墓誌銘是一位偉人卒後，其家子孫恭請先人好友、門生或同僚撰寫的，述其家世、事功、學養、往往隱惡揚善，其真實性難以令人完全相信。但研究歷史必須憑藉第一手史料，墓誌銘是根據墓誌主子孫所提供的家傳、行狀撰成的，亦有撰者據自已的親見親聞而記載之者，確為同時人的撰述，有極高的史料價值。宋代修國史，為臣僚立傳，多根據其家所奏進的墓誌銘。故欲考一代之軍政，財經和學術思想者，不可不利用此一史料。

The funerary inscriptions were to be written by close friends, pupils or fellow officials of one’s ancestor at the request of the descendants. As for the contents, they recorded the family background, merits and achievements, and scholarly attainments. More often than not, they covered up one’s wrongdoing and praised one’s good deeds. For this reason, its truthfulness was hard to believe entirely. However, the composition of the funerary inscriptions was based upon family records and biographical sketch of the deceased furnished by the descendants. Sometimes, the account was on the basis of the first hand eyewitness of the writers. All of which, were extremely valuable for historical research and writing. For the compilation of the dynastic history of the Song dynasty, the biographical sections of the officials were frequently based upon the funerary inscriptions presented to the imperial off ice by the family members of the deceased. As a result, the funerary inscriptions were important sources to be used for the understanding of the political, military and economic history, as well as the intellectual trend of the time.