Yelu Hanba (耶律韓八)

Overview

The translated histories identify Yelu Hanba as an administrator, judge, and official. This record brings together 9 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Yelu Hanba	耶律韓八	Yēlǜ Hánbā
Courtesy	Chaoyin	嘲隱
Given	Hanba	韓八
Surname	Yelu	耶律

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0006

Roles

Administrator
Judge
Official

Life and dates

Death

Manner: died · Age: Value: 55 · Reckoning: sui
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0020

Age

Value: 55 · Reckoning: sui · Relation: at-death
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0020

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 太平中 · Reign Id: liao-taiping · Western Interval: Start: AD 1021 · End: AD 1031
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:091:s0007
Source Date: Text: 景福元年 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:091:s0015
Source Date: Text: 重熙六年 · Western Year: AD 1037
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:091:s0016
Source Date: Text: 重熙十二年 · Western Year: AD 1043
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:091:s0017

Family

Descendant of Gu (古)
Kinship Term: fifth-generation descendant / 五世孫 · Generation Distance: 5 · Line: paternal

Origins and identity

Ethnicity: Khitan / 契丹
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:091:s0006

Career and standing

Label: Left Yilibi / 左夷離畢 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 重熙六年 · Western Year: AD 1037
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0016
Label: Great King of the Northern Court / 北院大王 · Action: appointed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 重熙六年 · Western Year: AD 1037
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0016
Label: Great King of the Northern Court / 北院大王 · Action: appointed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 重熙十二年 · Western Year: AD 1043
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0017
Label: Left Yilibi / 左夷離畢 · Action: appointed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 景福元年 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0015
Label: Northern Forest Ya / 北面林牙 · Action: transferred · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 景福元年 · Western Year: AD 1031
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0015

Places and affiliations

Polity Id: liao · Relation: served
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0006
Place: the capital / 京師 · Relation: traveled-to
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0007

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Yelü Longxu (耶律隆緒) · Statement: I am Hanba of the Northern Court tribes, here to seek an appointment.
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0009

Events and relationships

Kind: travel · Role: traveler · Action: lodged by the traveling palace with only a bag of clothes and one horse · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 太平中 · Reign Id: liao-taiping · Western Interval: Start: AD 1021 · End: AD 1031
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0007
Kind: personal · Role: subject · Action: lost his horse; household servant substituted same-colored horse unnoticed for months
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0024
Kind: administrative · Role: official · Action: reported missing herd horses promptly; gained greater trust
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0014
Kind: legal · Role: judge · Action: summoned to examine doubtful Nanjing case records by post-haste; judged without wrongful conviction · Other Person Id: Yelü Longxu (耶律隆緒)
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0011, liaoshi:091:s0012

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: administration lenient and humane · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0016
Assessment: broadly grasped great principles and did not fail the emperor's recognition · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0100
Assessment: utterly loyal and careful; spoke freely of whatever he knew · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0019
Kind: character · Statement: disdained petty affairs; never showed pleasure or anger
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0023
Item: no old stores in chest; no new clothes in wardrobe / 篋無舊蓄，椸無新衣 · Relation: possessed · Negated: true
Explicit · liaoshi:091:s0022

References in the histories

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

History of Liao, Chapter 91Volume 91 Biographies 21: Yelu Hanba, Yelu Tanggu, Xiao Paizhe, Yelu Jue, Yelu Pulidu · 9 passages

Open chapter

耶律韓八耶律唐古蕭朮哲 Yelu Hanba, Yelu Tanggu, and Xiao Paizhe

耶律韓八 Yelu Hanba

耶律韓八，字嘲隱，倜儻有大志，北院詳穩古之五世孫。 Yelu Hanba, style name Chaoyin, was dashing and ambitious, a fifth-generation descendant of Gu, Details Steady of the Northern Court.

韓八初不識，漫應曰：「我北院部人韓八，來覓官耳。」 Hanba did not recognize him at first and answered offhandedly, "I am Hanba of the Northern Court tribes, here to seek an appointment."

會北院奏南京疑獄久不決，帝召韓八馳驛審錄，舉朝皆驚。 When the Northern Court reported that a doubtful case at Nanjing had long remained unsettled, the emperor summoned Hanba to ride post-haste and examine the records, and the whole court was astonished.

韓八量情處理，人無冤者。 Hanba judged each case on its merits, and no one was wrongfully convicted.

籍群牧馬，闕其二，同事者考尋不已，韓八略不加詰，即先馳奏，帝益信任。 When the collective herd horses were inventoried, two were missing; his colleagues kept investigating without end, but Hanba barely pressed the matter and first sent an urgent report to court, and the emperor trusted him all the more.

韓八平居不屑細務，喜慍不形。 In ordinary life Hanba disdained petty affairs and never let pleasure or anger show on his face.

論曰：韓八因帝微行，才始見售，及任以事，落落知大體，不負上之知矣。 The commentary says: Because the emperor went in disguise, Hanba's talent first found its opportunity; once entrusted with affairs, he broadly grasped the great principles and did not fail the emperor's recognition of him.