Đinh Phế Đế was born in 974 at Hoa Lư with real name Đinh Toàn or Đinh Tuệ.He was the second son of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, after Đinh Liễn and before Đinh Hạng Lang. After Đinh Bộ Lĩnh confers Đinh Hạng Lang as Crown prince, Đinh Liễn angrily killed his youngest brother. However, he was able to ascend the throne because of an absurdity that arose when a small official named Đỗ Thích dreamed of his accession to the throne and subsequently assassinated both Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and Đinh Liễn. As emperor, Đinh Toàn obviously became the last heir of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and enthroning him became inevitable at age 6.
Short reign
His accession took place during his childhood, which made him only a nominal emperor without any power. All power was wielded by the Regent Lê Hoàn, who some months later became the founder of Lê Dynasty. During this short reign, there were some events happening in his court. Two officials, Đinh Điền and Nguyễn Bặc, feared that the power concentrated in Lê Hoàn's hands could soon replace the Đinh dynasty with Lê Hoàn. And also they suspected that he and Dowager Empress Dương Vân Nga had an illicit liaison with Lê Hoàn. They moved against Lê Hoàn but their resistance was soon rapidly suppressed. The prince consortNgô Nhật Khánh fled to Champa, and convinced their monarch, Parameshvaravarman I, to dispatch a naval fleet to attack the Hoa Lư capital. However, this campaign ended in disaster when a surprise storm sank many of the vessels.
Threat from invaders
In 980, after hearing about the demise of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, the Song emperor dispatched his army to invade Đại Cồ Việt. In response, Dowager Empress Dương Vân Nga and the court unanimously enthroned Lê Hoàn to be the emperor of Đại Cồ Việt because the current emperor was too young. After battling the Song army twice, Lê Hoàn expelled the invaders from his realm. As such, the reign of Đinh Toàn came to the end and the Đinh dynasty was collapsed in 980.
Later years
After being dethroned, Đinh Toàn became "Vệ Vương", a noble title similar to that of landlord or some kin of the emperor. By the year 1001, when repressing the rebellion Cửu Long in Thanh Hóa Province, he was hit by an arrow and died immediately at the age of 27. Nowadays, historical book have named his title "Đinh Phế Đế", which means "the deposed emperor of the Đinh Dynasty."
