Fang Xuanling (房玄齡)

Overview

Fang Xuanling was an official and Statesman.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 626 to AD 627 乃詔房玄齡與弘獻等重加刪定
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passages 54-57
AD 627 to AD 649 唐太宗之世
Directly stated · History of Song 256, passage 128
AD 627 to AD 649 太宗世
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 125, 134
AD 626 太宗即位，詔長孫无忌、房玄齡等復定舊令
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passage 48
AD 626 to AD 648 房玄齡相太宗
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passage 161
AD 626 to AD 648 房玄齡相太宗十六年
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 181, passage 30

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AD 631 to AD 637 玄齡等議曰
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passages 74, 77
AD 626 to AD 649 至太宗時
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 11, passage 17
AD 627 to AD 649 貞觀
Directly stated · History of Liao 80, passages 53, 120

Key source chapters

Career and standing

statesman and legal reviser 玄齡
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 74, 77
Chief Minister 中書令
Held
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 11, passage 17

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · History of Song 256, passage 128; New Book of Tang 11, passage 17; New Book of Tang 56, passages 48, 74, 77, 125, 134; New Book of Tang 181, passages 30, 161

Works and attributed material

old ordinances 舊令
AD 626 復定舊令 · Relation Reviser
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passage 48
code and ordinances 律令
AD 626 to AD 627 重加刪定 · Relation Reviser
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passages 54, 57
Administrative Rules 格
Relation Compiler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 79
Formulas 式
Relation Compiler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 80
Ordinances 令
Relation Compiler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 78
Tang Code 律
Relation Compiler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 77

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Zhenguan Ritual 貞觀禮
Relation Compiler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 11, passage 17
Code, Ordinances, Administrative Rules, and Formulas 律、令、格、式
Relation Reviser
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 134
AD 626 to AD 627 玄齡等以謂
Memorial · Author · Direct quotation · With Pei Hongxian (裴弘獻)
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passages 55-56
Deliberation · Speaker · Mode quotation Speaker Fang Xuanling (房玄齡)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 74
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation · With Taizong (太宗)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 125
Speech · Addressee · With Emperor Taizong (太宗) · Mode quotation-in-later-speech Speaker Cao Que (曹確)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 181, passages 161-162

Events and relationships

Abolished toe amputation for added labor exile
AD 626 to AD 627 於是除斷趾法，為加役流三千里，居作二年 · Legal · Reformer · Outcome Exile 3000 li with two years labor
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passage 57
argued grandfather-grandson privilege outweighs brothers in ritual law 禮，孫為父尸，故祖有蔭孫令
Legal · Deliberator · Advised
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 74
fixed 1546 ordinance articles; pared Wude edicts to 700 rules; drew Formulas from office ledgers 定令一千五百四十六條...以為格...以為式
Legal · Compiler · Compiled statutes
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 78-80
Dissuaded emperor from self accusation
Political · Remonstrator · With Taizong (太宗)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 125-126
compilation of Zhenguan Ritual 撰定貞觀禮
Ritual compilation · Compiler · Expanded Sui ritual
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 11, passage 17
helped set differential collective punishment for rebellion vs seditious speech 於是令：反逆者...惡言犯法者
Legal · Legislator · Ordained
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 75-76

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Revise old ordinances
AD 626 太宗即位 · Legal · Compiler · With Taizong (太宗)
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passage 48
Revised code with Pei Hongxian
AD 626 to AD 627 乃詔房玄齡與弘獻等重加刪定 · Legal · Compiler · With Pei Hongxian (裴弘獻)
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 56, passages 54-57
revised Sui code into Tang Code with legal offices 與法司增損隋律...以為律
Legal · Reviser · Revised code
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 77
Revised statutes unchanged through Taizong reign
Legal reform · Reviser · With Taizong (太宗)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 134
Relation Minister of · Person Emperor Taizong of Tang (唐太宗)
Directly stated · History of Liao 80, passage 120
Relation Minister of · Person Emperor Taizong of Tang (唐太宗)
Directly stated · History of Song 256, passage 128

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 48, 74, 125; New Book of Tang 181, passage 30
Commuted capital punishment to exile in 92 articles and exile to penal servitude in 71 when revising the Sui code
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 77

References in the histories

Search passages

History

12 passages

History of Liao, Chapter 80Volume 80 Biographies 10: Zhang Jian, Xing Baopu, Ma Dechen, Xiao Pu, Yelu Eight Brothers · 1 passage

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時上擊鞠無度，上書諫曰：臣竊觀房玄齡、杜如晦，隋季書生，向不遇太宗，安能為一代名相？ At the time the Emperor played cuju without restraint; Dechen submitted a remonstrance, saying, "Your servant has observed Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui — mere scholars of the late Sui — who could never have become the great ministers of an age had they not met Emperor Taizong?"

History of Song, Chapter 256Volume 256 Biographies 15: Zhao Pudi and Younger Brother: Anyi · 1 passage

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「臣伏見唐太宗有魏玄成、房玄齡、杜如晦，明皇有姚崇、宋璟、魏知古，皆任以輔弼，委之心膂，財成帝道，康濟九區，宗祀延洪，史策昭煥，良由登用得其人也。 "I observe that Emperor Taizong of Tang had Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, and Du Ruhui; Emperor Xuanzong had Yao Chong, Song Jing, and Wei Zhigu. Each entrusted his ministers as true counselors, relying on them as his very heart and sinew. They perfected the imperial Way, brought peace to the realm, ensured enduring ancestral rites, and left histories that shine, all because the right men were appointed.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 11Volume 11 Treatises 1: Rites and Music 1 · 1 passage

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唐初，即用隋禮，至太宗時，中書令房玄齡、祕書監魏徵，與禮官、學士等因隋之禮，增以天子上陵、朝廟、養老、大射、講武、讀時令、納皇后、皇太子入學、太常行陵、合朔、陳兵太社等，為吉禮六十一篇，賓禮四篇，軍禮二十篇，嘉禮四十二篇，凶禮十一篇，是為貞觀禮。 Early Tang adopted Sui ritual outright. Under Taizong, Chief Minister Fang Xuanling and Secretariat Director Wei Zheng, with ritual officials and academicians, built on Sui ritual and added the Son of Heaven's tomb visits, temple audiences, nurturing the aged, great archery, military review, reading the seasons, receiving the empress, the crown prince entering school, the Director of Court Music visiting tombs, new moon, and displaying troops at the Grand Earth altar—sixty-one sections of auspicious ritual, four of guest ritual, twenty of military ritual, forty-two of felicitous ritual, and eleven of inauspicious ritual: the Zhenguan Ritual.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 56Volume 56 Treatises 52: Punishment and Law · 7 passages

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太宗即位，詔長孫无忌、房玄齡等復定舊令，議絞刑之屬五十，皆免死而斷右趾。 When Taizong ascended the throne, he ordered Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, and others to revise the old ordinances. Fifty offenses punishable by strangulation were commuted from death to amputation of the right foot.

其後蜀王法曹參軍裴弘獻駮律令四十餘事，乃詔房玄齡與弘獻等重加刪定。 Later Pei Hongxian, a legal aide under the Prince of Shu, submitted more than forty criticisms of the code and ordinances, and the emperor ordered Fang Xuanling and Hongxian to revise them again.

玄齡等以謂「古者五刑，刖居其一。 Fang Xuanling and the others argued, "In antiquity the five punishments included mutilation.

玄齡等議曰：「禮，孫為父尸，故祖有蔭孫令，是祖孫重而兄弟輕。」 Fang Xuanling and others argued, "By ritual the grandson represents the father, so privilege extends from grandfather to grandson—grandfather and grandson weigh more heavily than brothers."

玄齡等遂與法司增損隋律，降大辟為流者九十二，流為徒者七十一，以為律； Fang Xuanling and the legal offices then revised the Sui code, commuting capital punishment to exile in ninety-two articles and exile to penal servitude in seventy-one, producing the Code.

房玄齡等曰：「寬仁弘不以私而以功，何罪之請？」 Fang Xuanling and others said: "You spared Ren Hong not from private favor but for his merit—what offense requires confession?"

自房玄齡等更定律、令、格、式，訖太宗世，用之無所變改。 From the time Fang Xuanling and others revised the Code, Ordinances, Administrative Rules, and Formulas, they remained unchanged through Taizong's reign.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 181Volume 181 Biographies 106: Chen, Three Li's, Cao, Liu · 2 passages

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嗣復曰：「夷行失言，太宗易暴亂為仁義，用房玄齡十有六年，任魏徵十有五年，未嘗失道。 Sifu said, "Yixing is wrong. Taizong turned chaos into humane rule; he kept Fang Xuanling for sixteen years and Wei Zheng for fifteen without ever losing his way.

確曰：「太宗著令，文武官六百四十三，謂房玄齡曰：『朕設此待天下賢士。 Que said, "Taizong fixed six hundred forty-three civil and military posts and told Fang Xuanling, 'These are for the worthy of the realm.