Yelü Chenjianu (耶律陳家奴)

Overview

The translated histories identify Yelü Chenjianu as an aristocrat, courtier, general, and military officer. This record brings together 16 passages from 5 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Yelü Chenjianu	耶律陳家奴	Yēlǜ Chénjiānú
Given	Chenjianu	陳家奴	Chénjiānú
Alternate	Chenjianu	陳家奴	Chenjianu
Personal name	Chenjianu	陳家奴
Personal	Chenjianu	陳家奴	Chénjiānú
Given name	Chenjianu	陳家奴	Chénjiānú
Courtesy name	Mianxin	綿辛	Miánxīn
Title	Wugu tribal military commissioner	烏古部節度使
Surname	Yelu	耶律	Yēlǜ
Surname	Yelü	耶律	Yēlǜ
Surname	Yelü	耶律	Yelü
Personal name	Yelu Chenjianu	耶律陳家奴	Yēlǜ Chénjiānú
Personal	Yelü Chenjianu	耶律陳家奴	Yelü Chenjianu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · liaoshi:025:s0177, liaoshi:026:s0051, liaoshi:027:s0038, liaoshi:066:s0033, liaoshi:095:s0041

Roles

Aristocrat
Courtier
General
Military Officer
Official
Poet
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Age: 80
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0062

Age

Age: 80 · Reckoning: stated
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0062

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 乾統二年六月 · Reign Id: liao-qiantong · Regnal Year: 2 · Western Year: AD 1102
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:027:s0038
Source Date: Text: 清寧初 · Reign Id: liao-qingning · Western Interval: Start: AD 1055 · End: AD 1064
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0050
Source Date: Text: 十年四月 · Western Year: AD 1094
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:025:s0177
Source Date: Text: 壽隆三年正月 · Western Year: AD 1097
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:026:s0051
Source Date: Text: 壽隆六年二月 · Western Year: AD 1100
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:026:s0121
Source Date: Text: 道宗崩 · Western Year: AD 1101
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0061
Source Date: Text: 遼 · Western Interval: Start: AD 916 · End: AD 1125
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:066:s0033
Source Date: Text: 重熙中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1032 · End: AD 1055
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0042

Family

Descendant of Gelu (葛剌)
Kinship Term: eighth-generation descendant / 八世孫 · Generation Distance: 8 · Line: paternal
Descendant of Noulisi (耨里思)
Kinship Term: descended from / 係出
Sibling of Sabo (撒缽)
Kinship Term: elder brother / 兄 · Subject Role: elder-brother · Object Role: younger-brother · Shared Parentage: uncertain · Subject Relative Age: elder · Parentage: biological

Career and standing

Label: Right Yilibi / 右夷離畢 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 清寧初 · Reign Id: liao-qingning · Western Interval: Start: AD 1055 · End: AD 1064
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:095:s0050
Label: commissioner for the imperial mausoleum / 山陵使 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 道宗崩 · Western Year: AD 1101
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0061
Label: Langjun of the Seals / 牌印郎君 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 重熙中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1032 · End: AD 1055
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:095:s0042
Label: Grand Overseer of the campaign army / 行軍都監 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0054
Label: Langjun of the Imperial Cup / 禦盞郎君 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0045
Label: Military Commissioner of the Wugu Division / 烏古部節度使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0054
Label: Minister of the Right / 尚書右僕射 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:026:s0051
Label: Southern Court great king / 南院大王 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:026:s0121
Label: Xiangwen of the Tulugu Pishi Detachment / 徒魯古皮室詳穩 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0046
Label: basic roster / 本班 · Action: demoted
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0043
Label: Palace Attendant / 侍中 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:066:s0033
Label: Vice Commissioner of the Falconry Office / 鷹坊副使 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0046
Label: Vice Commissioner of the Four Directions Bureau / 四方館副使 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0046
Label: Vice Commissioner of the Imperial Stables / 尚廄副使 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0046
Label: Wugu tribal military commissioner / 烏古部節度使 · Action: held
Explicit · liaoshi:026:s0051
Status: dismissal · Action: dismissed
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0053
Status: retired · Action: entered
Explicit · liaoshi:027:s0038
Status: retirement · Action: retired
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0061
Status: corporal-punishment · Action: flogged · Label: flogged two hundred strokes / 鞭之二百
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0044
Status: corporal-punishment · Action: flogged
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0049

Places and affiliations

Polity Id: liao · Relation: belonged-to
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:066:s0033
Polity Id: liao · Relation: served
Explicit · liaoshi:026:s0051, liaoshi:095:s0042

Works and attributed material

Work: birthday poem for the empress dowager / 進詩 · Relation: author
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0047
Work: poem on imperial command / 應制進詩 · Relation: author
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0051

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated · Counterpart: northwestern tribes / 西北諸部
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0054, liaoshi:095:s0059
Kind: ritual · Role: presenter · Action: presented-poem-and-tame-deer · Other Person Id: Empress Dowager (太后)
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0047

Assessments and attributes

Item: imperial garment / 衣 · Relation: bestowed · Other Person Id: Hongji (洪基)
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0052
Item: one suit of armor / 甲一屬 · Relation: bestowed
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0054
Item: two horses / 馬二匹 · Relation: bestowed
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0054
Item: two hundred lengths of assorted silks / 雜彩二百段 · Relation: bestowed · Other Person Id: Empress Dowager (太后)
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0047
Item: two strings of pearls / 珠二琲 · Relation: bestowed · Other Person Id: Empress Dowager (太后)
Explicit · liaoshi:095:s0047

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · liaoshi:027:s0038

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

History of Liao, Chapter 25Volume 25 Annals 25: Daozong 5 · 1 passage

Open chapter

丙午，烏古部節度使耶律陳家奴奏討茶紥剌捷。 On bingwu day Wugu tribal military commissioner Yelü Chenjianu memorialized victory over Chazhala.

History of Liao, Chapter 26Volume 26 Annals 26: Daozong 6 · 2 passages

Open chapter

壬寅，烏古部節度使耶律陳家奴以功加尚書右僕射。 On renyin day Wugu tribal military commissioner Yelü Chenjianu, for merit, was promoted Minister of the Right.

二月丁未，以烏古部節度使陳家奴為南院大王。 On dingwei day of the second month Wugu tribal military commissioner Chenjianu was made Southern Court great king.

History of Liao, Chapter 27Volume 27 Annals 27: Emperor Tianzuo 1 · 1 passage

Open chapter

丁未，南院大王陳家奴致仕。 On dingwei day Southern Court great king Chenjianu retired.

History of Liao, Chapter 66Volume 66 Tables 4: Imperial Family · 1 passage

Open chapter

侍中陳家奴。 Chenjianu, Palace Attendant.

History of Liao, Chapter 95Volume 95 Biographies 25: Yelu Honggu, Yelu Maliu, Xiao Dilie, Yelu Shilu, Yelu Chenjianu, Yelu Teme, Yelu Xiantong, Xiao Susa, Yelu Dabeinu · 11 passages

Open chapter

耶律弘古耶律馬六蕭滴冽耶律適祿耶律陳家奴耶律特麼耶律仙童蕭素颯耶律大悲奴 Yelu Honggu, Yelu Maliu, Xiao Dilie, Yelu Shilu, Yelu Chenjianu, Yelu Teme, Yelu Xiantong, Xiao Susa, and Yelu Dabeinu

耶律陳家奴，字綿辛，懿祖弟葛剌之八世孫。 Yelu Chenjianu, whose style name was Mianxin, was an eighth-generation descendant of Gelü, younger brother of Emperor Yizu.

會帝獵，陳家奴逐鹿圍內，鞭之二百。 Once when the emperor was hunting, Chenjianu chased a deer inside the hunting enclosure and was flogged two hundred strokes.

時耶律仁先薦陳家奴健捷比海東青鶻，授禦盞郎君。 At that time Yelu Renxian recommended Chenjianu, praising his vigor and agility as rivaling the eastern-sea green falcon, and he was appointed Langjun of the Imperial Cup.

兄撒缽卒，陳家奴聞訃，不告而去。 When his elder brother Sabo died, Chenjianu learned of it and left his post without permission.

適帝與燕國王射鹿俱中，王時年九歲，帝悅，陳家奴應制進詩。 Once when the emperor and the Prince of Yan both struck the deer in a hunt — the prince was only nine — the emperor was delighted, and Chenjianu composed a poem on imperial command.

後皇太子廢，帝疑陳家奴黨附，罷之。 Later, when the crown prince was deposed, the emperor suspected Chenjianu of siding with the deposed heir and dismissed him from office.

時西北諸部寇邊，以陳家奴為烏古部節度使行軍都監，賜甲一屬、馬二匹，討諸部，擒其酋送於朝。 When the northwestern tribes raided the frontier, Chenjianu was appointed Military Commissioner of the Wugu Division with overall command of the field army, given a suit of armor and two horses, and sent to campaign against them. He captured their chieftain and sent him to court.

偵候者見馬蹤，意寇至，陳家奴遣報元帥，耶律愛奴視之曰：「此野馬也！」 Scouts spotted horse tracks and thought the enemy had arrived. Chenjianu reported to the commander, but Yelu Ainu inspected the tracks and said, "These are wild horses!"

有司詰按，陳家奴不伏，詔釋之。 The authorities investigated and pressed charges, but Chenjianu would not confess. An edict ordered his release.

後諸部復來侵，陳家奴率兵三往，皆克，邊境遂寧。 When the tribes invaded again, Chenjianu led three campaigns against them, winning each time, and the frontier was restored to peace.