Hậu Lý Nam Đế
Emperor of Vietnam

Hậu Lý Nam Đế (後李南帝, born Lý Phật Tử (李佛子), c. 518 – 602) was the last king of the Early Lý dynasty, founded by his cousin Lý Nam Đế. He reigned in Vạn Xuân (present-day north Vietnam) from 571 to 602.
Clash with Triệu Việt Vương
Phật Tử was a cousin of Lý Nam Đế, whose ancestors were said to be of northern descent (Chinese) who fled south during Wang Mang's usurpation during the 1st century AD and had become localized after seven generations. However, Phật Tử was referred as a Lĭ (俚) barbarian (man) whereas Lý Bí was not. According to Michael Churchman, this may have been the result of a process in which purported Chinese lineages became localized over time and were attributed uncivilized foreigner status by Tang writers. It may also mean Lý Phật Tử was a leader of Tai-speakers, who historically inhabited the Red River Delta from 200 AD to 700 AD.
Lý Phật Tử and Triệu Việt Vương had a peace agreement in place; however, Lý Phật Tử had ambitions to claim to the entire territory of Việt people. Around 570 AD, Lý Phật Tử's army overran Long Biên, a region that belonged to Triệu Việt Vương, and seized it. Triệu Việt Vương was caught by surprise and defeated, he retreated to the river Đại Nha (now in Nam Định Province, northern Vietnam) where he killed himself. Lý Phật Tử then proclaimed himself the Later Lý Nam Đế and went on to rule Vạn Xuân (Vietnam) as an independent state for the next 32 years.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hậu Lý Nam Đế” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.