Jiangzhou Replaced by Danyang Commandery, 608 CE

Background

In 589 CE, the ninth year of the Kaihuang era, the gazetteer records that Danyang Commandery was abolished and Jiangzhou established. In the fourth year of the Daye era Jiangzhou was in turn made into Danyang Commandery, so that the two names exchanged places and the authority above Lishui County changed.

Time and place

The gazetteer records:

炀帝大业四年戊辰，以蒋州置丹阳郡，溧水隶之。

Translated: In the fourth year of the Daye era of Emperor Yang, a wuchen year, Jiangzhou was made into Danyang Commandery, and Lishui was placed under it.

The fourth year of the Daye era is 608 CE. Lishui County had already been established in 591 CE; the county itself was unchanged, only its superior authority.

The standard history's date

The Suishu, juan 31, "Treatise on Geography, Part 3," entry on Danyang Commandery, under Jiangning, reads "in the early years of Daye Danyang Commandery was established", without an exact year. The Suishu, "Annals of Emperor Yang," records that in the third year of Daye (607) "the prefectures were changed into commanderies", the general reorganisation of Sui local government; on this basis Fudan's CHGIS dates the change of Jiangzhou into Danyang Commandery to the third year of Daye (607) and places Lishui under Danyang from 607 to 619. The gazetteer has "the fourth year of Daye (608)", one year later than the standard history and CHGIS.

What happened

Jiangzhou was abolished, its territory made into Danyang Commandery, and Lishui County transferred to the commandery.

Consequences

Lishui passed from Jiangzhou to Danyang Commandery. In 620 CE, the third year of the Wude era, Lishui and Jiangning were made into Yangzhou, with Lishui County not abolished and still under it; in 626 CE, the ninth year of Wude, Lishui was transferred to Xuanzhou.

Uncertainties

First, the entry is a single sentence and gives neither the seat nor the subordinate counties of Danyang Commandery.

Second, the year of the change is disputed: the gazetteer gives the fourth year of Daye (608); the Suishu, "Treatise on Geography," gives only "the early years of Daye"; the Suishu, "Annals of Emperor Yang," has "the prefectures were changed into commanderies" in the third year of Daye; and Fudan's CHGIS gives the third year of Daye (607). The two are set side by side without preference.

Third, whether this commandery was the same unit as the one abolished in 589, and whether its extent had changed, is not stated in the sources; this entry draws no inference. On these grounds the confidence level is set to medium.