1
太祖聖穆皇后柴氏，邢州龍崗人，世家豪右。 太祖微時，在洛陽聞後賢淑，遂聘之。 〈（《東都事略·張永德傳》云：周太祖柴後，本唐莊宗之嬪御也。 莊宗沒，明宗遣歸其家，行至河上，父母迓之，會大風雨，止於逆旅數日。 有一丈夫走過其門，衣弊不能自庇。 後見之，驚曰：「此何人邪？」 逆旅主人曰：「此馬步軍使郭雀兒者也。」 後異其人，欲嫁之，請於父母。 父母恚曰：「汝帝左右人，歸當嫁節度使，奈何欲嫁此人？」 後曰：「此貴人也，不可失也。 囊中裝分半與父母，我取其半。」 父母知不可奪，遂成婚於逆旅中。 所謂郭雀兒，即周太祖也。）〉 太祖壯年，喜飲博，好任俠，不拘細行，後規其太過，每有內助之力焉。 世宗皇帝即後之侄也，幼而謹願，後甚憐之，故太祖養之為己子。 太祖嘗寢，後見五色小蛇入顴鼻間，心異之，知其必貴，敬奉愈厚，未及貴而厭代。 太祖即位，乃下制曰：「義之深無先於作配，禮之重莫大於追崇。 朕當寧載思，撫存懷舊。 河洲令德，猶傳荇菜之詩； 媯汭大名，不及珩璜之貴。 俾盛副笄之禮，以伸求劍之情。 故夫人柴氏，代籍貽芳，湘靈集慶。 體柔儀而陳闕翟，芬若椒蘭； 持貞操以選中珰，譽光圖史。 懿範尚留於閨閫，昌言有助於箴規。 深惟望氣之艱，彌嘆藏舟之速，將開寶祚，俄謝璧臺。 宜正號於軒宮，俾潛耀於坤象，可追命為皇后。 仍令所司定謚，備禮冊命。」 既而有司上謚曰聖穆。 顯德初，太祖神主入廟，以後祔於其室。
Empress Shenmu of Emperor Taizu, born into the Chai clan of Longgang in Xingzhou, came from a family that had long ranked among the region's great houses. While he was still obscure, he heard in Luoyang of her virtue and refinement and took her as his wife. (The 《Eastern Capital Miscellany》, Biography of Zhang Yongde, states that Empress Chai of Emperor Taizu of Zhou had originally been a concubine of Emperor Zhuangzong of Tang. After Zhuangzong's death Mingzong sent her home; on the way to the Yellow River her parents came out to meet her, but a violent storm forced them to halt at an inn for several days. A man ran past the door in tattered clothes that could scarcely keep off the weather. The lady saw him and cried out in surprise, "Who is this?" The innkeeper answered, "That is Guo Que'er, commissioner of the horse-and-foot army." Struck by his bearing, she wished to marry him and pleaded with her parents. Her parents were furious: "You had served at the emperor's side; now that you are home you should marry a military governor—why this man?" She replied, "This man is destined for greatness; we must not let him slip away. She split her purse in two, gave half to her parents, and kept the rest." Seeing they could not dissuade her, her parents consented and the wedding was held at the inn. The Guo Que'er in question was none other than the future Emperor Taizu of Zhou.)〉 In his prime he drank and gambled freely, loved bold adventure, and cared little for petty propriety; she checked his excesses and was a steady force within the household. Emperor Shizong was her nephew; dutiful even as a boy, he won her deep affection, and the Emperor therefore raised him as his own son. Once while he slept she saw a small five-colored serpent slip between his cheek and nose; struck by the omen and sure he was destined for greatness, she honored him all the more—yet she died before he rose to power. After he took the throne he issued an edict: "In depth of righteousness nothing precedes the bond of marriage; in weight of ritual nothing surpasses posthumous honor. On the throne I dwell on her memory and cherish what we once shared. Her virtue by the rivers still lives in the ode of the water shields; yet her great name at Gui and Rui never matched the honor her jade regalia deserved. Let the full rites of the secondary pin be performed to express my longing to keep faith with her. Lady Chai of old, her clan's fragrance handed down through generations, gathered blessings like the Lady of the Xiang. Gentle in bearing, she bore the regalia of rank, fragrant as pepper and orchid; steadfast in conduct, she was chosen within the palace, and her fame shines in the chronicles. Her fine example still lingers in the inner quarters; her wise words aided every admonition. She had long read the hardship of fate's signs and sighed at how swiftly life passes—just as the precious succession was about to open, she suddenly left the jade terrace. Let her receive her proper title in the lofty palace and let her hidden radiance shine in the earthly realm; she is posthumously invested as Empress. Let the relevant offices fix her posthumous title and complete the rites of investiture." The offices thereupon submitted the posthumous title Shenmu. At the beginning of Xiande, when Emperor Taizu's spirit tablet entered the ancestral temple, she was enshrined beside him in his chamber.
2
淑妃楊氏，鎮州真定人。 父洪裕，真定少尹。 〈（《東都事略·楊廷璋傳》云：父宏裕，少漁貂裘陂，有以二石雁授之者，其翼一掩左，一掩右，曰：「吾北嶽使也。」 言訖不知所之。 是年生女，為周太祖淑妃，明年生廷璋。）〉 當河朔三鎮全盛之時，所屬封疆，制之於守帥，故韶顏美媛，皆被選於王宮。 妃幼以良家子中選，事趙王王镕。 張文禮之亂，妃流離於外。 唐明宗在藩，錄其遺逸。 安重誨保庇妃家，致其仕進，父母即以妃嫁於鄉人石光輔，不數年嫠居。 太祖佐漢之初，屬聖穆皇后棄世，聞妃之賢，遂以禮聘之。 《宋史·楊廷璋傳》：有姊寡居京師，周祖微時欲聘之，姊不從。 令媒氏傳言恐逼，姊以告廷璋。 廷璋往見周祖，歸謂姊曰：「此人姿貌異常，不可拒。」 姊乃從之。） 妃睦族撫孤，宜家內助，甚有力焉。 晉天福末，卒於太原，因留葬於晉郊。 廣順元年九月，追冊為淑妃。 太祖凡一後三妃，及嵩陵就掩，皆議陪祔。 時以妃喪在賊境，未及遷窆，世宗乃詔有司於嵩陵之側，預營一冢以虛之，俟賊平即議襄事。 顯德元年夏，世宗征河東，果成素誌焉。
Lady of Cultivated Virtue Yang was a native of Zhending in Zhenzhou. Her father Hongyu served as Vice Magistrate of Zhending. (The 《Eastern Capital Miscellany》, Biography of Yang Tingzhang, relates that his father Hongyu fished as a youth at Diaojiuqi Pond when someone presented him with two stone geese, one wing covering the left and one the right, saying, "I am an envoy of the Northern Peak." With those words he vanished, and no one knew where he had gone. A daughter was born that year—the future Lady of Cultivated Virtue of Emperor Taizu of Zhou—and Tingzhang was born the year after.)〉 When the three Hebei circuits were at their height, each garrison commander controlled his own domain, and fair-faced beauties were routinely drafted into princely palaces. Chosen in youth from a respectable family, she entered the service of Prince of Zhao Wang Rong. During Zhang Wenli's rebellion she was cast adrift in the chaos. While still a prince, Tang Mingzong gathered up those who had been left behind. An Chonghui protected her family and helped them advance in office; her parents then married her to a townsman named Shi Guangfu, and within a few years she was widowed. Early in his service to the Later Han, after Empress Shenmu's death, he heard of the lady's virtue and took her as his wife with full ceremony. The 《History of Song》, Biography of Yang Tingzhang, notes that he had an elder sister, a widow in the capital; when the Zhou founder was still obscure he sought to marry her, but she refused. He sent the matchmaker back with words that sounded like threats; she told Tingzhang. Tingzhang went to see the Zhou founder and told his sister on returning, "This man's bearing is extraordinary; you must not refuse him." She then agreed.) She kept her clan in harmony and cared for orphans, and was a strong support within the household. At the end of the Jin Tianfu era she died in Taiyuan and was buried in the Jin suburbs. In the ninth month of Guangshun 1 she was posthumously invested as Lady of Cultivated Virtue. The Emperor had one empress and three consorts in all; when Songling was sealed, each was considered for joint enshrinement. Because her remains still lay in rebel-held territory and could not yet be moved, Shizong ordered the offices to prepare an empty tomb beside Songling, to be filled once the rebels were subdued. In summer of Xiande 1 Shizong campaigned in Hedong and at last fulfilled his long-held wish.
3
貴妃張氏，恒州真定人也。 祖記，成德軍節度判官、檢校兵部尚書。 父同芝，本州諮呈官、檢校工部尚書，事趙王王镕，歷職中要。 天祐末，趙將張文禮殺王镕，以鎮州歸梁，莊宗命將符存審討平之。 時妃年尚幼，有幽州偏將武從諫者，駐騑於家，見妃韶令，乃為其子聘之。 武氏家在太原。 太祖從漢祖鎮並門，屬楊夫人以疾終，無何武氏子卒，太祖素聞妃之賢，遂納為繼室。 太祖貴，累封至吳國夫人。 漢隱帝末，蕭墻變起，屠害大臣，太祖在鄴都被讒，妃與諸皇屬同日遇害於東京舊第。 太祖踐阼，追冊為貴妃，發哀，故世宗有起復之命。 世宗嗣位，以太祖舊宅即妃遇禍之地，因施為僧院，以皇建為名焉。
Honored Consort Zhang was a native of Zhending in Hengzhou. Her grandfather Ji served as adjutant of the Chengde army and Acting Minister of War. Her father Tongzhi was the prefecture's reporting officer and Acting Minister of Works; he served Prince of Zhao Wang Rong and rose to posts in the central administration. At the end of Tianyou the Zhao general Zhang Wenli killed Wang Rong and surrendered Zhenzhou to Liang; Zhuangzong sent Fu Cunshen to suppress him. She was still young when a subordinate commander from Youzhou named Wu Congjian was billeted at her home; struck by her grace, he betrothed her to his son. The Wu family lived in Taiyuan. When the Emperor followed the Han founder to garrison Bingmen, Lady Yang died of illness; soon afterward the Wu son died as well. Having long heard of the lady's virtue, he took her as his successor consort. As he rose in rank she was repeatedly ennobled, eventually to Lady of the State of Wu. At the end of Han Yindi's reign palace intrigue erupted and ministers were slaughtered; slandered while in Ye, the Emperor could not save her—she and the imperial kin were killed on the same day at his old residence in the Eastern Capital. After he took the throne he posthumously invested her as Honored Consort and proclaimed mourning, which is why Shizong later issued an order for him to leave mourning. After Shizong succeeded, the Emperor's old residence—where she had met her end—was converted into a Buddhist monastery called Huangjian.
4
德妃董氏，常山靈壽人也。 祖文廣，唐深州錄事參軍。 父光嗣，趙州昭慶尉。 妃孩提穎悟，始能言聽，按絲管而能辨其聲。 年七歲，遇鎮州亂，親黨羈離，與妃相失。 潞州牙將得之，匿於褚中。 其妻以息女不育，得妃憐之，過於所生，姆教師箴，功容克備。 妃家悲念，其兄瑀諸處求訪，垂六七年。 後潞將入官於朝，妃之鄉親頗有知者，瑀見潞將，欣歸之，時年十三。 妃歸逾年，嫁為里人劉進超之妻，進超為內職，及契丹破晉之歲，陷蕃歿焉，妃嫠居洛陽。 太祖楊淑妃與妃鄉親，平居恒言妃賢德。 太祖從漢祖幸洛，因憶淑妃之言，尋以禮納之。 鼎命初建，張貴妃遇禍，中宮虛位，乃冊為德妃。 太祖自聖穆皇后蚤世以來屢失邦媛，中幃內助惟妃存焉，加以結珮脫簪，率由令範。 廣順三年夏，遇疾，醫藥之際，屬太祖兗海之征，車駕將行，妃奏曰：「正當暑毒，勞陛下省巡，明發宵征，須人供侍，司簿已下典事者，各已處分從行。」 太祖曰：「妃疾未平，數令診視，此行在近，無繁內人。」 及太祖駐蹕魯中，妃誌欲令內人進侍，發中使往來言之。 太祖手敕鄭仁誨曰：「切慮德妃以朕至兗州行營，津置內人承侍。 緣諸軍在野，不可自安，令鄭仁誨專心體候。 如德妃津置內人東來，便須上聞約住，或取索鞍馬，不得供應。 如意堅確，即以手敕示之。」 既而平定兗州，車駕還京，妃疾無減，俄卒於大內，時年三十九。 輟朝三日。
Virtuous Consort Dong was a native of Lingshou in Changshan. Her grandfather Wenguang had been Recorder of Shenzhou under Tang. Her father Guangsi served as Commandant of Zhaoging in Zhao prefecture. Even as a child she was quick and bright; as soon as she could speak she could play string and wind instruments and tell each tone apart. At seven she was caught in the turmoil at Zhenzhou; her kin were scattered and she was separated from her family. A guard officer from Lu prefecture seized her and hid her in a sack. His wife, who had no children of her own, took her in and loved her more than a daughter of her own blood; nurses and tutors trained her until her manners were flawless. Her family mourned her loss; her elder brother Yu searched for her everywhere for nearly six or seven years. Later, when the Lu commander came to court, townsfolk who knew her recognized her; Yu met the commander and brought her home in joy—she was thirteen. A year after her return she married a townsman named Liu Jinchao, who held an inner-court post; when the Khitans overran Jin he died in captivity, and she was left a widow in Luoyang. Lady of Cultivated Virtue Yang, a fellow townsman, often spoke in daily life of the lady's virtue. When the Emperor accompanied the Han founder to Luoyang, he recalled Lady Yang's praise and soon took her as his wife with full ceremony. When the dynasty was first founded, Honored Consort Zhang had been killed and the inner palace stood empty; she was invested as Virtuous Consort. Since Empress Shenmu's early death he had lost consort after consort; she alone remained to manage the inner household, and in every detail of dress and deportment she set the standard. In summer of Guangshun 3 she fell ill. While physicians attended her, the Emperor was about to set out on the Yanhai campaign. She memorialized: "This is the season of summer heat, yet Your Majesty will tour the provinces, marching at dawn and through the night—you will need attendants. I have already assigned the clerks and other officers in charge to accompany you." He replied, "Your illness is not yet settled; I have ordered the physicians to watch you closely. This campaign is nearby—there is no need to trouble the inner household." After he halted in Lu, she still wished to send inner attendants to wait on him and dispatched palace envoys to urge it. The Emperor wrote in his own hand to Zheng Renhui: "I am concerned that the Virtuous Consort, learning that I have reached the Yanzhou field headquarters, will arrange for inner attendants to come and serve me. With the armies in the field I cannot be at ease about such arrangements. Let Zheng Renhui attend to her with your full attention. If she arranges for inner attendants to come east, report at once and hold them back; if they demand saddles or horses, do not supply them. If she insists, show her this handwritten edict." Yanzhou was pacified and the Emperor returned to the capital, but her illness did not abate; she soon died in the inner palace at the age of thirty-nine. Court was suspended for three days.
5
妃長兄瑀，以左贊善大夫致仕，仲兄元之、季兄自明，皆累歷郡守。
Her eldest brother Yu had retired as Left Supporter of the Heir Apparent; her second brother Yuanzhi and youngest brother Ziming had each served repeatedly as prefect.
6
世宗貞惠皇后劉氏，將家女也，幼歸於世宗。 漢乾祐中，世宗在西班，後始封彭城縣君。 世宗隨太祖在鄴，後留居邸第。 漢末李業等作亂，後與貴妃張氏及諸皇族同日遇禍。 國初，追封彭城郡夫人。 顯德四年夏四月，追冊為皇后，謚曰貞惠，陵曰惠陵。
Empress Zhenhui of Emperor Shizong, née Liu, came from a military family and married Shizong in her youth. During the Han Qianyou era, while Shizong served in the western bureau, she was first ennobled as Lady of Pengcheng county. When Shizong followed the Emperor to Ye, she remained at their residence. At the end of Han, when Li Ye and others rose in revolt, she, Honored Consort Zhang, and the imperial kin were killed on the same day. At the founding of the dynasty she was posthumously ennobled as Lady of Pengcheng commandery. In the fourth month of summer of Xiande 4 she was posthumously invested as Empress with the posthumous title Zhenhui; her tomb was named Huiling.
7
宣懿皇后符氏，祖存審，事後唐武皇、莊宗，位極將相，追封秦王。 父彥卿，天雄軍節度使，封魏王。 後初適李守貞之子崇訓。 漢乾祐中，守貞叛於河中，太祖以兵攻之，及城陷，崇訓自刃其弟妹，次將及後，後時匿於屏處，以帷箔自蔽，崇訓倉黃求後不及，遂自刎，後因獲免。 太祖入河中，令人訪而得之，即遣女使送於其父，自是後常感太祖大惠，拜太祖為養父。 世宗鎮澶淵日，太祖為世宗聘之。 後性和惠，善候世宗之旨，世宗或暴怒於下，後必從容救解，世宗甚重之，及即位，冊為皇后。 世宗將南征，後常諫止之，言甚切直，世宗亦為之動容，洎車駕駐於淮甸，久冒炎暑，後因憂恚成疾。 顯德二年七月二十一日，崩於滋德殿，時年二十有六。 世宗甚悼之。 既而有司上謚曰宣懿，葬於新鄭，陵曰懿陵。 〈（案：世宗有後符後，即宣懿之女弟也，薛史不為立傳，未免闕略。 《五代史補》：世宗皇后符氏，即魏王彥卿之女。 時有相工視之大驚，密告魏王曰：「此女貴不可言。」 李守貞素有異志，因與子崇訓娶之，禮畢，守貞甚有喜色。 其後據河中叛，高祖為樞密使，受命出征。 後知高祖與其父有舊，城破之際，據堂門而坐，叱諸軍曰：「我符魏王女也，魏王與樞密太尉，兄弟之不若，汝等慎勿無禮。」 於是諸軍聳然引退。 頃之，高祖至，喜曰：「此女於白刃紛之際保全，可謂非常人也。」 乃歸之魏王。 至世宗即位，納為皇后。 既免河中之難，其母欲使出家，資其福壽，後不悅曰：「死生有命，誰能髡首跣足以求茍活也！」 母度不可逼，遂止。 世宗素以後賢，又聞命不以出家為念，愈賢之，所以為天下母也。）〉
Empress Xuanyi, née Fu, was granddaughter of Cunshen, who served Later Tang's Martial Emperor and Zhuangzong, rose to the highest ranks of general and minister, and was posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of Qin. Her father Yanqing was military governor of the Tianxiong army and held the title Prince of Wei. She was first married to Chongxun, son of Li Shouzhen. During the Han Qianyou era Li Shouzhen rebelled at Hezhong and the Emperor besieged him. When the city fell, Chongxun killed his younger siblings and was about to kill her next; she had hidden behind a screen, shielded by curtains. He searched for her in panic but could not find her in time and cut his own throat, and she escaped. When the Emperor entered Hezhong he had her found and at once sent a female envoy to return her to her father. From then on she was deeply grateful for his kindness and acknowledged him as her adoptive father. When Shizong was garrisoned at Chanyuan, the Emperor betrothed her to him. Gentle and kind by nature, she read Shizong's moods well; when he flew into rages at his subordinates she would calmly intercede on their behalf. He valued her deeply, and when he took the throne he invested her as Empress. When Shizong prepared to campaign south she often urged him to stay, speaking with blunt earnestness that moved him; but when the imperial train halted in the Huai region, long exposure to summer heat and anxiety brought on her illness. On the twenty-first day of the seventh month of Xiande 2 she died in Zide Hall at the age of twenty-six. Shizong mourned her deeply. The offices thereupon submitted the posthumous title Xuanyi; she was buried at Xinzheng in the tomb named Yiling. (Note: Shizong later had another consort, Lady Fu, the younger sister of Empress Xuanyi; Xue's History gives her no separate biography, which is a regrettable omission. The 《Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties》 states that Empress Fu of Shizong was the daughter of Prince of Wei Yanqing. A physiognomist who examined her was greatly startled and told the Prince of Wei in secret, "This girl's destiny is beyond words." Li Shouzhen, who had long harbored rebellious ambitions, had his son Chongxun marry her; when the wedding was complete he was visibly delighted. Later he seized Hezhong and rebelled; the High Ancestor, then Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs, was ordered to campaign against him. Knowing the High Ancestor and her father were old associates, when the city fell she sat in the hall doorway and shouted at the soldiers, "I am the daughter of Prince of Wei Fu; the Prince of Wei and the Grand Preceptor are as close as brothers—you must not treat me with disrespect." The soldiers drew back in awe. Soon the High Ancestor arrived and said with delight, "This woman preserved herself amid flashing blades—she is truly extraordinary." He then returned her to the Prince of Wei. When Shizong took the throne he made her his Empress. After she escaped the disaster at Hezhong, her mother wished to have her take Buddhist orders to secure blessings and long life; the lady refused angrily: "Life and death are fated—who would shave her head and go barefoot merely to cling to life!" Her mother saw she could not be forced and gave up the idea. Shizong had always known her for her virtue, and when he heard she would not take orders merely to prolong life, he esteemed her all the more—thus she became mother of the realm.)〉