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Linghu Defen
Early Tang historian and official who first proposed the official histories of the preceding dynasties and led the compilation of the History of Zhou.
In an archive hall, tall wooden shelves hold scrolls and bound books with small tags, and one person climbs a ladder with their back turned; a long table in front holds an unrolled river map, a bronze lamp and a copper jug, with a city wall seen through the window.
Also known as Duke of Pengyang County · Posthumous name Xian
Linghu Defen, a native of Huayuan in Yizhou, entered Tang service at the dynasty's founding and rose to Vice Minister of Rites and concurrent historiographer, enfeoffed first as baron and later as duke of Pengyang. He urged Emperor Gaozu to collect lost books and compile histories of the preceding dynasties; when Taizong renewed the order in 629 he and Cen Wenben took charge of the history of the Northern Zhou, the present History of Zhou, while he coordinated work on the Liang, Chen, Qi and Sui histories. He later headed the eighteen compilers of the History of Jin and, under Gaozong, supervised the national history and the Treatises of the Five Dynasties. He died in 666 aged 84, posthumously named Xian.
Life and times
Dates 583–666 CE