Mǎshì NánTáng Shū 馬氏南唐書
Mǎ Lìng’s “Book of the Southern Táng” by 馬令 (撰)
About the work
The Mǎshì NánTáng Shū, in 30 juàn, is the earlier and longer of the two great Sòng-period dynastic histories of the Southern Táng 南唐 (937–975) — the other being 陸游 Lù Yóu’s KR2i0018. Composed by 馬令 Mǎ Lìng of Yíxīng 宜興 (modern Jiāngsū) in Chóngníng 崇寧 4 (1105) — Mǎ’s preface gives the date Yǐyǒu 乙酉 of Chóngníng — it is structured along the jìzhuàn 紀傳 model with extensive lièzhuàn 列傳: Xiānzhǔ shū 1 juàn, Sìzhǔ shū 3 juàn, Hòuzhǔ shū 1 juàn (5 juàn total of jì); then Nǚxiànzhuàn 女憲傳 1 juàn (consorts), Zōngshìzhuàn 宗室傳 1 juàn (12 royal princes), Yìyǎngzhuàn 義養傳 1 juàn (the regent 徐溫 Xú Wēn and his sons, who installed the Lǐ family), then Lièzhuàn 4 juàn, Rúzhězhuàn 儒者傳 2 juàn, Yǐnzhězhuàn 隱者傳 1 juàn, Yìsǐzhuàn 義死傳 2 juàn (martyrs), Liányúzhuàn / Kēzhèngzhuàn 廉隅傳 / 苛政傳 2 juàn (incorrupt ministers / harsh administration), Zhūsǐzhuàn 誅死傳 1 juàn (executed officials), Dǎngyǔzhuàn 黨與傳 2 juàn (factional confederates), Guīmíngzhuàn 歸明傳 2 juàn (those who submitted to Sòng), Fāngshùzhuàn 方術傳 1 juàn, Tánxiézhuàn 談諧傳 1 juàn (jesters), Fútúzhuàn / Yāozéizhuàn 浮屠傳 / 妖賊傳 1 juàn, Pànchénzhuàn 叛臣傳 1 juàn, Mièguózhuàn 滅國傳 2 juàn (the Mǐn Wángshì and Chǔ Mǎshì), and Jiànguópǔ 建國譜 / Shìxìpǔ 世系譜 1 juàn — total 30. Each xùzàn opens with wūhū 嗚呼, in conscious imitation of 歐陽修 Ōuyáng Xiū’s Xīn Wǔdàishǐ. The book draws extensively on Mǎ Lìng’s grandfather 馬元康 Mǎ Yuánkāng’s family papers — the Mǎshì being a Jīnlíng 金陵 family with deep Southern-Táng connections.
Tiyao
By Mǎ Lìng 馬令 of the Sòng. Lìng of Yíxīng. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records Lìng’s self-preface: “My grandfather Tàibó 太傅 馬元康 of Yuánkāng, a man of Jīnlíng for generations, knew much about the Southern-Táng gùshì 故事 but had no time to compile them. I now follow the xiānzhì 先志 and present this.” Dated Chóngníng yǐyǒu 崇寧乙酉 (= 1105). Lìng was therefore a man of the late Northern Sòng. The present text lacks his preface — accidentally lost. Yuán Zhào Shìyán’s 趙世延 preface to 陸游 Chóngxiū NánTáng shū — “馬元康, 胡恢 Hú Huī, etc., have all written; today they are rarely seen” — wrongly takes the NánTáng shū to be by Yuánkāng himself, presumably because Zhào did not have the book at hand and the family tradition misled him. Structure: Xiānzhǔ shū 1 juàn, Sìzhǔ shū 3 juàn, Hòuzhǔ shū 1 juàn — using the Shǔzhì 蜀志 convention of zhǔ (rather than jì 紀). Then Nǚxiànzhuàn on consorts and princesses, with appended Liènǚ 列女 for two; Zōngshìzhuàn on twelve royal princes including 楚王景遷 Chǔwáng Jǐngqiān, with two — Cóngdù 從度 and Cóngxìn 從信 — listed in the catalogue but missing from the text; Yìyǎngzhuàn on Xú Wēn 徐溫 and his six sons with two appended; Lièzhuàn 4 juàn; Rúzhězhuàn 2 juàn; Yǐnzhězhuàn 1 juàn; Yìsǐzhuàn 2 juàn; Liányúzhuàn / Kēzhèngzhuàn 2 juàn; Zhūsǐzhuàn 1 juàn; Dǎngyǔzhuàn 2 juàn; Guīmíngzhuàn 2 juàn; Fāngshùzhuàn 1 juàn; Tánxiézhuàn 1 juàn — the yōurén 優人 (jesters), with the yūrú 迂儒 彭利用 Péng Lìyòng appended; Fútúzhuàn / Yāozéizhuàn 1 juàn; Pànchénzhuàn 1 juàn; Mièguózhuàn 2 juàn — the Mǐn Wángshì and Chǔ Mǎshì; Jiànguópǔ (= dìlǐzhì) and Shìxìpǔ (the Lǐshì zìchū genealogical table from the Táng WúwángKè 唐吳王恪) 1 juàn. Each xùzàn opens with wūhū — a clear imitation of Ōuyáng Xiū. He cannot bear to discard shīhuà / xiǎoshuō tales and includes them, wúbùmiǎnyī wūzásuǒsuì zìhuì qíshū 蕪雜瑣碎自穢其書 (cluttered and miscellaneous, defiling the book). The Jiànguópǔ’s coverage of geography lists only jūnzhōu 軍州, no county — shěng dāngshěng 省當省 (cutting where it should not). The Shìxìpǔ — the Lǐshì trace from Wúwáng Kè — is a single sentence’s worth, redundantly elaborated. Compared to 陸游’s redaction, less successful. Yet his shūfǎ 書法 is austere, and as the chīlún 椎輪 of Southern-Táng historiography, Mǎ has merit; we follow the precedent of the XīnJiù Tángshū in including both [Mǎ and Lù].
Abstract
馬令 Mǎ Lìng (fl. 1105) of Yíxīng 宜興, late-Northern-Sòng historian. The composition date is precisely Chóngníng 4 (1105), as given in his preface (now preserved only via Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí). Mǎ Lìng was the grandson of 馬元康 Mǎ Yuánkāng (Tàibó 太傅), a Jīnlíng 金陵 (Nánjīng) man of deep Southern-Táng connections; the family had collected oral traditions and family papers across three generations. Mǎ Lìng’s preface explicitly states that the work was undertaken in the xiānzhì tradition. CBDB id 449664 has no dates; the catalog meta of fl. 1105 from his own preface is the firmest available. The book’s principal sources are 徐鉉 / 湯悅’s Jiāngnán lù (lost), 陳彭年’s KR2i0010 Jiāngnán Biélù, 鄭文寶’s KR2i0011 Jiāngbiǎo Zhì, 龍袞’s KR2i0009 Jiāngnán yěshǐ, the anonymous KR2i0008 Diàojī lìtán, and the family’s own zhī jiā 致家 traditions. Despite the Sìkù editors’ criticisms (the imitation of Ōuyáng Xiū’s prose is criticized as yīngpín 嬰嚬 — an ill-fitting affectation; the Jiànguópǔ and Shìxìpǔ are dismissed as inadequate), it is the more comprehensive of the two Sòng-period NánTáng shū recensions and is heavily relied on by 吳任臣’s KR2i0021 Shíguó Chūnqiū. Both Sòng-period NánTáng shū are kept in the corpus, on the precedent of the Xīn / Jiù Tángshū.
Translations and research
- Kurz, Johannes L. 2003. “Hai Internis Discordiis Disjectus — On the Sources for the History of the Southern T’ang Dynasty (937–975).” Tang Studies 21: 75–115. — The principal Western treatment of both Nán-Táng shū recensions.
- Kurz, Johannes L. 2011. China’s Southern Tang Dynasty (937–976). London: Routledge.
- Standard modern Chinese edition: included in Èr-shí-wǔ bié-shǐ 二十五別史 (Qí-Lǔ shū-shè).
- No standalone English translation.
Other points of interest
The Mǎshì NánTáng shū’s extensive lièzhuàn taxonomy (yìsǐ, zhūsǐ, dǎngyǔ, guīmíng, pànchén, mièguó) — distinctive ethical-political categories of failure / loyalty — is more elaborate than 陸游’s 18-juàn redaction and has been a subject of discussion in modern historiographical scholarship as evidence of late-Northern-Sòng moralizing historiography.