WOMEN IN THE LY DYNASTY IMPERIAL PALACE AND THEIR ROLE IN THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF DAI VIET IN THE 11TH–13TH CENTURIES

DOI: 10.18173/2354-1067.2026-0005

Abstract

In medieval Vietnamese historical sources, palace women surface only in scattered, fragmentary glimpses, and their presence is framed more through lineage and moral virtue than through their political roles. This gap calls for a reconsideration of women’s place in the governance of the realm. On that basis, this study examines those Lý-dynasty palace women whom the official chronicles describe with relative clarity, treating them as figures who made substantive contributions to the political and social life of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Drawing on insights from women’s history and gender history to situate each individual within her contemporary political context, the article analyzes three characteristic modes of participation in power: regency, political marriage, and succession. In so doing, it clarifies the historical, social, and cultural conditions that enabled Lý palace women to take part in governing the country and to help sustain dynastic stability. At the same time, it shows that reading the sources through the lens of gender history brings to light forms of political participation that official historiography has rarely foregrounded.