姚思廉

姚思廉（557年—637年），字简之；一说原名简，字思廉，以字行，吴兴（今浙江省湖州市）人，唐朝初期史学家。

生平

自幼习史，后曾任隋朝代王杨侑侍读。唐李渊称帝后，为李世民秦王府文学馆学士。自玄武门之变，进任太子洗马。贞观初年，又任著作郎，“十八学士”之一。官至散骑常侍，受命与魏徵同修梁陈二史。

家族

父姚察，在南陈时任吏部尚书，著陈梁二史，未成。

著书

贞观十年（636年），成《梁书》（50卷）《陈书》（30卷），为二十四史之一。又著有《文思博要》，已佚。

Yao Silian (姚思廉; died 637), courtesy name Jianzhi (簡之), formally the Baron of Fengcheng (豐城縣男), posthumous name Kang (康), was a Chinese historian and politician during the Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty. He was the lead author of the Book of Liang and Book of Chen, the official histories of the Liang dynasty and the Chen dynasty, which his father Yao Cha (姚察), a Chen official, had begun but did not finish.

Background

It is not known when Yao Silian was born, other than that it was likely during the Chen dynasty. His father Yao Cha (533 - 606) was the minister of civil service affairs during Chen, and after Chen's destruction by rival Sui dynasty in February 589, Yao Cha moved his family from Wuxing (吳興, in modern Huzhou, Zhejiang) to the Sui capital Daxing (Chang'an), successively serving as an advisor to Emperor Wen of Sui's crown prince Yang Yong and the secretary general of the Palace Library, carrying the title of Duke of Beijiang. During Yao Cha's life, he had begun to write the histories of Chen and its predecessor Liang dynasty but was unable to complete it before his death.

Yao Silian studied the Book of Han under his father when he was young. It was said that he had few desires other than to study. Prior to Chen's destruction, he served as a military officer under Chen Boxin, the seventh son of Emperor Wen of Chen, and as a registrar (主簿) to Chen Zhuang (陳莊) the Prince of Kuaiji, the eighth son of Chen's last emperor Chen Shubao in the mid-to-late 580s.

During the Sui dynasty

After Chen's destruction, Yao Silian served as a military advisor to Emperor Wen's son Yang Liang the Prince of Han. Due to Yao Cha's death, he resigned in 606 to observe a mourning period; before his death, Yao Cha had also implored Yao Silian to finish his histories. After the mourning period, Yao Silian served as a secretary at the government of Hejian Commandery (河間, roughly modern Baoding, Hebei). He requested permission from Emperor Wen's son and successor Emperor Yang to continue writing the histories of Liang and Chen that Yao Cha had started, and Emperor Yang agreed. Emperor Yang further ordered him and another official, Cui Zujun (崔祖濬), to lead a team of scholars in drafting regional maps and histories. He later served as a teacher of Emperor Yang's grandson Yang You the Prince of Dai.

By 617, the Sui state was engulfed by agrarian rebellions, and Emperor Yang was in Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), leaving Yang You nominally in charge of Chang'an, when the general Li Yuan the Duke of Tang started a rebellion and attacked Chang'an, claiming that his intent was to make Yang You emperor. When Chang'an fell in winter 617, it was said that Yang You's staff all fled, except for Yao Silian, who stayed with Yang You, and as Li Yuan's soldiers entered Yang You's mansion, yelled out sternly, "The Duke of Tang started his uprising in order to secure the imperial clan. You cannot be impolite to the Prince." The soldiers backed off. Li Yuan was impressed with Yao's dedication to Yang You, and while he still had Yang You seized by his own subordinates, allowed Yao to accompany Yang You to Shunyang Pavilion (順陽閣) before leaving. People who witnessed the event commented, "It is said that kind people are also brave. This man is an example." Li Yuan soon declared Yang You emperor (as Emperor Gong), but after receiving news in 618 that Emperor Yang had been killed in a coup at Jiangdu led by the general Yuwen Huaji, had Yang You yield the throne to him, establishing the Tang dynasty as Emperor Gaozu.