Ye Lv Yi Lie

Biography

Family and the Empress Dowager's Regency

Yelü Yilie was a son of Yelü Dashi, founder of the Western Liao, and of Xiao Tabuyan. His birth is given as 1137 (4th year of the Kangguo era, Western Liao), and the surviving material gives no place of birth. In 1143 (10th year of the Kangguo era, Western Liao) Yelü Dashi died and Yilie was still young and unable to take charge of military and state affairs himself. Yelü Dashi's last command left the empress Xiao Tabuyan to administer state affairs, and she held court as regent under the title Empress Gantian. According to the History of Liao, after seven years of Xiao Tabuyan's rule Yilie came to the throne and changed the era name to Shaoxing.

Accession and Rule

Yilie came to the throne in 1151 (1st year of the Shaoxing era, Western Liao). His reign lasted thirteen years, with a centre of rule that included the capital Hu siwodo and its surroundings. The surviving records do not describe his court institutions, appointments or day-to-day government in detail, and the relevant narratives concern mainly a registration of households and Western Liao intervention in the affairs of dependent states.

During Yilie's reign the Western Liao court registered the population over eighteen within the capital district of Hu siwodo and recorded 84,500 households. The original record gives no exact month for the survey and does not set out the criteria of the count or the details of the household system, so no inference is drawn from it about the population of the whole Western Liao or its long-term administrative effects.

Military Aid to Samarkand

In 1158 to 1159 (8th to 9th years of the Shaoxing era, Western Liao) the Samarkand side under Western Liao control was attacked by Khwarezm and asked the Western Liao for help. Yilie sent the ilig Türkmen with ten thousand cavalry, and Khwarezm then withdrew. The surviving record summarises the outcome as a withdrawal and gives no fuller account of the campaign or of any later treaty.

Death and Succession

Yelü Yilie died in 1163 (13th year of the Shaoxing era, Western Liao) with the temple name Renzong. Because his son Yelü Zhilugu was young, his last command left his sister Yelü Pusuwuan to administer state affairs; she then held court as regent under the title Empress Chengtian. Yelü Zhilugu afterwards came to the throne, and the Western Liao polity continued under Yelü rule.

Major Activities

Political and institutional context

The cached record places Ye Lv Yi Lie within the institutions and conflicts of Liao.

Source-based record

The most concrete administrative measure of his reign is the household registration: the Western Liao court registered the population over eighteen within the capital district of Hu siwodo and recorded 84,500 households, but the original record gives no exact month for the survey and does not set out its criteria or the details of the household system, so no inference about the population of the whole Western Liao or its long-term administrative effects can be drawn from it. Abroad, in 1158 and 1159 (the eighth and ninth years of Shaoxing) Samarkand, then under Western Liao control, was attacked by Khwarezm and asked for help; Yilie sent the ilig Türkmen with ten thousand cavalry and Khwarezm withdrew. The record summarises the outcome as a withdrawal and gives neither the course of the campaign nor any later treaty.

The arrangements of his death and succession were as follows: he died in 1163 (thirteenth year of Shaoxing) with the temple name Renzong, and because his son Yelü Zhilugu was young his last command left his sister Yelü Pusuwuan to administer state affairs; she then held court as regent under the title Empress Chengtian, and Zhilugu afterwards came to the throne, the Western Liao polity continuing under Yelü rule. The arrangement shows that succession in the Western Liao was likewise constrained by the balance of power within the ruling clan.

Personal Relations

• Relationships are recorded from the cached source text and should be read together with the related entries listed below.

Historical Assessment

The surviving records on Yelü Yilie are relatively brief and concern mainly his succession, the household registration, the expedition to Samarkand and the arrangements for the succession after his death, leaving no verifiable praise or criticism specific to him. The household figures and the thirteen years of his reign in the History of Liao offer limited clues for understanding his rule; on his manner of government and the effects of his policies, the available material is not enough for a further judgement.