 1380s. "
2. "Đại Việt sử lược". Từ điển Bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam (in Vietnamese).
3. Nguyễn Gia Tường (translator) 1993, p. 112
4. Trần Nghĩa (1995). "Sách Hán Nôm tại Thư viện Vương quốc Anh". Hán Nôm Magazine (in Vietnamese). Hanoi: Institute of Hán Nôm (3/1995).
5. "Sử Hy Nhan". Từ điển Bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam (in Vietnamese).
6. Taylor 1991, p. 351
7. Trần Trọng Kim 1971, p. 82
8. National Bureau for Historical Record 1998, p. 356
9. Woodside, Alexander (1988). Vietnam and the Chinese model: a comparative study of Vietnamese and Chinese government in the first half of the nineteenth century. Harvard Univ Asia Center. p. 125. ISBN 0-674-93721-X.
10. Hà Thiên Niên (2004). "Lược khảo về thư tịch cổ Việt Nam du nhập vào Trung Quốc". Hán Nôm Magazine (in Vietnamese). Hanoi: Institute of Hán Nôm (1/2004).
11. "Phong Châu". Từ điển Bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam (in Vietnamese).
12. Hà Thiên Niên (2003). "Khảo thuật về cổ tịch có liên quan đến Việt Nam thuộc các triều đại ở Trung Quốc". Hán Nôm Magazine (in Vietnamese). Hanoi: Institute of Hán Nôm (5/2003).
13. Nguyễn Đăng Na (1995). ""Việt sử lược" với bản tiếng Nga của A. B. Pôliacốp". Hán Nôm Magazine (in Vietnamese). Hanoi: Institute of Hán Nôm (4/1995).
14. Nguyễn Gia Tường (translator) 1993, pp. 109–112
15. Neville, Peter (2007). Britain in Vietnam: prelude to disaster, 1945-6. Routledge. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-415-35848-4.
16. Ngô Đức Thọ (1986). "Bước đầu nghiên cứu chữ húy đời Trần". Hán Nôm Magazine (in Vietnamese). Hanoi: Institute of Hán Nôm (1/1986).

Bibliography

• 国学-越史略－越史略
• National Bureau for Historical Record (1998), Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Education Publishing House
• Nguyễn Gia Tường (translator) (1993), Đại Việt sử lược, Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House, University of Ho Chi Minh City {{citation}}: |author= has generic name (help)
• Ngô Sĩ Liên (1993), Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (in Vietnamese) (Nội các quan bản ed.), Hanoi: Social Science Publishing House
• Taylor, Keith Weller (1991), The Birth of Vietnam, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-07417-3
• Trần Trọng Kim (1971), Việt Nam sử lược (in Vietnamese), Saigon: Center for School Materials