# Kieu Phu
**Kieu Phu** (Kiều Phú; pen name Hieu Le)[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html) was a Vietnamese scholar and official of the [Later Le dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/later-le-dynasty) who became a Hoang giap (second-rank doctoral laureate in Vietnamese imperial examinations) laureate and minister under King Le Thanh Tong, and who helped compile *Lĩnh Nam chích quái*, the first collection of Vietnamese folk literature. He was born in 1446 and died, by the most commonly given account, on the 13th day of the first [lunar month](https://www.edgepedia.org/lunar-month) of the year Quy Hoi (1503).[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1446, in Phu Da village, former Can Kiem commune, former Thach That district (present-day Hanoi)[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) • [7](https://thuvienphapluat.vn/phap-luat/danh-sach-5-xa-moi-huyen-thach-that-cu-o-ha-noi-sau-sap-nhap-ten-goi-xa-moi-huyen-thach-that-sau-sa-783804-224216.html) |
| Examination success | De nhi giap tien si xuat than (Hoang giap) at the Hoi examination of At Mui, Hong Duc 6 (1475)[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) |
| Offices | Tham chinh; Ngu su sung Thai Nguyen tran ti de hinh, and other posts, under Le Thanh Tong[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) |
| Principal work | Revision and preface (1493) of *Lĩnh Nam chích quái*, 2 volumes, 22 tales[4](http://sach.nlv.gov.vn/sach/cgi-bin/sach?a=d&d=tdNBLN1951.1.230&deq=195&e=------195-vi-20--221--img-txIN-truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u-PAGE-----&l=en&r=221&srpos=237&st=1&txq=truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u&tyq=PAGE) • [3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) |
| Death | 13th day of the first lunar month, Quy Hoi (1503), though one account calls the death year unclear[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html) |
| Posthumous honor | Title Trung dang than conferred by King Khai Dinh in 1924[3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) • [5](http://www.hnnn.io.vn/xem-tin-tuc/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-news.html) |
## Origins and family
Kiều Phú was born in 1446 in Phu Da village, Can Kiem commune, in Thach That district, present-day Hanoi. As a child he moved with his mother to Lap Ha in Ninh Son district, now Vinh Phuc hamlet, Liep Tuyet commune, Quoc Oai district.[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) One account gives his native place simply as Lap Ha, Ninh Son, Son Tay, now Yen Son commune, Quoc Oai.[2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html)
## Career
At the Hoi (metropolitan) examination of the At Mui year, Hong Duc 6 (1475), Kiều Phú passed as de nhi giap tien si xuat than, the rank known as Hoang giap. One account gives about 3,000 candidates at that examination.[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) One account places him at 29 years of age at the time; a later account says 28.[4](http://sach.nlv.gov.vn/sach/cgi-bin/sach?a=d&d=tdNBLN1951.1.230&deq=195&e=------195-vi-20--221--img-txIN-truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u-PAGE-----&l=en&r=221&srpos=237&st=1&txq=truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u&tyq=PAGE) • [6](https://trithucvn2.net/van-hoa/kieu-phu-vi-hoang-giap-boi-song-hoc-lom.html)
His mother's death delayed his entry into office. He asked to remain at home to care for her, and after she died he observed the full three years of mourning.[3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) • [6](https://trithucvn2.net/van-hoa/kieu-phu-vi-hoang-giap-boi-song-hoc-lom.html) When mourning ended, King Le Thanh Tong sent envoys to his house to bring him to the capital and appointed him Tham chinh; he later held the post of Ngu su sung Thai Nguyen tran ti de hinh, a provincial judicial-censorial office in Thai Nguyen, and other positions.[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) One account records that he served up to the rank of Tham chinh.[4](http://sach.nlv.gov.vn/sach/cgi-bin/sach?a=d&d=tdNBLN1951.1.230&deq=195&e=------195-vi-20--221--img-txIN-truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u-PAGE-----&l=en&r=221&srpos=237&st=1&txq=truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u&tyq=PAGE)
While working in the capital [Thang Long](https://www.edgepedia.org/thang-long), Kiều Phú joined the Hoang giap [Vu Quynh](https://www.edgepedia.org/vu-quynh) (1453–1497) in revising and arranging *Lĩnh Nam chích quái* into two volumes of 22 tales, the first collection of Vietnamese folk literature.[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html) The work had been drafted earlier by Tran The Phap, whose dates are unknown.[5](http://www.hnnn.io.vn/xem-tin-tuc/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-news.html) Kiều Phú wrote its preface, dated 1493 (Vu Quynh's preface is dated 1492).[4](http://sach.nlv.gov.vn/sach/cgi-bin/sach?a=d&d=tdNBLN1951.1.230&deq=195&e=------195-vi-20--221--img-txIN-truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u-PAGE-----&l=en&r=221&srpos=237&st=1&txq=truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u&tyq=PAGE)
## Political influence
Kiều Phú's career belongs to the height of the Hong Duc state. Kiều Phú's lasting institutional contribution lies in letters rather than administration: the two-volume, 22-tale arrangement of *Lĩnh Nam chích quái* that he and Vu Quynh produced was kept and expanded by later generations.[4](http://sach.nlv.gov.vn/sach/cgi-bin/sach?a=d&d=tdNBLN1951.1.230&deq=195&e=------195-vi-20--221--img-txIN-truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u-PAGE-----&l=en&r=221&srpos=237&st=1&txq=truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u&tyq=PAGE) • [1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html)
## Death and successors
Kiều Phú died on the 13th day of the first lunar month of the year Quy Hoi (1503), according to the accounts that give a date; one biographical study records the death year as unclear, with some books giving 1503.[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html) In 1924, under the Nguyen dynasty, King Khai Dinh conferred on him the posthumous title Trung dang than.[3](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html) • [5](http://www.hnnn.io.vn/xem-tin-tuc/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-news.html)
## Historians' assessment
Reference works treat Kiều Phú as a notable literatus of Thang Long under [Le Thanh Tong](https://www.edgepedia.org/le-thanh-tong) and, above all, as an editor: he and Vu Quynh are credited with the corrections and prefaces that fixed the shape of *Lĩnh Nam chích quái*, while the original 22 tales were later multiplied by additions.[2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html) • [4](http://sach.nlv.gov.vn/sach/cgi-bin/sach?a=d&d=tdNBLN1951.1.230&deq=195&e=------195-vi-20--221--img-txIN-truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u-PAGE-----&l=en&r=221&srpos=237&st=1&txq=truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u&tyq=PAGE) On several material points the accounts differ. His birthplace is given either as Phu Da village in Thach That, with a childhood move to Quoc Oai, or as Lap Ha, Ninh Son, Son Tay.[1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html) • [2](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html)
## Legacy
After his death the people of Liep Tuyet built a temple to him; in 1995 it was recognized as a historical-cultural relic.[6](https://trithucvn2.net/van-hoa/kieu-phu-vi-hoang-giap-boi-song-hoc-lom.html) In August 2023 Quoc Oai district named its main road Kiều Phú, linking the four communes of Ngoc Liep, Liep Tuyet, Nghia Huong, and Can Huu.[6](https://trithucvn2.net/van-hoa/kieu-phu-vi-hoang-giap-boi-song-hoc-lom.html) • [1](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html)
## References
1. [Vị Hoàng giáp từng làm thuê, bơi sông 'học lỏm' lớp quan Trạng](https://giaoducthoidai.vn/vi-hoang-giap-tung-lam-thue-boi-song-hoc-lom-lop-quan-trang-post696645.html)
2. [Kiều Phú - nhà biên soạn xuất sắc](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-nha-bien-soan-xuat-sac-79057.html)
3. [Kiều Phú và Lĩnh Nam chích quái](https://nguoihanoi.vn/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-45216.html)
4. [Việt Nam văn học sử yếu (1951), p. 244](http://sach.nlv.gov.vn/sach/cgi-bin/sach?a=d&d=tdNBLN1951.1.230&deq=195&e=------195-vi-20--221--img-txIN-truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u-PAGE-----&l=en&r=221&srpos=237&st=1&txq=truy%E1%BB%87n+ki%E1%BB%81u&tyq=PAGE)
5. [Kiều Phú và "Lĩnh Nam chích quái" | Danh nhân Thăng Long, Hà Nội văn hiến](http://www.hnnn.io.vn/xem-tin-tuc/kieu-phu-va-linh-nam-chich-quai-news.html)
6. [Kiều Phú: Vị Hoàng giáp bơi sông "học lỏm"](https://trithucvn2.net/van-hoa/kieu-phu-vi-hoang-giap-boi-song-hoc-lom.html)
7. [Danh sach 5 xa moi huyen thach that cu o ha noi sau sap nhap ten goi xa moi huyen thach that sau sa 783804 224216 (thuvienphapluat.vn)](https://thuvienphapluat.vn/phap-luat/danh-sach-5-xa-moi-huyen-thach-that-cu-o-ha-noi-sau-sap-nhap-ten-goi-xa-moi-huyen-thach-that-sau-sa-783804-224216.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › Southeast Asia › Vietnam under Ming rule and the Le dynasty (1407 to 1527)*
*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license