Five Dynasties · Empress and Empress Dowager of Later Jin

Empress Dowager Li 李氏

Lǐ shì

Died AD 950

Passages
34
Chapters
2
Histories
1

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Dowager Li as a consort, family member, royal family member, and ruler. This record brings together 34 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Empress Dowager Li 李氏 Lǐ shì
Descriptive kinship daughter-in-law of the Jin imperial house 晉室皇太后媳婦
Title empress dowager 太后
Title Empress Dowager 皇太后
Personal name Empress Li 李氏 Li shi
Title Empress Li of Jin 晉李太后
Title Empress of Gaozu 高祖皇后
Personal name Lady Li 李氏 Lǐ shì
Title Princess of Wei 魏國公主
Title Princess of Yongning 永寧公主
Title Senior Princess of Jin 晉國長公主

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Female

Roles

  • Consort
  • Family Member
  • Royal Family Member
  • Ruler

Life and dates

Death

  • Place: Jianqiu in the Khitan territories / 蕃中之建丘 · Date: Source Date: Text: 漢乾祐三年八月二十五日 · Western Year: AD 950
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0012
  • Manner: died
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:085:s0126

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: 天成三年四月 · Western Year: AD 928
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0006
  • Source Date: Text: 天祿三年秋八月 · Western Year: AD 949
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0042
  • Source Date: Text: 天祿元年四月 · Western Year: AD 947
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0036
  • Source Date: Text: 天福七年六月 · Western Year: AD 942
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0010
  • Source Date: Text: 天福六年十一月 · Western Year: AD 941
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0009
  • Source Date: Text: 明年正月 · Western Year: AD 947
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:085:s0097
  • Source Date: Text: 會同十一年正月朔 · Western Year: AD 948
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0025
  • Source Date: Text: 清泰二年九月 · Western Year: AD 935
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0008
  • Source Date: Text: 漢乾祐三年八月 · Western Year: AD 950
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:085:s0126
  • Source Date: Text: 漢乾祐三年八月二十五日 · Western Year: AD 950
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0012
  • Source Date: Text: 漢乾祐元年四月 · Western Year: AD 948
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:085:s0150
  • Source Date: Text: 長興四年九月 · Western Year: AD 933
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0007
  • Source Date: Text: 開運三年十二月 · Western Year: AD 946
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:085:s0047
  • Source Date: Text: 開運四年三月 · Western Year: AD 947
    Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:086:s0011

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

  • Ancestor of Yanbao (延寶)
    Kinship Term: grandson / 孫男 · Generation Distance: 2 · Subject Role: grandmother · Object Role: grandson
  • Ancestor of Yanxu (延煦)
    Kinship Term: grandson / 孫男 · Generation Distance: 2 · Subject Role: grandmother · Object Role: grandson
  • Parent of Shi Chonggui (石重貴)
    Kinship Term: empress dowager / 太后 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother
    Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: uncertain · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother
    Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: uncertain · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
  • Spouse of Former Lord of Jin (先君)
    Kinship Term: empress dowager / 皇太后 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Relationship State: widowed
  • Spouse of Gaozu of Jin (晉高祖)
    Kinship Term: husband / 夫 · Union Category: primary-marriage
    Kinship Term: empress / 皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Subject Role: wife · Object Role: husband
  • Child of Li Siyuan (李嗣源)
    Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: daughter
    Kinship Term: third daughter / 第三女 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: daughter · Object Role: father · Subject Birth Order: 3

Career and standing

  • Title: Princess of Wei / 魏國公主 · Action: advanced · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 長興四年九月 · Western Year: AD 933
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0007
  • Title: Senior Princess of Jin / 晉國長公主 · Action: changed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 清泰二年九月 · Western Year: AD 935
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0008
  • Title: Princess of Yongning / 永寧公主 · Action: enfeoffed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 天成三年四月 · Western Year: AD 928
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0006
  • Title: empress dowager / 皇太后 · Action: honored · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 七年六月 · Western Year: AD 942
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0010, jiuwudaishi:086:s0014
  • Title: empress / 皇后 · Action: honored · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 天福六年十一月 · Western Year: AD 941
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0009

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

  • Kind: petition · Role: petitioner · Action: asked-for-farmland · Place: Bazhou / beside Hanz Er City / 霸州／漢兒城側 · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 天祿元年八月 · Western Year: AD 947
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0038, jiuwudaishi:086:s0039
  • Kind: illness · Role: patient · Action: fell-ill · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 天祿三年秋八月 · Western Year: AD 949
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0042
  • Kind: travel · Role: traveler · Action: followed-north · Other Person Id: Shi Chonggui (石重貴)
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0034, jiuwudaishi:086:s0035
  • Kind: captivity · Role: detainee · Action: lodged-and-guarded · Place: Fengchan Temple / 封禪寺 · Other Person Id: Cui Tingxun (崔廷勛)
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0025
  • Kind: ritual · Role: participant · Action: paid-homage · Place: Liaoyang / 遼陽 · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 天祿元年四月 · Western Year: AD 947
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0036
  • Kind: political · Role: subject · Action: relocated · Place: Yellow Dragon Prefecture / 黃龍府 · Other Person Id: Shi Chonggui (石重貴) · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 開運四年三月 · Western Year: AD 947
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0011
  • Kind: relocation · Role: subject · Action: relocated · Place: Jianzhou / 建州 · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 天祿二年 · Western Year: AD 948
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0041
  • Kind: diplomatic · Role: participant · Action: welcomed · Other Person Id: Liao Emperor (遼帝) · Place: outside Fengqiu Gate / 封丘門外 · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 會同十一年正月朔 · Western Year: AD 948
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0025

Assessments and attributes

  • Assessment: resentful but powerless regarding the Young Emperor taking Madame Feng · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0065

Source notes

  • Field: empress-dowager-date · Statement: 五代會要 places empress-dowager honor in Tianfu 7/6; 文獻通考 says only after Gaozu's death when the Deposed Emperor acceded · Witness: 文獻通考
    Explicit · jiuwudaishi:086:s0010, jiuwudaishi:086:s0014

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 85Volume 85 Book of Later Jin 11: Emperor Shao 4 · 9 passages
Open chapter
癸卯，帝與皇太后李氏、皇太妃安氏、皇后馮氏、皇弟重睿、皇子延煦延寶俱北行，以宮嬪五十人、內官三十人、東西班五十人、醫官一人、控鶴官四人、禦廚七人、茶酒三人、儀鸞司三人、軍健二十人從行。 On guimao the emperor went north with Empress Dowager Li, Grand Imperial Consort An, Empress Feng, his brother Chongrui, and Princes Yanxu and Yanbao, attended by fifty palace women, thirty eunuchs, fifty court attendants, a physician, four Crane-Control officers, seven imperial cooks, three tea and wine servants, three from the Ceremonial Parasol bureau, and twenty guards.
Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 86Volume 86 Book of Later Jin 12: Biographies 1: Empresses and Consorts · 25 passages
Open chapter
《契丹國志》云：天祿二年春二月，徙晉侯、太后於建州，中途安太妃卒，遺命晉侯曰：「焚骨為灰，南向揚之，庶幾遺魂得返中國也。」）〉 The Khitan State Annals records that in the second month of spring of the second year of Tianlu, when the Marquis of Jin and the empress dowager were relocated to Jianzhou, Grand Consort An died en route; her dying charge to the Marquis of Jin was: "Burn my bones to ash and scatter them southward — perhaps my lingering soul may return to China.")〉
前左禦正齊國夫人吳氏進封燕國夫人，書省魏國夫人崔氏進封梁國夫人，前右禦正天水郡夫人趙氏封衛國夫人，司簿孟氏封汧國夫人，前司簿李氏封隴西郡夫人，弟子院使齊氏、大使郭氏、副使賈氏並封本縣君，太后宮尚宮陳留郡夫人何氏進封鄭國夫人，河南郡夫人元氏進封齊國夫人，知客出使夫人石氏封武威郡夫人，春宮姚氏、常氏、焦氏、王氏、陶氏、魏氏、趙氏七人並超封郡夫人，寶省婉美趙氏封天水郡夫人，武氏以下十一人並授春宮，天福八年十一月敕。 Former Left Imperial Rectifier Madame Wu of Qi was advanced to Madame of Yan; Secretariat Madame Cui of Wei was advanced to Madame of Liang; Former Right Imperial Rectifier Madame Zhao of Tianshui Commandery was enfeoffed Madame of Wei; Registrar Madame Meng was enfeoffed Madame of Qian; Former Registrar Madame Li was enfeoffed Madame of Longxi Commandery; Palace of Disciples Commissioner Qi, Grand Commissioner Guo, and Vice Commissioner Jia were all enfeoffed as Ladies of their native counties; Chief Palace Officer of the empress dowager's palace Madame He of Chenliu Commandery was advanced to Madame of Zheng; Madame Yuan of Henan Commandery was advanced to Madame of Qi; Guest Reception Envoy Madame Shi was enfeoffed Madame of Wuwei Commandery; Spring Palace ladies Yao, Chang, Jiao, Wang, Tao, Wei, and Zhao — seven in all — were exceptionally enfeoffed as Commandery Madames; Graceful Beauty Madame Zhao of the Baosheng Palace was enfeoffed Madame of Tianshui Commandery; Wu and eleven below were all appointed to the Spring Palace — by edict of the eleventh month of Tianfu 8.