Sui and Tang · Tang Emperor

Xuanzong 玄宗

Xuánzōng

Attested AD 712 - AD 756

Passages: 2
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Xuanzong was a Tang Emperor.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 712 to AD 741 玄宗初勵精為政二十年間
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 252
AD 712 to AD 756 玄宗廢徒杖刑
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 227

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Ruled
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 227

Events and relationships

Abolished penal servitude and beating
Legal reform · Ruler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 227
Reduced yearly death sentences to fifty eight
Judicial statistics · Ruler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 252

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 227

References in the histories

New Book of Tang, Chapter 56Volume 56 Treatises 52: Punishment and Law · 2 passages

故自玄宗廢徒杖刑，至是又廢死刑，民未知德，而徒以為幸也。 Thus from Xuanzong's abolition of penal servitude and beating down to this further abolition of the death penalty, the people had not yet learned virtue and regarded the change merely as good fortune.

玄宗初勵精為政，二十年間，刑獄減省，歲斷死罪纔五十八人。 At first Xuanzong exerted himself in governance; within twenty years criminal cases were reduced, and yearly death sentences amounted to only fifty-eight.