Đại Việt sử lược

Đại Việt sử lược

Copy of Đại Việt sử lược, in Siku Quanshu
Original title
Country	Đại Việt
Language	Classical Chinese
Subject	History of Vietnam
Genre	Historiography
Publisher	Trần Dynasty
Publication date	r. 1377

The Đại Việt sử lược (literally Abridged Chronicles of Đại Việt) or Việt sử lược (越史略, Abridged Chronicles of Viet) is an historical text that was compiled during the Trần Dynasty. The 3-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. 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. Đại Việt sử lược is considered the earliest chronicles about the history of Vietnam that remains today.

The exact date of the compilation of Đại Việt sử lược was unknown 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. The author of the book was unknown as well but there are several sources who claim it was the historian Sử Hy Nhan who took charge of the compilation. 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). Another source reckoned that 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 evidences.