Empress Qian

Empress Qian

Empress Qian
Empress Consort of Ming China
Reign 8 June 1442– 1 September 1449
Predecessor Empress Dowager Xiaoyi
Successor Empress Wang
Retired Empress Consort of the Ming dynasty
Reign 1 September 1449 – 11 February 1457
Empress Consort of Ming China
Reign 11 February 1457 - 23 February 1464
Predecessor Empress Suxiao
Successor Empress Wu
Born 1426
Haizhou 海州
Died 1468 (aged 4142)
Burial Yu ling
Spouse Emperor Yingzong of Ming (m. 1842)
Posthumous name
Empress Xiàosù zhēnshùn kāngyì guāngliè fǔtiān chéngshèng
孝肃贞顺康懿光烈辅天承圣皇后

Empress Qian (1426–1468) was a Chinese Empress consort during the Ming Dynasty, married to the Zhengtong Emperor. She was addressed formally as Empress Xiaozhuangrui (Chinese: 孝庄睿皇后)

Marriage

There is no record of Empress Qian's birth name, other than that she was a member of the clan Qian (Chinese: ), She married the Zhengtong Emperor on 8 June 1442. She became his primary consort and empress. [1]

Deposal

In 1449, the Zhengtong Emperor was captured after the Battle of Tumu and his captors demanded a ransom, which Empress Qian and her mother-in-law promptly raised.[2] The ransom was rejected in favour of holding on to the Zhengtong Emperor as hostage, which prompted the court to assign him the status of retired emperor and name his half-brother Zhu Qiyu emperor.[3] Empress Qian was moved from the court to a separate palace to allow Empress Wang to take the title of Empress Consort.[4]

When her spouse was returned by the Mongols, arriving in Beijing on 19 September 1450, Empress Qian joined him under house arrest in a guarded section of the Imperial City.[5][6] When her spouse's only son, the future Chenghua Emperor, was deposed as heir apparent in 1952, he was sent to live with Empress Qian in conditions of physical hardship.[7] In 1457, a coup-d'etat put her spouse back on the imperial thrown as the Tianshun Emperor, reinstating Empress Qian as the empress consort.[8]

Empress Dowager

Empress Qian had no children, and when the Zhengtong Emperor died in 1464, he was succeeded by the Chenghua Emperor. She became involved in a conflict with Empress Xiaosu, the biological mother of the new emperor. As the mother of the emperor, Empress Xiaosu demanded the same title as Qian: that of empress dowager.[9] The mother of the emperor pointed out that she was the mother of the emperor while Qian was childless, while Qian demanded the title pointing to her loyalty to the late emperor, whose house arrest she had shared.[10] The emperor was unable to solve the conflict to the satisfaction of both parties, but granted the title of empress dowager to both, though Qian's formal title acknowledged her higher rank and precedence in court proceedings.[9]

Burial

Empress Dowager Qian died in 1468 and was interred at Yu ling in the Ming tomb complex near Beijing. The Tianshun Emperor specifically stated that she should only be buried next to him, 'after a thousand years of long life.'[11]

References

Notes

  1. Twitchett (1988), p. 307.
  2. Twitchett (1988), p. 325.
  3. Twitchett (1988), p. 326.
  4. Twitchett (1988), p. 329.
  5. Twitchett (1988), p. 330.
  6. Mote (1988), p. 344.
  7. Mote (1988), p. 345.
  8. Twitchett (1988), p. 339.
  9. 1 2 Mote (1988), p. 346.
  10. Carington (1976).
  11. History of Ming (1739). 英宗大漸,遺命曰:“錢皇后千秋萬歲後,與朕同葬。”

Works cited

Chinese royalty
Preceded by
Empress Xiaogongzhang
Empress of China
1442–1449
Succeeded by
Empress Xiaoyuanjing
Chinese royalty
Preceded by
Empress Suxiao
Empress of China
1457–1464
Succeeded by
Empress Wu (Ming dynasty)
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