According to Từ điển bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam, Đỗ Anh Vũ was born in 1113 in Hồng Châu (now Hải Dương), he had an elder sister Đỗ thị, who was the natural mother of the Emperor Lý Thần Tông, and a niece who married the Emperor Lý Anh Tông.
But with the support of the Empress Mother, Đỗ Anh Vũ was able to bribe some members of the group, therefore he was only tried by the emperor instead of being immediately killed as the initial plan.
[10] Those events were detailed in the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư in which the role of Đỗ Anh Vũ was heavily criticized by the historians Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên, for example Ngô Sĩ Liên considered Đỗ Anh Vũ "the utterly ruthless" ("kẻ đại ác") while Lê Văn Hưu denounced his actions "nothing more heinous crime" ("không tội gì to bằng").
[12] Trần Trọng Kim in his Việt Nam sử lược remarked that Đỗ Anh Vũ did not take any further step in the royal court only because of the appearance of some skilled officials such as Tô Hiến Thành, Hoàng Nghĩa Hiền or Lý Công Tín.
[6] In the late 1930s, the researcher Hoàng Xuân Hãn discovered the description of a stele formerly believed about the life of Lý Thường Kiệt.
[13] Contrary to the harsh criticisms from dynastic historians like Lê Văn Hưu or Ngô Sĩ Liên, the stele praised Đỗ Anh Vũ as a devoted official with noble character of the Lý dynasty, who could be compared with the legendary Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou in History of China.
[14] From the stele, the background of Đỗ Anh Vũ was also made clearer, such as his father's name was Đỗ Tướng, the sister's son of Lý Thường Kiệt, while his mother, though unnamed, was highly extolled and his adoptive father was Lê Bá Ngọc, a prominent official in the royal court of Lý Thần Tông.
[16] The activities of Đỗ Anh Vũ was also described much more detailed and with more positive tone than the record about the chancellor in the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư.