Yelü Deguang (耶律德光)

Overview

Yelü Deguang was an emperor of Liao.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Honored Imperial Father	翁皇帝

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 936 九月，契丹耶律德光自雁門入
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 33, passage 104
AD 947 十二月丙寅
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 52, passages 134, 149, 159
AD 947 四年正月丁亥朔
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 53
AD 944 戰陽城時
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 17
AD 936 起太原時
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 22
AD 946 開運三年十二月
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passages 16, 18, 52

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AD 936 to AD 947 高祖以耶律德光為父
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 215

Key source chapters

Origins and identity

Ethnicity Khitan 契丹
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passages 16, 18; New History of the Five Dynasties 52, passage 134
Ethnicity Khitan 契丹
Strongly inferred · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 215

Places and affiliations

Polity Id liao · Polity Khitan 契丹 · Relation Ruled
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 52, passages 134, 139
Polity Id liao · Relation Ruled
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passages 16, 22
Polity Id liao · Relation Ruled
Strongly inferred · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 215

Works and attributed material

AD 946 開運三年
Reply · Author · Direct quotation · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Yelü Deguang (耶律德光)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 52
AD 946 開運三年十二月
Letter · Author · With Empress Li (李氏) · Direct quotation · Mode quoted-document Speaker Yelü Deguang (耶律德光)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passages 16-18
Speech · Speaker · With Shi Jingtang (石敬瑭)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 33, passage 105
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation · Mode quotation Speaker Yelü Deguang (耶律德光)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 52, passages 149, 160

Events and relationships

Advised Gaozu to leave Chonggui
AD 936 先帝起太原時 · Military · Counselor · With Gaozu (高祖) · At Taiyuan 太原
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 22
Buried
Ritual · Mourner · With Zhang Jingda (張敬達)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 33, passage 121
Crossed Yanmen and campaigned in Ji
Military · Commander · At Yanmen Pass 雁門
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passages 27-28
Entered the capital, refused audience, lodged them at Fengchan Temple
AD 947 四年正月丁亥朔 · Military · Conqueror
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 53
Fought at Yangcheng and lost a Xi carriage
Military · Commander · At Yangcheng 陽城
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 17
Invaded
Military · Commander · At Yanmen 雁門
Dated from the passage context · New History of the Five Dynasties 33, passage 104

Show 7 more source-backed claims

Occupied Jin capital
AD 947 十二月丙寅 · Military · Ruler
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 52, passages 134, 159
Received Jin surrender and sent Zhang Yanze against the capital
AD 946 開運三年十二月 · Military · Commander · With Zhang Yanze (張彥澤)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 16
Saved the House of Shi and raised Jin
Military · Rescuer · Mode quoted-document Speaker Empress Li (李氏)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 45
Relation Claimed father of · Person Gaozu (高祖)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 215
Relation Claimed grandfather of · Person Fleeing Emperor (出帝)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 215
Relation Ritual father in law of · Person Empress Li (李氏)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 42
Relation Ritual grandfather of · Person Chonggui (重貴)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 24

Assessments and attributes

Item medicine pouch 藥囊 · Relation Stolen from
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 16
Item Xi carriage 奚車 · Relation Lost · At Yangcheng 陽城
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 17

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 17, passage 16; New History of the Five Dynasties 52, passage 134

References in the histories

Search passages

History

22 passages

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 17Volume 17: The Later Jin Imperial Family · 11 passages

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開運三年十二月，耶律德光已降晉兵，遣張彥澤先犯京師，以書遺太后，具道已降晉軍，且曰：「吾有梳頭妮子竊一藥囊以奔於晉，今皆在否？ In the twelfth month of Kaiyun 3 Yelü Deguang had already taken the surrender of the Jin armies and sent Zhang Yanze ahead against the capital; he wrote the dowager, setting out how the Jin had submitted, and asked: “I had a girl who combed my hair—she stole a medicine pouch and ran off to Jin. Are they all still there?

及得德光所與書，乃滅火，出上苑中。 Once Deguang’s letter arrived, they put out the flames and went out into the upper garden.

昔先帝起太原時，欲擇一子留守，謀之北朝皇帝，皇帝以屬我，我素以為其所知，卿為我草奏具言之，庶幾活我子母。」 When my late father first raised the banner at Taiyuan, he meant to leave one son behind and asked the Khitan emperor’s counsel; the emperor chose me—I always thought he understood. Draft a memorial for me and tell the whole story plainly; perhaps it will save my mother and me.”

翁皇帝救患摧剛，興利除害，躬擐甲胃，深入寇場。 Honored Imperial Father, you rescued the afflicted and broke the hard-hearted, brought profit and cleared away harm, yourself donning armor and driving deep into the enemy’s ground.

功成不居，遂興晉祚，則翁皇帝有大造於石氏也。 You took no reward for victory but raised the Jin throne—thus the Honored Imperial Father gave the House of Shi a new life.

翁皇帝若惠顧疇昔，稍霽雷霆，未賜靈誅，不絕先祀，則百口荷更生之德，一門銜無報之恩，雖所願焉，非敢望也。 Honored Imperial Father, if you would remember old kindness and soften your thunder, withhold the stroke of punishment, and not sever our ancestral rites, then our hundred mouths would owe the debt of rebirth and our whole house would carry a gratitude beyond repayment. That is our wish, though we dare not hope for it.

晉室皇太后新婦李氏妾言：張彥澤、傅住兒等至，伏蒙皇帝阿翁降書安撫者。 The Empress Dowager of Jin, your daughter-in-law and subject Li, speaks: Zhang Yanze, Fu Zhuer, and others have come; we humbly received the reassuring letter from the Emperor Honored Father-in-Law.

皇帝阿翁發自冀北，親抵河東，跋履山川，逾越險阻。 The Emperor Honored Father-in-Law set out from north of Ji, came himself to Hedong, tramped over mountains and rivers, and crossed every peril.

德光報曰：「可無憂，管取一吃飯處。」 Deguang answered: “Do not worry—I’ll see you get a place to eat.”

四年正月丁亥朔，德光入京師，帝與太后肩輿至郊外，德光不見，館於封禪寺，遣其將崔延勛以兵守之。 On dinghai, the first day of the first month of the fourth year, Deguang entered the capital. The emperor and the dowager came in palanquins to the outskirts; Deguang would not see them and housed them at Fengchan Temple, posting his general Cui Yanxun with soldiers to keep watch.

而晉氏起於夷狄，以篡逆而得天下，高祖以耶律德光為父，而出帝於德光則以為祖而稱孫，於其所生父則臣而名之，是豈可以人理責哉！ Yet the Jin house rose from barbarians and won the realm by usurpation; Gaozu called Yelü Deguang father, and the Fleeing Emperor called Deguang grandfather and styled himself grandson, while toward his own father he made a subject and spoke his name—how can human reason be asked of such men!

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 33Volume 33 Biographies of Martyrs to Service 13: Zhang Yuande, Xia Luqi, Yao Hong, Wang Sitong, Zhang Jingda, Di Jinzong, Shen Bin, Wang Qing, Shi Yanchao, Sun Cheng · 3 passages

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九月，契丹耶律德光自雁門入，旌旗相屬五十餘里。 In the ninth month Yelü Deguang entered through Yanmen; his banners stretched fifty li.

德光先遣人告敬瑭曰：「吾欲今日破敵可乎？」 Deguang first asked Jingtang, “Shall I break the enemy today?"

契丹耶律德光聞敬達死，哀其忠，遣人收葬之。 Deguang mourned Jingda’s loyalty and sent men to bury him.

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 52Volume 52 Miscellaneous Biographies 32: Du Zhongwei, Li Zhouzhen, Zhang Yanze · 8 passages

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耶律德光犯闕，遣彥澤與傅住兒以二千騎先入京師，彥澤倍道疾驅，至河，銜枚夜渡。 Yelü Deguang marched on the capital and sent Yanze and Fuzhu'er with two thousand horsemen to enter the city first. Yanze pressed on by forced marches, reached the river, and crossed at night with gags in the soldiers' mouths.

彥澤自寬仁門傳德光與皇太后書入，乃滅火。 Yanze sent in from Kuanren Gate a letter from Deguang to the Empress Dowager, and only then was the fire put out.

彥澤頓兵明德樓前，遣傅住兒入傳戎王宣語，帝脫黃袍，素服再拜受命。 Yanze halted his troops before Mingde Tower and sent Fuzhu'er in to transmit the Khitan emperor's proclamation. The emperor removed his yellow robe, put on plain dress, bowed twice, and accepted the command.

帝與太后所上德光表章，皆先示彥澤乃敢遣。 Every memorial the emperor and Empress Dowager submitted to Deguang had to be shown to Yanze first before they dared send it.

德光渡河，帝欲郊迎，彥澤不聽，遣白德光，德光報曰：「天無二日，豈有兩天子相見於道路邪！」 Deguang crossed the river. The emperor wished to go out to the suburbs to welcome him. Yanze would not permit it and sent word to Deguang. Deguang replied, "Heaven has no two suns—how could two emperors meet on the road!"

耶律德光至京師，聞彥澤劫掠，怒，鎖之。 When Yelü Deguang reached the capital and heard Yanze had plundered, he was furious and put him in chains.

高勛亦自訴於德光，德光以其狀示百官及都人，問：「彥澤當誅否？」 Gao Xun also appealed to Deguang himself. Deguang showed his account to officials and townspeople and asked, "Should Yanze be executed?"

百官皆請不赦，而都人爭投狀疏其惡，乃命高勛監殺之。 All the officials asked that he not be pardoned, and townspeople competed in submitting documents listing his crimes. Deguang then ordered Gao Xun to supervise his execution.