Empress Dowager Ling (靈太后)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Dowager Ling as a consort, royal family member, and ruler. This record brings together 14 passages from 8 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Empress Dowager Ling	靈太后	Líng tàihòu
Title	Empress Dowager	太后	tàihòu
Title	Empress Dowager	太后	Taihou
Title	Empress Dowager	太后
Title	Empress Dowager Ling	靈太後	Líng tàihòu
Title	Empress Dowager Ling	靈太后	Líng tàihòu
Title	Empress Dowager Ling	靈太后	Ling taihou
Title	Empress Dowager Ling	靈太后	Ling Taihou
Title	Empress Dowager Ling	靈太后	Líng Tàihòu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Title only
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · beiqishu:036:s0073, weishu:024:s0078, weishu:027:s0095, weishu:030:s0126, weishu:081:s0068, weishu:092:s0108, weishu:093:s0107, weishu:098:s0180

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member
Ruler

Life and dates

Death

Cause: died
Explicit · weishu:093:s0104

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 元叉廢靈太后 · Western Year: AD 520
Explicit · weishu:081:s0068
Source Date: Text: 正光元年七月 · Western Year: AD 520
Explicit · weishu:027:s0143
Source Date: Text: 稚時背疽未愈，靈太后勞之曰：「卿疹源如此 · Western Interval: Start: AD 515 · End: AD 528
Explicit · weishu:030:s0126
Source Date: Text: 縣令喪亡 · Western Interval: Start: AD 471 · End: AD 499
Explicit event contextual date · weishu:093:s0104
Source Date: Text: 靈太后 · Western Interval: Start: AD 515 · End: AD 528
Explicit · weishu:024:s0078, weishu:092:s0108
Source Date: Text: 靈太后反政 · Western Year: AD 525
Explicit · weishu:081:s0154
Source Date: Text: 靈太後令 · Western Interval: Start: AD 515 · End: AD 528
Explicit · beiqishu:036:s0073
Source Date: Text: 魏世 · Western Interval: Start: AD 386 · End: AD 534
Explicit event contextual date · weishu:098:s0180

Family

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

Parent of Emperor Xiaoming of Wei (魏孝明帝)
Kinship Term: empress dowager / 太後 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Kin of Yuan Cha (元叉)
Kinship Term: sister's husband / 妹夫 · Subject Role: brother-in-law · Object Role: sister-in-law

Works and attributed material

Kind: edict · Role: author · Other Person Id: Chen (琛)
Explicit · weishu:024:s0078
Kind: edict · Role: speaker · Quoted: true · Statement: order to plan Bright Hall founding work
Explicit · beiqishu:036:s0073, beiqishu:036:s0074
Kind: order · Role: issuer · Other Person Id: Grand Consort Meng (任城國太妃孟氏) · Quoted: true · Provenance: Mode: direct-quotation · Source Person Id: Empress Dowager Ling (靈太后)
Explicit · weishu:098:s0180, weishu:098:s0181

Events and relationships

Kind: edict · Role: sovereign · Action: marked-Li-Xianda-gate · Other Person Id: Li Xianda (李顯達)
Explicit · weishu:092:s0108

References in the histories

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

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 36Volume 36 Biographies 28: Xing Shao · 1 passage

Open chapter

靈太後令曰：「配饗大禮，為國之本，此以戎馬在郊，未遑修繕。 Empress Dowager Ling ordered, "The great rite of matching sacrifice is the root of the state; war-horses at the suburbs left no leisure for repair.

Book of Wei, Chapter 24Volume 20: Emperor Wencheng's Five Princes · 1 passage

Open chapter

及還朝，靈太后詔曰：「琛在定州，惟不將中山宮來，自餘無所不致，何可更復敍用。」 On his return Empress Dowager Ling issued an edict: "In Dingzhou Chen took everything but the Zhongshan Palace itself—how can he be used again?"

Book of Wei, Chapter 27Volume 22: Emperor Xiaowen's Five Princes · 5 passages

Open chapter

後靈太后令愉之四子皆附屬籍，追封愉臨洮王。 Later Empress Dowager Ling had Yu's four sons entered on the clan register and posthumously enfeoffed Yu as Prince of Lintao.

靈太后詔給衣食，事力優重，使於城西之南，治療百姓病。 Empress Dowager Ling fed and clothed him lavishly and set him to treat commoners' illnesses south of the western city.

靈太后以懌肅宗懿叔，德先具瞻，委以朝政，事擬周霍。 Empress Dowager Ling, seeing Yi as Xiaoming's honored uncle and a man all eyes followed, entrusted government to him on the model of the Duke of Zhou and Huo Guang.

正光元年七月，叉與劉騰逼肅宗於顯陽殿，閉靈太后於後宮，囚懌於門下省，誣懌罪狀，遂害之，時年三十四。 In the first year of Zhenguang, seventh month, Cha and Liu Teng seized Xiaoming in Xianyang Hall, walled the dowager in the rear palace, jailed Yi in the Gate and Chamber office, forged charges, and killed him at thirty-four.

靈太后敕檢問之，引入，窮悅事故。 Empress Dowager Ling ordered an inquiry; the consort was brought in and Yue's conduct fully examined.

Book of Wei, Chapter 30Volume 25: Zhang Sunsong, Zhangsun Daosheng · 1 passage

Open chapter

稚時背疽未愈，靈太后勞之曰：「卿疹源如此，朕欲相停，更無可寄如何？」 Zhi's back abscess was still unhealed; Empress Dowager Ling comforted him: "Your sore runs so deep; I would have spared you—yet whom else can I trust?"

Book of Wei, Chapter 81Volume 76: Lu Tong, Zhang Lie · 3 passages

Open chapter

元叉之廢靈太后也，相州刺史、中山王熙起兵於鄴。 When Yuan Cha deposed Empress Dowager Ling, Prince Xi of Zhongshan, who was Inspector of Xiangzhou, raised an army at Ye.

靈太后反政，以同叉黨，除名。 When Empress Dowager Ling regained power, Tong was struck from the rolls as a member of Cha's faction.

後靈太后反政，以烈叉黨，出為鎮東將軍、青州刺史。 When Empress Dowager Ling later regained power, Lie was sent out as General Who Pacifies the East and Inspector of Qingzhou because he was counted among Cha's faction.

Book of Wei, Chapter 92Volume 86: Filial Piety: Zhao Yan, Zhang Sunlu, Qifu Bao, Sun Yide, Dong Luosheng, Yang Yin · 1 passage

Open chapter

州牧、高陽王雍以狀奏，靈太后詔表其門閭。 Regional governor Prince Yong of Gaoyang submitted a report. Empress Dowager Ling decreed that his gate and hamlet be marked.

Book of Wei, Chapter 93Volume 87: Morality and Righteousness: Yu Shenmen, Duan Jin, Shi Wende, Ji Gu, Wang Xuanwei, Lou Ti, Liu Kehou · 1 passage

Open chapter

吏部尚書李韶奏其節義，請加贈諡，以奬來者，靈太后令如所奏。 Li Shao, Minister of Personnel, memorialized Zuxing's loyalty and asked that a posthumous title be granted to encourage others. Empress Dowager Ling ordered that it be done as he proposed.

Book of Wei, Chapter 98Volume 92: Notable Women: Cui Lan's Consort Feng, Feng Zhuo's Consort Liu, Wei Pu's Consort Fang, Hu Changming's Consort Zhang · 1 passage

Open chapter

靈太后後令曰：「鴻功盛美，實宜垂之永年。」 Empress Dowager Ling later ordered: "Such great merit and splendid virtue ought to be handed down through the ages."