Appreciated as a great emperor of the Lý dynasty, Lý Nhân Tông made important contributions to the development of Đại Việt, especially for establishing Confucianism as the official philosophy of the state, creating Confucian-based imperial exams, and creating schools based on the Confucian system of learning.

[4][5] It was said that Lý Thánh Tông was unable to have his own son up to the age of 40, so he paid a visit to Buddhist pagodas all over the country to pray for a child.

[5] In the first month of the lunar calendar in 1072, his father, the emperor Thánh Tông died and thus the crown prince Lý Càn Đức succeed the throne at the age of 7.

[12] Concerning the death of the previous empress mother, the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên commented that "although having a devotion to Buddhism, Ỷ Lan was too ruthless in killing the innocent empress mother, and also remarked that the chancellor Lý Đạo Thành was transferred to a position in the southern border likely because he advised against Ỷ Lan's murder of Thượng Dương.

Lý Thường Kiệt viewed the changing economic relationship between the Song and its frontier people as an abandonment of the traditional tribute paradigm.

[19]: 71  After an initial, rapid advance, the Song forces were stopped by the Vietnamese defense along the Như Nguyệt River led by Lý Thường Kiệt.

As the Song forces took the offensive, while Đại Việt had to strenuously hold on to their costly defensive front, Lý Thường Kiệt tried to boost the morale of his soldiers by a poem named Nam quốc sơn hà.

[17] Being aware of the unfavourable situation of the Viet army, Lý Nhân Tông finally decided to propose a cease-fire which was accepted by the Song dynasty since they had lost 400,000 men[18] to battles and the harsh weather of Đại Việt.

Finally, being an intelligent and vivacious boy, Marquis Sùng Hiền's son Lý Dương Hoán was made the crown prince at the age of 2 in 1117.

[22] In his last will, Lý Nhân Tông still expressed his concern for the country and only wished for a prosperous nation (bốn bể yên vui) and a stable frontier (biên thuỳ ít loạn).

[4] To commemorate the successful reign of Lý Nhân Tông, a stele was erected in 1121 with the content composed by the minister of justice Nguyễn Công Bật.