Dinh Bo Linh
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Dinh Bo Linh (924–979), was the emperor and founder of the Dinh Dynasty, the second Vietnamese dynasty.
Dinh Bo Linh was born in 923 in Hoa Lu (southern of the Red River Delta). He was the founder of Dinh dynasty and a significant figure in the restoration of Vietnamese independence in the tenth century.
Growing up in a local village Dinh Bo Linh became a local military leader. From this anarchic era, the first independent Vietnam emerged. Faced once more with the threat of a powerful China, Dinh Bo Linh, tried to find ways to reunify the country. On the death of the last Ngo King in 963, he seized power and founded the new kingdom in his home province at Hoa Lu. To consolidate his legitimacy, he married a member of the Ngo family.
At first, Dinh Bo Linh had been careful to avoid antagonizing the Southern Han Empire. But in 966 he adopted the title of Emperor (Hoang De) and declared his independence from Chinese rule. Under the name of Dinh Tien Hoang De, he founded the Dinh Dynasty and called his kingdom Dai Co Viet. Well aware of the new Chinese Song dynasty's military might, Dinh Bo Linh obtained a non-aggression treaty of the country's independence in exchange for tributes payable to the Chinese every three years. This arrangement with China was carried out until the 19th Century and the advent of French colonization.
Seven years later, however, he pacified the new Song Dynasty by sending a tribute mission to demonstrate his fealty to the Chinese Emperor, who subsequently recognized the Vietnamese ruler as An Nam Quoc Vuong (King of Annam).
Dinh Bo Linh energetically reformed the administration and the armed forces to strengthen the foundation of the new Vietnamese state. He established a royal court and a hierarchy of civil and military servants. He instated a rigorous justice system and introduced the death penalty to serve as a deterrent to all who threatened the new order in the kingdom.
However, Dinh Bo Linh's reign did not last long. In 980 a palace guard killed both Dinh Bo Linh and his eldest son Dinh Lien in their sleep. He was succeeded by his six-year old son. In the meantime, the Chinese Emperor wanted to take advantage of the young King by sending an army to attack Dai Co Viet. In this crisis, Le Hoan, a general in Dinh Bo Linh's army, dispossessed the child of Dinh, killed all of his opponents in the Court, and entering into illicit relations with the Queen Mother. Le Hoan proclaimed himself King, and founded the Early Le Dynasty.
